So Cold You'll Freeze Your Tail Off!

[sm4him]

I'm getting pretty sick and tired of this Polar Vortex. We are having one of the coldest winters on record here, and yesterday, we got a completely unexpected 4 inches of snow! The weather forecasts kept saying it was all well south and east of us. We might get some flurries...We might get a dusting...we might get up to an inch...

It started snowing around 10 a.m.
Because no one expected it, the few crews we have hadn't even bothered to pre-treat the main roads, never mind secondary ones. The entire town quickly became one gigantic Slip 'n' Slide.

And COLD. For the South, anyway. -1 degree F this morning, with an expected high of 22.

So yesterday, in between the constant monitoring of our dispatch radio and posts/emails/phone calls to the media to update everyone on the status of our public transit system, I went out for a few minutes to watch the birds.

Suddenly, this little female Eastern Towhee showed up: It's so cold, she actually DID freeze her tail off!! :lmao:


Jan28_4994editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

Everyone now... "Awwwwwwwwwww" Nicely captured Sharon!

 

[falcontertomt]

In the wildlife rehab community we call this "The Buttless Wonder"

Great photo though!! I love seeing your work.

 

[JacaRanda]

Indeed, she is a little cutie! Poor thing needs a jacket

 

[pgriz]

And she does have a properly pissed-off look about her. Very good shot, Sharon. Regarding your weather predicament, it gets worse further north. We've just had two weeks of -29C (-20C) and winds up to 70 kph (45 mph) and resulting windchills in the (oh, 'way too cold). Even with suitable protection, awfully cold. Maybe we should move closer to our respective capitals, where, as I understand, there's plenty of hot air.

 

[annamaria]

I'm totally with you tired of the Arctic blast here in my small town in TN brrrrrrr........ Nice capture of a cutie.

 

[LarryLomona]

34 ° in Dallas, no ice, no snow, just winter. Very nice shot.

 

[baturn]

Thanx for braving the cold to get the shot. My first look at an Eastern Towhee. I won't clutter your thread with my snapshots, but day before yesterday I got a couple shots of crocuses. this weird weather is affecting us over here also, but in the opposite direction.

 

[sm4him]

Thanks, all! Today, despite the fact that the temperature didn't get much past 20F, the sun was shining and the snow is already at least half gone. Main roads are dry, but the secondary and tertiary roads are still quite a mess (partly because the city ran low on salt, so they stopped treating anything except the main roads...). At least it's not quite as bad here as Atlanta, where it literally stopped them in their tracks. Having lived in Atlanta for over a decade, I know how that much/little snow can paralyze them because they really have NO resources to handle it--also, to be fair, theirs started as sleet, so the roads got a nice ice layer first. Here, we DO get at least two or three snowfalls a year, and generally at least one of 3 inches or more, so we have SOME resources prepared to deal with it.

By Friday, it's supposed to be 51F.

In the wildlife rehab community we call this "The Buttless Wonder"

Great photo though!! I love seeing your work.

Thanks you, falcon! Another rehabber said they call it the "why you should keep your cat indoors" bird.

And she does have a properly pissed-off look about her. Very good shot, Sharon. Regarding your weather predicament, it gets worse further north. We've just had two weeks of -29C (-20C) and winds up to 70 kph (45 mph) and resulting windchills in the (oh, 'way too cold). Even with suitable protection, awfully cold. Maybe we should move closer to our respective capitals, where, as I understand, there's plenty of hot air.

I often try to remind myself how much worse it is up north...but then I remember...oh, yeah, THAT's why I'm a Southerner, so I don't have to put up with this stuff!! :lmao:
As to the capitals comment: TRUTH. That is all.

Thanx for braving the cold to get the shot. My first look at an Eastern Towhee. I won't clutter your thread with my snapshots, but day before yesterday I got a couple shots of crocuses. this weird weather is affecting us over here also, but in the opposite direction.

Towhees are tough to get good shots of, because they usually stay hidden. They like to stay on the ground, and hide in the bushes. Then they'll hop out and grab seed from the feeders that other birds throw on the ground. But when it gets cold like that, and they have no choice but to compete for the food. Yesterday, I had two females (one with tail, one sans tail) and FOUR males, the most I've ever seen in my yard at once.

USUALLY, at this time of year, we get a warm spell, and the crocuses start to bloom. Then, another cold blast will hit, and they'll get covered up with snow. This year, it's just been pretty consistently cold--well, we get one decent day, then two weeks of cold--so no crocuses or daffodils have been silly enough to peek out of the ground and see if it's spring yet.

 

[matthewo]

Down here in columbia we were briefly mentioned on the national news for having very few snow plows for a capital city (9).

But i did go into work and a good job was done on overpasses and most everything was melted.

I just hope the main roads dry good tonight because with the low of 15 everything is gonna freeze and with melting and run off could be worse tomarrow