Just a few articles from KTTC, a Rochester, MN Tv station. URLs
provided.

Comment: In the first article, the city is furnishing hoses. I got a
laugh out of this. While they may be doing all they can, it's obvious
that the hoses will freeze up. Kind of a wasted effort....

[Note] This is in southern MN, it gets worse to the north....

---

http://www.kttc.com/story/24667730/2...ro-water-pipes

Cold temps freeze Lanesboro water pipes
Posted: Updated:
By Devin Bartolotta, Anchor/Reporter


LANESBORO, Minn. (KTTC) -- As of Friday afternoon 20 Lanesboro homes and
one Bed and Breakfast were without water due to frozen pipes.

City officials are doing their best to bypass the system. However, they
say they're getting an average of one call per hour about the problem.
"We woke up Monday morning and turned on the faucet and we didn't have
any (water)," said Glenn Nyenhuis.

He has lived in his Lanesboro home for eight years and says he's never
had problems with pipes freezing until this week.

"There wasn't any water coming into the meter, so they knew it was froze
up somewhere between here and the main out on the street," he said.

Pipes are buried six feet underground, but with a deep freeze and no
snow to help insulate, city administrators are trying to help dozens
dealing with faucets that no longer work.

"We're out purchasing hoses currently," said David Todd, the Lanesboro
City Administrator. "And we're running a hose from a house that is not
affected to a house that is affected."

But even that isn't flawless. Glenn said although he had water running
in the house, the hose froze up anyway. Officials say if you do have
water, keep it running.

"In order to keep the water lines from freezing, we need to have those
lines charged," Todd said. "And the only way to keep those lines
charged is to keep the lines on in the house at a slow drip or a
trickle."

The good news is it won't be costing residents much to keep the water
running, if anything at all.

"What we'll do is conduct an average and deduct that from their current
utility bill so they're not paying an exorbitant amount for water
usage," Todd said.

Todd said with no sign of the weather letting up, he expects to see this
problem continue.

If you don't have a neighbor close enough to run a garden hose, there's
always Nyenhuis' idea.

"It would have been a possibility to go out in the backyard and dig a
hole and put a building over it. That's the way I grew up, and that's no
fun," he said.


--------------------

http://www.kttc.com/story/24686179/2...th-gets-deeper

Frost depth gets deeper
Posted:
By Jonathan Kegges, Meteorologist

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- We're hearing a lot more about freezing pipes
as the deep frost just keeps getting deeper. This of course due to the
extreme and prolonged cold.

"One foot, two foot, three foot," said MnDOT Material Lab Supervisor Ken
DeCramer. "And we're only half way there. Four foot, five foot
eight-and-a-half inches."

MnDOT keeps tabs on frost depth for potential road issues when the
thawing starts come spring, but we're still freezing and as temperatures
keep dropping, problems are rising.

"I've been monitoring frost in the district for 25 years and this is the
deepest I've seen," said DeCramer.

Across the area several 6-and-a-half-foot-long devices measure how deep
the frost lies in the ground. A florescent dye is used to differentiate
where the ground is frozen to where it's not.

"We've had so many days in a row where it's been below zero and that's
where you see the deep penetration," said DeCramer.

"We haven't been that way for a long time, there's some records that go
way back. If you go further north, up in northern, Minnesota it's off
the charts. You can't even see it," said Mike Dougherty of MnDOT.

The frost in the ground keeps growing and it is already at levels we
haven't seen in these parts in almost 30 years. Temperatures would
suggest that, as we are also climbing the ladder in terms of coldest
winters of all time. In comparison to date, we have about a foot more of
frost than last year.

"Back here in December we're doing all right, but since then it's been
dropping," said Dougherty.

And in some cases where soil is a little different in Lanesboro or
Winona, frost depths are deeper and will continue to get deeper until
long term relief arrives.

MnDOT keeps track of the frost because of the potential road issues that
it can cause such as pot holes. Once the frost starts to come out, it
does so unevenly and that's why there are weight restrictions on roads.
The more frost, the higher the potential for problems. It's a bridge
MnDOT will have to cross when it gets there.

On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 14:04:11 -0600, wrote:

Just a few articles from KTTC, a Rochester, MN Tv station. URLs
provided.


Many Lies Snipped

All of this propaganda of the phony record cold gripping our nation is
being fed to anyone that will listen. The vast majority of scientists
have proven beyond a doubt that we are in the beginning of a global
warming disaster. Only responsible people can help prevent this
disaster from turning our planet into a wasteland.

Sincerely,
Al Gore

Well, that's your problem, right there.

Here in Winnipeg, a typical winter's frost line is about 6 feet deep, so our water supply and sewer pipes are buried much deeper than 6 feet.

If the water pipes are only 6 feet deep in Minnesota, and we're having a particularily cold winter, then the ground will freeze to that depth and more just like it does in Winnipeg, and that's why the pipes are frozen.

Burying the pipes only 6 feet deep because that's normally been sufficient in the past is like drowning while crossing a stream that has an average depth of only 1 foot.

Per Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.:
All of this propaganda of the phony record cold gripping our nation is
being fed to anyone that will listen. The vast majority of scientists
have proven beyond a doubt that we are in the beginning of a global
warming disaster. Only responsible people can help prevent this
disaster from turning our planet into a wasteland.

"Climate is what you expect.
Weather is what you get."

Mark Twain
--
Pete Cresswell