The scold in Mother Nature's cold: It's winter! Wear a coat! (VIDEO)

“By this time last year we had already had two significant freezes from December,” she says. To top it off, cold weather extended into Mexico, damaging the vegetable crop there. In Yuma, Ariz., the lettuce crop was badly damaged by two successive days of temperatures below 20 degrees. By the spring, vegetable prices had risen by 50 percent and food prices as a whole had risen at their fastest pace since 1974.

The heating-oil industry says the cold snap is not affecting supply either. The temperature has not been cold enough to freeze up the rivers that are used to transport the heavy oil to inland areas. In addition, consumers have been steadily switching from heating oil to natural gas, which has been a lot more stable in price.

Even more importantly, consumers are doing their best to control their fuel usage.

“Over the last nine years, the average customer is using 30 percent less fuel,” says John Huber, the president of the National Oilheat Research Alliance in Alexandria, Va. “They are doing it through better insulation, better [oil] burners, and turning down the thermostat,” says Mr. Huber. “Seven to eight years ago, the average household consumed 800 to 900 gallons of fuel in a winter; now, they consume 600 to 700 gallons per household.”

Unfortunately for heating-oil consumers, the price of fuel has been rising because the price of crude oil has been high all fall and early winter amid tensions in the Middle East. Last week, President Obama signed a law that makes it harder for companies to deal with the Iranian Central Bank. On Monday, Iran talked about closing down the Straits of Hormuz. This bumped the price of oil up 4 percent for the day.

“With all this talk about going to war in the Middle East, it gives the speculators one more reason to pump up the prices,” says Mr. Huber.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price in the US is $3.83 a gallon, a record price. This time last year, the price was $3.31 a gallon.

The cold weather may also limit the amount of time the Republican candidates in New Hampshire spend outdoors. On Wednesday, Lebanon, N.H., a stopping off point for many candidates, was in the teens.

“The candidates are going to need some heavy duty winter garb,” says Mohler. “But, by this weekend they will be taking it off because the temperatures will be in the 40s.”

Once the Eastern third of the nation warms up, it won’t get cold again until later next week, says Mohler. “It does look like next week is going to be more normal,” he predicts.

After that it seems the month may turn colder and maybe even snowier. “If you are a snow lover or skier it looks like there are some better days ahead,” he predicts.

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