Single Digit Temperature’s Tonight

I always remember my Dad telling me at a very early age that if you can see the stars at night in the winter it means real cold weather. He explained how the cloud cover holds heat in like a blanket and if your looking at clear skies expect the hard freeze. The forecast for tonight still calling for a very slight chance of snow before 11pm otherwise skies will be clearing with overnight lows around 9. Brrrrr...

Here are a few tips and things to remember when the weather and nights especially turn brutally cold.

Make sure you know where the water valve is to shut the water off to your home. Most normally you will find it in the basement, a crawl space or on a wall facing the street.
Make sure all your hoses are disconnected from the outside spig0ts. If you have some piping sticking out it might be wise to cover them with something to insulate them unless you have a shut off valve for those as well. If so, close those valves and open the spigot outside to drain the line.
Pipes close to exterior walls or in unheated basements should be insulated. That includes pipes near windows, which can quickly freeze. Caution: Improper use of heat tape can cause fires.
Leave all water taps slightly open so they drip continuously.
If you have pipes in areas that may freeze you can improve the circulation of heat near those pipes by opening doors like kitchen cabinet doors beneath the kitchen sink etc.
Don't ever leave pets or animals outside without some sort of shelter and heat.

Here are some "after hour" numbers to keep on hand in case those water mains or pipes break around your house: