Colder Than The North Pole

There's an old saying in this part of Texas that "there's nothing between Amarillo and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence and half of it has blown down." There's a lot of truth in that. Sitting on the northern part of the Llano Estacado, there isn't much to protect us from a cold north wind in the winter. But yesterday morning a bit of North Pole weather would have been a respite for the residents of Amarillo.

The people of Amarillo woke up on Wednesday morning to a temperature of -4F. And there was enough wind to push the wind chill factor down to -20F. Suffice it to say that it was damn cold. And of course I had to get out in it. My car battery decided that was too cold and gave up and died. It was a lot of fun getting a new one -- not!

But the real kicker came when I checked the weather in the local newspaper (online version). That's when I learned that while Amarillo had a -4F, the North Pole was enjoying a downright balmy 12F (with a wind chill factor of only -2F). That just ain't right!

There's no way that any city in Texas, even in the Panhandle, should be colder than the North Pole. At least we weren't colder than the South Pole. Antarctica had a -24F. Oh well, at least Punxsutawney Phil couldn't see his shadow today.