The last time I stepped outside Thursday, around 5:30 p.m., there wasn’t much of anything remarkable about the weather. The temperature was in the mid-50s, about what we’ve come to expect this time of the year.

So, when I got up this morning around 6 to let the dogs out, I was not psychologically prepared for what had transpired in the subsequent 12 hours — a 40-degree drop in temperature.

My first thought: What the Elsa?

At 6:30 a.m., the temperature in Columbus was 8 degrees with a “feels like” temperature of -7. The “feels like” temperature is something weather folks came up with a while back to account for factors other than the temperature to express how it really feels — humidity, wind, etc. With winds out of the northwest at 12 mph (and gusts up to 21 mph) that projected high of 20 degrees is going to “feel” far colder than that.

Forecasts say the temperature may not get above freezing until Sunday afternoon at the earliest and the hours of above-32-degree temperatures required for a thorough thaw may not arrive until next week.

So It’s going to be a Frozen Christmas.

I intend to write a strongly-worded letter to the proper authorities to express my dissatisfaction over these conditions. Avoiding this sort of weather was one of the main reasons I moved back to Mississippi a dozen years ago.

Disapproval aside, I’m pretty well prepared for this weather event, even though I spent the better part of two days in a fruitless search for those styrofoam covers you put over faucets to keep from bursting. Not only could I not find them, I couldn’t find any sort of insulation wrap for pipes.

The end result is that I’ll have one fewer pool noodle this summer, having used the noodle as an improvised cover for my exposed faucets and pipes. You might give that a try if you still need to wrap pipes.

Mercifully, my Christmas shopping is complete and I have plenty of food. My plants have migrated inside, as well as my two “outside” dogs, both Great Danes. That’s 240 pounds of slobbering, snoring dairy-cows-disguised-as-dogs who are, at this moment, occupying all the sofa space in my home.

According to AAA, about a third of the U.S. population will be traveling at least 50 miles to celebrate Christmas. If you are among the travelers, I urge you to put together a winter car kit in the event of trouble. The kits should include blankets, gloves and hats, a flashlight with fresh batteries, jumper cables, snacks and water, phone charger and. If you are traveling where freezing rain or snow is expected, an ice scraper.

Also, drive a bit slower than you would under normal conditions.

If you’re sticking around, I encourage you to do a welfare check on your elderly or disabled friends, family and neighbors.

Most of us, I hope, are well situated to hunker down until the weather breaks. I suggest you do that. Stay off the roads as much as possible, not only for your safety but for those for whom the weather requires their services.

Police and fire and other first-responders will be busy, as well those who work in the utilities, plumbing and HVAC fields.

The worse the weather, the more their services are in demand, something I suspect isn’t emphasized when trade schools do their recruiting.

Our thoughts and prayers are with these folks.

No doubt that some of us will be better prepared for this weather than others. The crisis we escape may be visited upon others. Keep that in mind. We generally aren’t our best selves when we are in stressful situations. So let’s exercise an extra measure of grace and courtesy for those we encounter. You never know what they may be dealing with.

Stay warm, stay safe, care for others and have a Merry Christmas.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].