Who Says SoCal is Always Warm?

Vaughn McMillan

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After suffering through last week in the high 70's to low 80's temerature-wise, I thought I'd share a couple pics of what I found in my backyard Sunday morning:

Frozen Fountain 1 800.jpg Frozen Fountain 2 600.jpg

This is a little fake rock waterfall, and although the water was still flowing, the bulk of it is frozen solid. Mind you, these pics were taken about 11:30 AM, well after the sun had a chance to melt some of the ice off. As it was, very little ice melted throughout the day, and as of tonight, the ice is still there in full force.

I've lived in Southern California for over 15 years, and this is the hardest freeze I've ever seen in this area. (My hi/low thermometer says it only got down to about 31° last night, which isn't really all that cold, but it's still low for this neighborhood.) The daytime temps have been in the mid 40's for the past couple of days. I was rearranging my shop this afternoon with the overhead garage door open. The warmest temp I saw in the shop today was about 45°.

I also picked a bunch of oranges off the tree in the backyard. Talk about your fresh frozen orange juice. :p These are navel oranges...they don't peel very easily, but they make the best OJ I've ever had. :D

January Oranges 2007 800.jpg

Just thought I'd share so all you folks north of here wouldn't feel we were missing out on the winter fun. :wave:
 
Low temperatures are having an effect on glue-ups in my garage/shop. That is a first for me. Maybe we’ll get some frost. Then I’ll have to wait till the sun comes out to defrost my car windows and go to work. Think I’ll leave the top up on the Porsche this morning. See, southern California has to put up with the weather too.
J
 
31!, I will bet traffic was hardly moving, if at all.

Now here we go, the price of Sun Kist orange products will go out of site. Remember when coffee prices soared after the hurricane? I wonder why the prices didn't go back down after the coffee processing plants came back on line. :dunno:

We got down to about 20 this AM, and at 10:40 it is still 24 with about 1/8" of ice on everything. I think I will just stay in the house or shop today, but that is kind of what I do everyday.:)
 
Well ....

Just to make y'all feel a wee bit warmer, I'll relate a couple of "cold weather tales" that I'm sure our WI or ND or MN or AK members can relate to.

Late 1970's and early 1980's I was working in Northern Ontario (gold miner and automotive machinist). Where I had to park my truck had a bit of an incline and I drove a standard transmission. Normally I would just park and put the truck in gear to keep it from rolling. Ya' couldn't do that in the winters up there then. Problem was that when you came out to start the truck, you'd have to sit in it while it warmed up enough for the trans fluid to get thin enough that you could move the shift lever to neutral. Solution? :huh: Scoop a couple of holes in the snow to roll the front wheels into and leave the trans in neutral :rolleyes: . Then you can go out, start the motor and leave it running without having to sit in it with the clutch pedal pushed in.

Coldest I ever saw was one morning when I came out to start the old girl up and she wouldn't roll, even with both block heaters plugged in all night and a blanket over the motor to hold the heat ... I even lit a "kerosene in the tobacco can with a rag" fire and put it under the oil pan :eek: , but it was just tooooo stiff .... I stayed home and snow-shoed the rabbit snare line that day instead. When I checked the thermometer it was showing -52'C.

So anyway ... that's enough :type: for now - hope y'all feel warmer :wave:
 
After suffering through last week in the high 70's to low 80's temerature-wise, I thought I'd share a couple pics of what I found in my backyard Sunday morning:

I've lived in Southern California for over 15 years, and this is the hardest freeze I've ever seen in this area. (My hi/low thermometer says it only got down to about 31° last night, which isn't really all that cold, but it's still low for this neighborhood.)

Vaughn,

Are you sure this post is not trolling for a heated debate? Why if I didn't know better I'd say you were pokin fun of our northern brethren. They may be climate challenged, but you don't have to rub it in.

Now what kind of software did you use to get that water fountain picture to look like it was frozen over? Or did you bring some snow back after skiing in the mountains so you could cool off after surfing the same afternoon?

Was a bit chilly yesterday. So what happened to global warming?

rick
 
Winter finally arrived in eastern Canada - about 6-8 weeks behind schedule. Even now the snow is mixed with periods of sleet. We expect the good dry stuff in Jan-Feb.

Toronto and Montreal look like a real mess. We didn't have the same amount of snow or or highway accidents. Of course we're better drivers here :D

Frank Pellow will get me for that, I'm sure !
 
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Hey Vaughn,
What a crazy winter. Wonder where the nearest snowplow is?:rofl: ...

31!, I will bet traffic was hardly moving, if at all...
If we ever had a real snow here, it'd be pandemonium. Heck, most of the folks out here can barely drive on dry roads...add a bit of slick and it'd be hilarious (as long as you didn't have to drive in it with them). I'm experienced at driving on slick stuff, and I know full well I wouldn't want to mix it up with the locals here.

There are a lot of houses out here (ours included) that would be inaccessible in snow because of the hills you have to drive on to get to them. And even after living here for 15 years, I still think about "what if this had snow on it?" when I'm driving up a steep hill. Saturday night LOML were a bit early for a party we were going to, so we spent 20 or 30 minutes wandering around the neighborhoods below the Hollywood sign to kill some time. Steep, narrow, and winding roads everywhere. There'd sure be a big ol' pile of bent-up BMWs and Porsches at the bottom of that hill if it ever snowed. :rofl:

And to be clear, I realize just about everywhere else in North America is dealing with much harsher weather than we are. Stay warm out there.
 
Vaughn,
I have my little Sonoma, 2wd, and just about any snow makes getting to work an adventure for me. I'm fine until about 1/2 mile from the warehouse. The hill there is just steep enough that if it is at all greasy, I have to feather the go-pedal or I'll wig-wag my way up the hill. I can't even go an alternate route, as there is a worse hill the other way. The real kicker is, If I could just cut through the trailer yard, I'd never hit the hills at all.
 
And to be clear, I realize just about everywhere else in North America is dealing with much harsher weather than we are. Stay warm out there.

Um well... actually... we've had a very uneventful winter here in Philly. Hit 70 last week. I think it's because my neighbor just bought a snowblower.

I feel for those of you in the midwest with the ice. Looks like some really nasty stuff. Be careful.
 
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