January 28, 2014

-13.8, "feels like -35°," and "Today is forecast to be Warmer than yesterday."

Checking out the weather report, at 5:17 a.m.

The University has cancelled classes today, but only for the morning. I don't remember ever seeing classes cancelled for coldness alone. But my class isn't cancelled. It's in the afternoon, when we are expected to hit 0.



UPDATE, 10 a.m.: We're up to -8.5°. "Feels Like -29°."

19 comments:

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

That's not very cold. If the polar vortex didn't cancel classes, why would this? Was everyone on vacation during the vortex?

mesquito said...

My south Texas week so far.

Icy chaos on Friday.

80 degree bike ride on Sunday.

Icy chaos on Tuesday.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

This is embarrassing. It's not THAT cold. We are wimps.

And I realized last year that I need to quit longing/hoping for the return of the America of my youth, because it was what it was, because they (The Greatest Generation) were who they were.

We are not them. We cannot have the America they enabled.

And they wouldn't have cancelled classes today.

rhhardin said...

If -13.8 feels like -35, then -35 feels like -13.8.

Nobody asks the weatherman about that.

Ann Althouse said...

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

PB said...

Cold is only a problem if you don't dress properly, but that would fall into the realm of personal responsibility and we just can't have that.

Wet and wind are much more concerning and far more dangerous, but those are real weather issues. Temperature is climate and there is not rationality there.

Meade said...

You don't need weatherman to know which way the wind chills.

MadisonMan said...

@John Lynch, yes, round 1 was during break.

I am very critical of the decision to close, made yesterday, based on what turned out to be a bad forecast. It's calm out. No wind chill, and only -14. So why aren't there classes, either in public schools, or (worse), at the Tech College or at the UW? What was gained by making the call last night vs. waiting 'til the morning?

And why cancel, anyway, because of the cold. The note from MATC said that the safety of their students of staff is of utmost importance. Baloney. Students and staff should take care of their own safety.

Cancelling school for cold sends the implicit message that the School doesn't think you can take care of yourself. Well, I think people should grow up. Please stop infantilizing the students.

Fritz said...

Keep your weather to yourselves. It's 12 now in Slower Maryland. It was 45 yesterday.

Rusty said...

I didn't even try and start my car this morning. Just called in and claimed a personal day.
-14 @ 7:00 AM

Rusty said...


Cancelling school for cold sends the implicit message that the School doesn't think you can take care of yourself. Well, I think people should grow up. Please stop infantilizing the students.


Then you come over and start my car.

Gabriel Hanna said...

It's -15 at UW-Stout and they didn't cancel classes.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Rusty-

My car starts at -14. It's a Toyota Corolla. Do you have a diesel or something? There are block heaters, too.

Gabriel Hanna said...

From the Stout email explaining that classes will go on as usual:

Many factors go into making decisions whether or not to cancel classes. Some of the factors include:
The great majority of our students either lives in residence halls or off campus in the Menomonie area. Therefore, they do not have to travel long distances to get to campus.
Unlike K-12 schools, our students are adults who can make reasonable decisions about their safety.
We do not have the ability to schedule additional days to make up for lost class time, as K-12 schools do. We believe that students, who pay for their education through tuition, have a right to attend the classes they have paid for.
We give faculty and instructional academic staff the ability to make decisions about whether to hold classes and encourage them to make accommodations for those situations in which students cannot make it to class because of the weather.
We have a transportation system, Dunn County Transit, which provides shuttle bus service between north and south campus as well as to and from campus across the city, eliminating the need to walk those distances in cold weather.


Normally Stout is just as bad at infantilizing adult students as anywhere else, though.

MadisonMan said...

Rusty, I walked into work. Try it, it's awesome on a day like today. The view of the crescent moon and Venus in the eastern sky was great!

OBloodyHell said...

I just checked the weather.

60 degrees right now. High hits 63 a bit later.


Yes, that odd sound you hear is me chortling from thousands of miles away...

Rusty said...

John Lynch said...
Rusty-

My car starts at -14. It's a Toyota Corolla. Do you have a diesel or something? There are block heaters, too.

To be honest I really didn't try too hard. It was just an excuse to take a personal day.


MadisonMan said...
Rusty, I walked into work. Try it, it's awesome on a day like today. The view of the crescent moon and Venus in the eastern sky was great!


I live 10 miles from where I work. At 61 I don't want to turn into a frozen chew toy for the local coyotes.
However. If it was steelhead or deer season or duck season I'd give it serious consideration.

A man has to have priorities.


David Davenport said...

60 degrees right now. High hits 63 a bit later.

Last Sunday, Jan. 26, two days ago here in Nashville, the temperature was 64 deg. F. at about two in the afternoon C.S.T.

The overnight low for tonight is forecast to be 9 deg. F.

Top that for variable weather.

Anonymous said...

My grandfather's parents moved from Germany to just outside Madison in the 1880s. I am SO thankful that my grandfather moved to South Texas! Being cold is sheer misery.