WHILE MIDWEST SHIVERS, L.A.'S SUNSHINE IS COOL.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer When Denny Lee opened his service station in Colorado on Wednesday, it was so cold - 23 degrees below zero - that at least one California One California is a skyscraper in San Francisco, California. The building rises 438 feet (134 meters) in the northern region of San Francisco’s Financial District. It contains 32 floors, and was completed in 1969. customer shed frozen tears. ``Got a little cool last night,'' said Lee, owner of the Conoco station in Craig, a city in the northwest corner of Colorado, where customers were lined up for batteries and jump starts. ``Nothin' we're not used to. ``(But) I had a gal out here. ... She had just moved from California - she was crying. She had to go buy a new jacket.'' While Angelenos are complaining about nippy nip·py adj. nip·pi·er, nip·pi·est 1. Tending to nip: an exuberant, nippy puppy. 2. Sharp or biting: nippy cheese. 3. mornings and blustery blus·ter v. blus·tered, blus·ter·ing, blus·ters v.intr. 1. To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm. 2. a. To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner. afternoons, residents from Montana to Maine to the Texas Panhandle stepped into icy blasts as low as minus-45 degrees. ``It's cold in the shade, a little chilly, 'cause it's windy and at the same time, a little hot,'' said Stephanie Orrego, 15, of Van Nuys, who doffed her jacket during a noontime noon·time n. See noon. stroll around Lake Balboa. The storm that made the Midwest shiver swept down from Canada, blanketing roads and airports in ice and snow and setting records for brutal cold. Meteorologists Atmospheric scientists
``This is a monster cold dome - this is definitely the Polar Express,'' said Bill Patzert, meteorologist and research oceanographer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in La Caada Flintridge. In West Yellowstone, Mont., at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park, 2,219,791 acres (899,015 hectares), the world's first national park (est. 1872), NW Wyo., extending into Montana and Idaho. It lies mainly on a broad plateau in the Rocky Mts., on the Continental Divide, c. , the overnight mercury dropped to a record 45 below. The former record for Dec. 7 was minus-39, set in 1927. In Denver, where temperatures dropped to minus-11, police found the body of a homeless man huddled against a fence. Sub-zero weather overcame Jackson, Wyo., at minus-27, and Bozeman and Butte Butte, city, United States Butte (by  t), city (1990 pop. 33,336), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It is a trade, ranching, and industrial center. , Mont., at minus-26. It was so cold in Casper, Wyo. - 24 below - that Rita Renner warmed up her car for 10 minutes and could still barely leave the driveway. ``The knobs didn't want to turn,'' said Renner of the Casper Area Chamber of Commerce in central Wyoming. ``Nothing worked too well. We're so cold it didn't do much good.'' By noon, she said, it was sunny and clear and the mercury had reached 3 degrees. ``It feels like a heat wave.'' And while residents of Los Angeles bundle up in fleece and leather jackets at the mere thought of 40-degree weather, many Midwesterners seemed to be taking the bone-chilling temperatures in stride. At a cafe bookstore in West Yellowstone - a cross-country ski and snowmobile mecca where nighttime temperatures hit minus-45 - Susan Nesbitt refused to believe the mercury. ``It was cold, but not that cold,'' said Nesbitt, a Santa Barbara native who came to learn that earrings could cause frostbite frostbite (chilblains), injury to the tissue caused by exposure to cold, usually affecting the extremities of the body, such as the hands, feet, ears, or nose. Extreme cold causes the small blood vessels in the extremities to constrict. in such weather. ``Hot chocolate is a big seller - homemade hot chocolate, not the stuff with powder in it.'' At The Blue Moose Bar & Grill in East Grand Forks, Minn., residents flocked to chicken a la king and baked potato soup. Outside, snow piled to the antlers antlers metaphorical decoration for deceived husband. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 395] See : Cuckoldry of two life-size blue moose statues out front. The overnight temp: minus-5 degrees. ``They like a little warmth going down the tummy,'' said Blue Moose owner Dave Homstad, who considered it a warm and sunny day. ``If the snow squeaks, it's cold. If it crunches, it's nice. It's crunching.'' At Spirit of the North Dog Sled sled, vehicle that moves by sliding. A sledge is typically a heavier, load-carrying sled drawn by a horse or dog, while a sleigh is a partially enclosed horse-drawn vehicle with runners that has seats for passengers. Adventures in Ennis, Mont., about 70 miles north of West Yellowstone, Connie Sperry said it was too cold for mushing
``People just don't have a good time when it's that cold,'' she said. ``The dogs can do it as long as they're not out there very long - you take a chance at freezing their lungs.'' While the Midwest froze, Angelenos lit their furnaces and reached for their jackets during the early morning chill. By midday, however, temperatures had hit the lukewarm 70s. While a classic La Nina weather system has brought cool, dry weather to Los Angeles, the jet stream that dropped 5 inches of rain last December has now struck the American hinterland. At Lake Balboa, Gillian McDonald couldn't believe the weather as she walked her basset hound basset hound, breed of short-legged, long-bodied hound developed centuries ago in France. It stands from 12 to 15 in. (30.1–38.1 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 25 to 50 lb (11.3–22.7 kg). around the lake. ``It's wonderful,'' said McDonald, 64, of Sherman Oaks. ``This is perfect good-to-be-alive weather. It's just bliss.'' While many Midwesterners said they would take the cold over L.A. congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. and traffic, others were not so sure. At Miller's Bar in Dearborn, Mich., which hit 18 degrees by 2 p.m., manager Matthew Ford said it was definitely a two-cheeseburger-and-beans day. ``They're loaded down - scarves, hats, boots, everything,'' said Ford, no relation to the car-making maverick, of his customers. ``I wish I were in L.A.'' Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color) A homeless man wakes up as Denver police Officer Ed Valerio approaches him as he sleeps on a grate in sub-zero temperatures in Denver. Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post (2 -- 3) A homeless man, left sleeps on a grate in Downtown Denver. He was awakened by police and provided with shelter. Above, some Midwesterners would surely trade places with Chris Phelps and Justin Forfia, who kick back in beach chairs at Malibu's Westward Beach on their lunch break Wednesday. Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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