What I Learned From Polar Vortex 2014

"And now, let's go to Ollie Williams with the weather."

It was 55 Degrees on Sunday afternoon, with detectable humidity in the air.

By Monday morning, it was 1, with a wind chill of -25.  There were reports of thundersnow in the foothills to our east.  Last night it was -5 or so.

Along the way, I learned a few things:

• If you soak a t-shirt and leave it outside in such weather, it will freeze solid in 90 seconds.
• A garage door can flash-freeze to the concrete beneath it, requiring a sharpened spade shovel to dislodge.
• Boiling hot water thrown into the air becomes a cloud of steam.
• A cup of regular water thrown up into the air will freeze and thud onto the ground.
• A 15 year old Camry will still start, but will not come to operating temperature (read: no cabin heat) on a 20 minute drive to work.
• Power steering fluid loses i
• Thermal underwear is your friend.
• I love natural gas heat.  Temp in my house has remained 70 degrees, and the upstairs & downstairs furnaces haven't broken a sweat.
• The hawk i swerved around on the way out of my subdivision was either: (A) frozen to the ground next to the roadkill or (B) longed for the embrace of death to ease his suffering.  Either way, he wasn't budging.

Thankful for a warm house and power that flickered but remained on throughout the event.