February 7.
The coldest night for a long, long time. People dreaded to go to bed. The ground cracked in the night as if a powder-mill had blown up, and the timbers of the house also.
Sheets froze stiff about the faces. My pail of water was frozen in the morning so that I could not break it. The latches are white with frost, and every nail-head in entries, etc., has a white cap.
Thermometer at about 7.30 A. M. gone into the bulb, -19° at least.
The cold has stopped the clock.
Though this day is at length more moderate than yesterday, it has got more into the houses and barns. Yesterday, the 6th, will be remembered as the cold Tuesday.
The old folks still refer to the Cold Friday, when they sat before great fires of wood four feet long, with a fence of blankets behind them, and water froze on the mantelpiece. But they say this is as cold as that was.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 7, 1855
The coldest night for a long, long time. .See February 6, 1855 ("They say it did not rise above -6° to-day."); January 9, 1856 ("Probably it has been below zero for the greater part of the day."); January 23, 1857 ("I may safely say that -5° has been the highest temperature to-day”); February 8, 1861 ("Coldest day yet ; – 22 ° at least ( all we can read ), at 8 A. M., and, ( so far ) as I can learn, not above -6 ° all day.") Compare February 7, 1857 ("Another warm day, the snow fast going off. . . . The thermometer was at 52° when I came out at 3 p.m."
Thermometer at about 7.30 A. M. gone into the bulb, -19° at least.
The cold has stopped the clock.
Though this day is at length more moderate than yesterday, it has got more into the houses and barns. Yesterday, the 6th, will be remembered as the cold Tuesday.
The old folks still refer to the Cold Friday, when they sat before great fires of wood four feet long, with a fence of blankets behind them, and water froze on the mantelpiece. But they say this is as cold as that was.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 7, 1855
The coldest night for a long, long time. .See February 6, 1855 ("They say it did not rise above -6° to-day."); January 9, 1856 ("Probably it has been below zero for the greater part of the day."); January 23, 1857 ("I may safely say that -5° has been the highest temperature to-day”); February 8, 1861 ("Coldest day yet ; – 22 ° at least ( all we can read ), at 8 A. M., and, ( so far ) as I can learn, not above -6 ° all day.") Compare February 7, 1857 ("Another warm day, the snow fast going off. . . . The thermometer was at 52° when I came out at 3 p.m."
Cold Friday... See January 11, 1857 ("Mother remembers the Cold Friday very well. She lived in the house where I was born. The people in the kitchen — Jack Garrison, Esther, and a Hardy girl — drew up close to the fire, but the dishes which the Hardy girl was washing froze as fast as she washed them, close to the fire. They managed to keep warm in the parlor by their great fires.") According to Historic Storms of New England 180 "January 19, 1810, is the date of the famous day known in the annals of New England as "Cold Friday." It was said to have been the severest day experienced here from the first settlement of the country to that time.”
It snowed Monday and a little bit each day and it is snowing lightly now we get out our snowshoes for the first time since December and hike up to the view I get winded making my own trail The snow is very light it is dark by the time we get up there and we use headlamps to return via the Undercliff trail the snow reflected in the light is dazzling watching it fall you can see the six sided crystals And anywhere you look you can find them on the hemlocks but the side of the trail on your parka etc. six sided flat crystals like a myriad of mirrors It is a lot easier going down than up the temperature may be 16 to 20° We pull ice and snow off the dogs and dry them when we get back fairly early 7 o’clock
Dazzling in the light
a myriad of mirrors
six sided crystals.
February 7, 2015 zphx
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