I read an article recently, relating to a survey of people who live in extremely cold climates and their thoughts on Global Warming. The general consensus was, "Bring it on".

Although school busses do stop running in bad weather and bad road conditions, here, I have never heard of a school closing. They have indoor recess when the combined temperature and windchill are lower than minus 20.

Indoor recess for our kids again today --- and probably for the rest of this week.

As for schools closing here, those schools considered rural (the one my kids attend is considered a rural school) close if the buses don't run --- the reason being that 80-90% (or even a higher percentage) of the students attending the rural schools get there by bus. (Schools in town where 50% (or higher percentage) of students walk do remain open even when the buses don't run.)

For the past week or so, in southern England, we've been experiencing my favourite type of weather - very cold with clear skies. No snow, but heavy frost in the morning.
This morning I went mountain biking locally in the Lea Valley Regional Park, an area of lakes, woods and heathland. The lakes were about 50% frozen over, but the birds didn't seem to mind. A large group of greylag geese took off as I cycled past, making a wonderful sight, and later a group of mute swans flew in to land very near a bridge I was crossing - another great sight! I also saw a truly beautiful black swan, an Australian 'immigrant', though undoubtedly bred in England and escaped from captivity. These swans do quite well here, and seem to cope just fine with cold weather.
This afternoon, my wife and I went for a walk round a nearby bird reserve, still very cold, but with blue skies, and saw various birds, but perhaps the most interesting creature was a beautiful mink, which had no fear of us, and gambolled playfully while I took a number of photos of it. We saw it again later, and it appeared to seek our company, playing and running along the path in front of us. It was so lacking in fear, that I believe it must have been another 'escapee', possibly a former pet? Unfortunately, though beautiful though these animals may be, they are highly efficient hunters, and will create mayhem with the breeding birds, eggs and chicks in a couple of months time. We reported it to the wardens, and hopefully it can be caught alive.
Nice day on the whole, and the forecast is more of the same, with high possibility of snow later this week.

Yesterday and today, we've hit or nearly hit 70°F (21°C). Just five days ago I was seeing snow falling, and just two days ago I had some serious frost on my car...the temperature that morning was 23°F (-5°C).

As there are many queries about Aussie weather I thought this link to the weather in Queensland may help, where there is so much rain in the north of the state that it is flooded, and no rain in the south of the state where there is a drought.
http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/

bom is the 'Bureau of Meteorology'.

I am in northern Wisconsin, USA.

I have been getting this in my e-mail all week and just got another. CC&P from the weather service in Green Bay.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM CST THURSDAY.
WIND CHILL READINGS ARE EXPECTED TO DROP TO BETWEEN 25 AND 30 BELOW ZERO. WIND CHILLS IN THIS RANGE CAN CAUSE FROSTBITE IN 20 TO 30 MINUTES.
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR & STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE & LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS.MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.
~Joanie~

I thought 7.3°C was cold. We have strong wind and squally showers, even had a bit of hail and a bit of thunder.

We are not promised any snow.

Joanie we've had weather like that for the last couple of weeks.
We're starting to slowly creep out of the snap though, it's actually going to be -10 today with a windchill of only -20.
Hmmm, we're talking Celcius here, are you talking Farenheit? If you are, it is colder there, although at some point they do even out.
This is the first year in I can't remember how long that we have had snow stay on the ground for over a month. Usually it snows and melts in an endless cycle, but this snow has stuck around since the beginning of January.
There hasn't been a whole lot more added to it mind you, but this is more like the winters that I remember as a child.

Skunkee ~ Yes Farenheit. I live in the snow belt, and usually by this time of year when I walk down my driveway, it's like walking through a tunnel.

This year we barely got any snow. People down south got more snow than us. It's always been fun to tease my Canadian friends to stop sending me their snow. If I had a choice between snow and this dangerous cold snap, I would choose snow.

It gets difficult talking to someone outside...all our words freeze into letters of the alphabet which have to be gathered up, taken into the kitchen to be put into a frying pan to melt so we can read what the conversation was about. (Okay, so I stretched it a bit LOL) But this certainly isnt Global warming...it's an Ice Age Brrrr!
~Joanie~

Been snowing on and off all day in Cheshire. Light dusting all over, but the snow isn't sticking. But the schoolchildren enjoyed snow fights on their way to school

Things will be a-changing here. Monday will see rain and thunderstorms, then Wednesday...more snow. If we see snow, it'd be the 6th time we've seen it in one winter. I was gearing up for a harder winter than normal, but wasn't looking to see quite this much snow.

Anyone want some rain and high winds?

No thank you. In combination with minus 17 and heavy snow, it would be unpleasant.

It`s raining here in Sydney!! It`s been raining since yesterday and it`s great. I hope the water catchment areas are getting as much if not more than we are, it would be nice to see the dams full again. I went outside this morning and decided that it was time to wash the car,using the rain and a sponge with the water puddled in my ute tray cover the car finally looks clean.

The people across the road from me are using buckets to get water from the gutter and are filling up a couple of water tanks that they haven`t connected to their own house gutters.

I don`t think it will rain enough for the mandatory water restrictions to be lifted here but any rainfall is always welcome.

That is really great news Roos.

It really is super news!
We seem to finally be emerging from our cold snap over here.

60 degrees, just drying out after a heavy rain that didn't stop all day.

Anyone from New York state got weather information for us???
Glad to hear you are getting some rain in Australia and hope you get enough to lift the restrictions.

Well, I'm up here in Fort Drum, NY and it's snowing sideways out there. No school today for the kids and even the cat who always wants to be outside all the time won't even sit in an open window. My son's snowmen are covered with new snow and my car's out there somewhere! We've had loads of snow in the last week or so and I have the backache to prove it but it could be worse. Some of the cities and villages an hour south of here (Syracuse area) have been harder hit. CNN had been broadcasting from Oswego last week and predicted that their area could reach the 100 inch mark for snowfall by last weekend; I bet they've surpassed it by now. The local temps will reach about 11 degrees Fahrenheit according to the news but I beg to differ. Who can tell with all the wind?

Edited for spelling and punctuation ~

Well we finally got our snowfall - first snowstorm of the season, and hopefully the last (but I'm not holding my breath).
We got a couple of feet dumped on us overnight and schools are closed. The winds were pretty high, creating some interesting drifts.
The sidewalk from our front door was bare, but the adjacent flower bed had drifts of over three feet. My husband's car was completely buried but my van is essentially bare, except for one side.
My dog (a white German Shepherd) went into the backyard, and it was over chest deep. She had a ball bounding around in it.
My son got the driveway nicely dug out, but they are calling for more by the end of the week.
It's bitterly cold, so the snow is fluffy. It's not good for packing, but lighter to shovel that way.