We've had some very cold weather the past week or two, colder than most winters. In fact, the coldest local temperature in 25 years was registered a few days ago. February, it was just announced, was the coldest windiest month in even longer.

One day last week my wife and I were saying with some pride that our house these days tended not to have much frost. Not like when we were kids. And next morning, this is what greeted us on our windows.