by John Hinderaker at PowerLine:
When I was a kid, everyone knew the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service, which was inscribed on the principal New York City post office: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” I think it was true, once, too. But not any more: Wednesday mail delivery canceled:
The U.S. Postal Service announced late Tuesday afternoon that deliveries and other services in Minnesota and several other states will be suspended Wednesday in the wake of a deep freeze unmatched for nearly a quarter-century.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of minus-17 in the Twin Cities on Wednesday, with windchills tumbling to the minus-50s.
So I won’t get any mail tomorrow. I will, however, be in my office, like most private sector workers.
Sure, it’s going to be cold: the current forecast calls for a high temperature tomorrow of 17 below zero, and a low of 33 below. We are in the midst of a three-day stretch in which the temperature never gets to zero. Fahrenheit. And that is in the Minneapolis suburbs.
So it is remarkable that just 13 days ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune assured us that cold temperatures are a thing of the past, even in northern Minnesota:
“We just don’t expect temperatures to be below 10 degrees Fahrenheit in Duluth anymore,” [Tracy] Twine said.
Heh. Great prediction. Ms Twine is an “expert” on climate who testified before the Minnesota House Energy and Climate Committee on January 15. I ripped her testimony, which as usual was based entirely on models that are known to be wrong, here. Ms. Twine assured lawmakers that declining snowfalls in northern Minnesota are due to man-made global warming. Only she forgot to check the weather records: snowfall in northern Minnesota is increasing, not decreasing.
And of course, those who said we would no longer be seeing cold weather in Duluth–150 miles north of the Twin Cities!–failed to foresee the current epic cold snap, which was just days away. Nevertheless, their models, which are programmed to produce politically-desired results, tell us with great confidence what the weather will be like in 100 years. Right. Fortunately, not many people are still buying the global warming scam.
UPDATE: Have all Americans gone soft? No! Twin Cities sportswriter Pat Reusse tweets:
Current temperature in Roseau: 30 degrees below zero. Warroad and Roseau are two of the most storied northern Minnesota hockey programs, even though both towns are tiny. I wrote about the Roseau Rams here. And I believe it is still true that no American hockey team has ever won an Olympic medal without at least one player from Warroad–population, 1,763.
Among other things, Warroad is the home of the Christian family, which contributed one brother to the 1956 Olympic team that won a silver medal, and two younger brothers who starred on the 1960 gold medal winning team. Bill Christian’s son David played on the 1980 gold medal winning team. (Happily, but irrelevantly for this purpose, a Christian grandson is my son-in-law.) So whether activities go forward in the face of adverse weather conditions depends, basically, on how much you really care.
Note from Glenn: John Hinderaker is in an age bracket in which he could easily be my son. During my school years, kindergarten to graduating high school from Minnesota’s St. Paul public school system, 1939-1952, the coldest winter day as I remember in that period, was either 40 or 37 degrees below zero. I delivered St. Paul Pioneer Press morning (6 A.M.) and St.Paul Dispatch afternoon (3:30 P.M.) newspapers then when I was eleven years old. In full usually itchy, sweaty, and eventually wetty wool uniform I created while delivering papers on an average winter day, that coldest morning of my life, I delivered 65 morning newspapers in the quickest time ever and didn’t sweat a drop….the wool was too cold to get wet from sweat. It was a school day….In those days none of us kids would dare to show up late at school…..autumn, fall, and winter…..
No one had yet invented wind chill ‘temperaturing’ in those days.
The day did warm up to minus twenty five F. when I did my after school delivery….I sweated a bit as I remember. I hated the feel of sweat wool rubbing against my skin. But, as is often said: THOSE WERE THE DAYS!……and Thank God for the touch of Global Warming since then!
(In 1955 I used to do high school hockey ratings for the Sunday Pioneer Press. St. Paul’s Johnson high school was scheduled to travel to Roseau for the state’s top rating game at that time in early February, I think it was. I and Ralph Reeve, Pioneer Press’s high school sports reporter, traveled on the bus along with the Johnson team and their coach Rube Gustavson. They were scheduled to play outdoors….indoor rinks were scarce then.
So they played outdoors….with around 100 spectators. The game for first place state ratings ended in a 2-2 tie. It was 28 degrees below zero. The officials decided not to go into overtime. No one really argued the point.)
MN Prager Discussion Group 