A tad chilly

Not as far as I know; if so, just a tiny amount. Most of the destination ports are quite a distance from the ore sources. The steel mills know the season schedules and can plan ahead for production rates and to build up some surplus to carry production through the period when the shipping is closed, plus they also can take advantage of a planned down period for scheduled maintenance, just like the ships. But when the season is ready to open, the steel plants need new ore delivered right then. That's why in years with more ice they go to such extremes to get the shipping channels broken open through the ice and give the ships full escorts and convoys if necessary, rather than saying "hey, let's just wait a few more weeks". As surplus ore stockpiles dwindle at the end of the winter, it's crucial that the steel mills receive new deliveries.

It wouldn't be possible to replace the role of the ships by rail if something unplanned happened to the Poe Lock. The rail lines and necessary hoppers just aren't there. It would take 200-300 of the largest rail ore hoppers to carry a single freighter ore load, plus locomotives and a robust rail line that could handle constant heavy loads. There are iron ore trains that large that run, such as in Australia, but it's not a system that gets whipped up overnight.

I was just getting ready to quote and comment on your initial post. I've been watching this storm system off and on since it was in Mississippi-- I've got a cousin in Oxford. I looked at the radar this afternoon and was thinking the worst of it might pass north of you. Guess not!

Anyway, glad it worked out, if it's over with, that is. I'd have a mental image of you sitting in your basement hugging your golf clubs during the storm, except I don't think very many houses in Florida have basements.

there aren't any basements compared to up north. most of fl is sand based. the only way to build up and down is on limestone. not much of it in central fl. 

i hope your cousin is well.

and, at 60-90 mph, i wouldn't be thinking about my clubs. plus, my cat has passed, and, in the hurricane or a situation like this, that would be my first thought.

  Looks like somebody is getting a little more snow this week!

seeing that 4 degree temp reminds me of why i moved south and quit working construction in those temps. 

every winter since i've moved (three now), i feel for my friends out there in the cold. 

This may or may not fit in this thread. My apologies if it doesn't. Scientist at Harvard have made advances in "high pressure physics".  Its never been done before. They created "metallic hydrogen"  I have no idea what the ramifications of this means.                       http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/01/a-breakthrough-in-high-pressure-physics/                      If you see anybody in the band "Metallica",  please don't tell them.

it fits, rjc, as cystem is a sucker for things like that. 

i am, too. 

quite a radical discovery where the impact of it may not be known for years.

I didn't look at the article yet (I will), but I imagine in addition to any potential direct uses such as rocket fuels, being able to create metallic hydrogen will prove useful for research on the interiors of Jupiter and other gas giants.

The temperatures are finally getting back to normal. This was an extended January thaw-- 11 straight days above freezing, and for a 6-day span in that period the entire daily high/low temperature range fell between 33°F and 39°F.

Now it's back to highs in the teens and 20s for the near future and things will be much less sloppy.

The normal temperatures are returning just in time for next weekend's I-500 snowmobile race at the Soo. They need a lot of days leading up to time trials and the race to be able to build up the track with more than a foot of solid ice base or it won't last through the race even if race day is cold. Obviously you can't add to the ice base when there's day (and night) after day (and night) after day (and night) that never goes below freezing.

 Oh sure, hog all the snow, why don't you!  I should have pulled up the 10 day forecast just to see how long that stretch of snow is supposed to last.

That's just flurries today, probably mostly after noon. Gaylord says there may not even be any accumulation here today-- maybe an inch or so between today and tomorrow. It seems like 50% of the time there are at least a few flakes coming down, even on days with no measurable snow. Thursday might be good for 2-3 inches but that's the only day for the next week with more than an inch forecast.

Of course, from the 3rd or 4th day outward from a forecast things can change. Aside from predictions of very large air masses, such as when the forecast is something like "deep cold all next week", I don't pay much attention to daily forecasts out past the 4th or 5th day, and I don't put much stock past the 3rd day. The problem is that most of the time the air mass/weather system that's going to be here a week from now is still out over the Pacific right now-- that air hasn't even started interacting with the continent yet, and it's got more than 1500 miles of continent to interact with before it gets to the Great Lakes. Lots of stuff can happen that might end up changing the originally expected path of a low pressure center by a few degrees, which can make all the difference between a sunny day at the Phailure Ranch and getting slammed with 18 inches of lake effect snow.

he can have it.

I just looked at the January data. The integrated average temperature at the Soo for January was 9.5°F above normal. That's a pretty damn big deviation, but it was only 13 months ago (December 2015) when the Soo's average temperature for a full month was 11.5°F above normal.

  I'm not sure what's the most days of snow in a row that I've seen but it's probably not more than two or three.  Meanwhile, it looks like it's been very steady for quite sometime in your neighborhood, CP.  I see some "big flakes" scheduled ahead, too.  Have any accumulation report for us?     

 (I sure don't like this low-contrast fad that has taken over.)

History in the making tonight folks    The entertainment will be an eclipse, a comet, and a full moon according to NBC. Check your local viewing times!!

  If the comet eclipses the full moon, I'll be impressed.

my wife, working in pa, texted me a few days ago there was a winter storm advisory for 12 hours. i responded that central fl had a warm weather advisory for the week.

Wow! Things are heating up fast at the Oroville Dam. Half an hour ago they boosted the emergency spillway flow from 55,000 to 100,000 cubic feet per second as they try to reduce pressure on the spillway before it fails. All of Yuba County is under a mandatory evacuation order and Highway 70 is jammed as people try to get the hell out of Dodge.

The Oroville Dam is the tallest dam in the U.S.-- 770 feet high.

The LA Times had a set of really impressive pics of the overflow this afternoon before everything went tits up this evening.

https://www.metabunk.org/oroville-dam-spillway-failure.t8381/