It's just plumb COLD.
The temperature here when I took Mo around the yard yesterday morning was 41° F, but as we finished making the rounds and headed back into the house, it had already started to mist, signaling the arrival of winter storm Elliott. Within 30 minutes the temperature had dropped to 39° F, and the mist quickly turned over to sleet and snow as the temperature continued to drop like a rock.
We didn't get much snow out of this system, just a dusting. By late afternoon, the clouds were already clearing out, and the sun even made a brief appearance right before sunset. The cold was relentless seeping in through the cracks in the house - the windows on the east porch had already frozen over by the middle of the afternoon and the water on the shelf in the south window had ice on top. Before nightfall, we tried to secure everything as best as we could...unhooked the water to the washing machine, drained the drain hose and put a couple of lights inside; left the water trickling in the kitchen sink; moved all of my plants into the living room (except for the ginger, which is in a pot that's too big for me to move in here); stuffed towels and blankets into some of the drafty cracks in this old house; then settled in for the night under a heavy layer of blankets.
It was 4° F when I took Mo out this morning, and we didn't dawdle today. He did his business and we came right back in. With northwest winds around 20mph, I'm not sure what the wind chill was, but even Mo wanted no part of it!
My rain barrels are probably frozen solid, and the IBC tote might be. I just hope they don't bust. I probably should have drained them, but since the cold isn't supposed to last too long, I hoped I might get away with just leaving them filled up. If they do bust, I'll be very sad, but will have learned my lesson.
The ginger froze, so once the stems and leaves go all brown, I'll dig it up. Hopefully the roots are still ok and I can replant some of them in the spring.
It has warmed up a bit this afternoon. The temperature is now showing to be 18° F but we're still under a wind chill advisory until mid-morning tomorrow, when the temperature is supposed to make it to just above freezing. Our low tomorrow night is supposed to be right about what the temperature is now. That's the start of a slow warming trend going into the last week of 2022.