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Last month was something cold, the Washington Post reports—real cold. A full three degrees chillier than normal and probably the coldest January in a decade. It might be difficult to believe today, with the temperature expected to crest a balmy 54 degrees, but the District isn't past the worst of it yet. With ice still lingering from the last frost, the city can look forward to more snow tomorrow evening. Still, with one above-freezing day, February is already looking good in comparison: In January, the temperature only climbed above freezing twice. Sorry, Mr. President, but that's plenty reason to get upset. That's reason to start writing giant solar heat reflecting screens into the stimulus. That's reason to move. Those of you looking for "flinty Chicago toughness" should check in with the all-but Siberian Marc Fisher. This is a thread for answering the question: Why did humans settle this far north?
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Does anyone know about the armed robbery on 13th NW last night in Columbia Heights? The helicopters
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First of all, cold and snow are not the same thing.
And regardless of what the average temperature is for DC, there are millions of people in this country and others who manage to carry on their lives even with snow and cold. And DC gets several occasions of snow every year so there is ample need for area residents to be in possession of winter apparel and preparations like salt and shovels.
President Obama is right to comment that it is a waste of taxpayer money for government employees to stay home when a few flakes fall while most of the people paying for their free day are trudging through the same if not worse conditions to get to their jobs.
Um... the Federal government has yet to close this year due to weather. There was "liberal leave" one day, but no closures. Besides, most offices in DC (and other cities I've lived in) follow the Federal government for closings: if they are closed, there are very few people "trudging through the same if not worse conditions to get to their jobs."
And the President didn't comment that it is a waste of taxpayer money. In fact, he prefaced his statement with, "Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy?" Maybe you should get rid of some of your winter apparel so that you can chill.
Take a look at the news. Have of the country has had blizzard-like conditions and everyone still went to work. No, the rest of the world does not stop working when the US government takes a union break. You need to get out more.
Most offices that I've ever worked with have not even come close to following Federal for closings. Anyone ever hear of defense contractors? You can only charge for the labor hours you work. If the Fed is closed, you find another desk to sit at or take a vacation day on your own time.
Connie, you're right; I didn't think about contractors. I was just speaking from my non-profit experience in DC, as well as non-government jobs in other other cities.
"In January, the temperature only climbed above freezing twice."
In the District of Columbia, U.S. ???
There were only a handful days that failed to rise above freezing, according to weather.com.
Kriston garbled the statistic. What the article actually says is quite different, and corresponds to the reality those of us living here experienced:
I didn't garble the statistic. I wrote that every day in January but two had temperatures below freezing. Or, "In January, the temperature only climbed above freezing twice."
It is beyond pedantic to point out that I didn't specify that I was talking about January in the District. That is the way weather works. You can't talk about the weather of the entire nation or the weather of the entire world, jeez.
Actually, their corrections had nothing to do with the "in DC" portion of your quote. What the actual statistic says is that only two days in January had a LOW temperature that was above freezing. Because of how it is phrased, your transcription says almost the exact opposite: saying that the temperature "only climbed above freezing" twice means that only two days had a HIGH temperature that was above 32 degrees. And that's not what happened.
Well, yes, I could see that the use of "climbed" might have led to believe I was talking about the daily high temperature. The point still stands: Every day but two in January, the temperature fell to below freezing. Also: Living here over in the cold is stupid, and I wouldn't begrudge those people with resources for leaving for some place warmer for the winter.
Wow, this is dumb.
This is nothing. It's actually quite nice for those who are used to colder. DC is full of whiners who need to realize snow and ice and cold happens every year and to learn to deal with it. The hysteria and hand-wringing over it all is absurd.
Humans settled this far north after getting tired of putting up with annoying southerners.
the question I ask myself every summer is 'why did people ever come this far south?'
you can always put on more layers, but what the hell are you supposed to do when it is a hundred+ and humid? (this is the correct response to northerners who make fun of southerners' winter responses; getting defensive and talking about how a few flurries really are that bad just makes you look silly)
The cold has a fantastic way of killing mosquitoes (and the diseases they carry).
Lets hope that leads to a summer of fewer mosquitoes, then. Last year was awful.
Yeah, good luck with that. Skeeters are pretty hardy little vampires. And Siberia is pretty notorious for its mosquitos. They can drain a yak in 12 minutes flat. The tundra is littered with deflated yak carcasses and swollen mosquitos the size of pomegranites.
Between the idiot weather-readers and other "personalities" on local radio and TV who promote the notion that the only good weather is the uncomfortable, humid crap that this area is cursed with, one would think that winter is some sort of anomaly that only happens in say, Canada. How the heck did people work in this pit before A/C?
Before widespread AC, everyone would go to the movie theaters, the few places that could afford air conditioning. Folks would sleep out on their lawns and in the parks and you'd actually have to talk to your neighbor (weird, right?) Also, when the temps got high, the Feds would shutdown the gummint. DC in August used to be a riot; the town was full of "Summer bachelors" where dad would send mom and the kids out of town, and dad could bang hookers until his weewee was a raw nub. Good times. What you got today? Buildings are sealed shut so the AC doesn't leak, everybody's got sick building syndrome because they're breathing recirculated farts, and the only thing daddy's bangin is Mary Palm and her five daughters. I hate America.
The cold has a fantastic way of killing mosquitoes (and the diseases they carry).
What the hell are you talking about? Alaska has such horrendous mosquitoes that they're often referred to as the state bird and the skeeters are also ridizzle up north in places like Minnesota and North Dakota.