Polar Vortex? Frost Quakes?

Ice storms and Polar Vortexes and Frost Quakes? Oh, My!!!!!

"The Abominable Snowvizsla here with
Wednesday's Wacky Weather Report"

These branches provided a fun play fort until the Polar Vortex plunged us into the deep freeze.

During the power outage we went shopping to warm up. Here I am checking out the sleeping bags.

Since we didn't purchase a sleeping bag, I continued to camp out under a ton of blankets.

Thankfully, there were a few days of warmer temps that melted the ice off of the trees and power lines before we were plunged into the deep freeze known as the Polar Vortex! While trapped in the Polar Vortex, we were immensely grateful to have power and heat. With temps in the -20s and windchills in the range of -30 to -40 (risk of frostbite within 5 minutes) , I had to wear booties just to go outside for a minute or two. (Any longer than a couple of minutes and I would have needed my heavy-duty coat rather than my lumberjack shirt.) 

"Do I really have to wear these things in public?"

The arctic temps have been causing the phenomenon known as Frost Quakes - sudden, loud booms!

Here's a one minute explanation of a Polar Vortex courtesy of CNN and a brief explanation of Frost Quakes ("cryoseisms") with a cool photo of a steaming Lake Ontario courtesy of the Daily Mail UK.