“Teeth-chattering” cold winter expected locally
In this 2018 file photo, Amber Leezer clears snow from in front of her floral shop, Angel’s Secret Flowers, on Main Street in Monongahela while her daughter Alizabeth, 9, gathers snow to make a snow turtle after snowy conditions cancelled school.
Metrocreative
Applying caulking around drafty windows can make a home more energy efficient.
With the hot weather of the summer now a distant memory, a bitterly-cold winter is on the way in our area, and people can start preparing so that bitterness doesn’t hit their wallet.
Snow showers are predicted as early as Saturday in some local communities and could come again next week, according to the National Weather Service.
It sounds like something we may have to get used to — more than usual — over the next few months.
Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, said their 2019 edition includes a chilling winter forecast.
“We’re saying it’s going to be a teeth-chattering cold winter with a fair amount of snow,” Geiger said. “We talk about it being a cold winter, we talk about three storms in December.”
Geiger said they don’t specify if the storms predicted are just snow or snow and ice; however, he said Christmas will bring a wintry mix of ice and snow.
“In January, we have three or four storms with one big storm,” Geiger said, adding they believe the coldest part of the winter will be from Feb. 12 to 16 or 18. “Last year, the coldest part of winter was in January, but we think it will be in the middle part of February.”
Geirger also predicted some snowstorms in March.
“So, when you think spring is here, it’s probably not going to be here,” he said, adding that they’re looking at a snowstorm sometime between March 28 to 31 and even April seeing a rain/snow mixture. “I would say, typically in the Pittsburgh area, last part of March will be the end of winter.”
Geiger said the almanac will have information on “winter hacks” like removing the floor mats from your car and placing them under your tires if you’re stuck during a bad snowstorm to give traction, and placing a plastic bag over car mirrors at night and remove them in the morning to avoid mirrors getting frosted.
“Things like that to help people get through the winter,” Geiger said.
David Meredith, an associate professor of engineering at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, also has some hacks in the form of tips to save money when the weather turns cold.
Meredith’s course on Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection shows different areas to look at when it comes to home heating loss, starting with the walls.
Meredith said if the insulation in walls is shorter than four inches thick, install additional insulation if it’s possible.
The second deals with the windows, where 25 percent of heat exits the house. An easy fix is to put a plastic seal around the window pane that tightens when hit with a hair dryer.
“A single pane window loses $1 per square foot each season,” Meredith said.
Another source of heat leakage in a home comes through various gaps throughout the house that can equate to having a 3×3-foot hole in your house to the outside.
“The idea is to cut down the gaps,” Meredith said.
Meredith said a quick look outside the house to see if any wires going into a house or anything that’s penetrating the house is caulked at the wall to prevent cold air from entering.
Inside the house, Meredith said caulking can be done around light fixtures coming from the ceiling with the exception of can lighting, light-switch panels and electrical outlets should have some type of prefabricated Styrofoam that goes behind those plates.
“Most people don’t realize how many outlets they have,” Meredith said.
Other gaps around a house that Meredith said are possible problems include the wooden doors and windows, where, if closed on a dollar bill, the bill shouldn’t easily slide through.
“If a dollar bill can slide in, then air can go through and money goes out,” Meredith said, adding that installing weatherstripping can cut that gap down significantly and step-by-step guides can be found on YouTube.
Other areas Meredith said to look is an access door to an attic, a fireplace and especially the basement, which is the top place for leaking cold air.
In the basement, Meredith said to look for gaps in the foundation where the wood of the house sits on the concrete of the basement and caulk those gaps and place cut 16-inch fiberglass to fit in the rafters of the basement.
Meredith even challenges his students to save enough energy that equals the cost of a barrel of oil, which is normally the result they get.
“Think about the money you spend at one time, and the money you save year after year,” Meredith said. “Forty percent of energy bills can be saved with simple processes like that.”