Stormy weather

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Just two deg lower and you wouldn't have to care anymore if it is Celsius or Fahrenheit...

About 25 years ago we had a similar but colder cold snap.
A coworker from just out of town came in to work all grumpy.
Cold weather can do that to people, even those of us sort of used to it.
Turns out he was upset because the thermometer at his house read (only )-48 C.
He thought it would be much a better story to tell his grandchildren if it could have been just 2 degrees colder. -50 sounds so much colder than -48.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by petrw1

I might have to put on long pants and a sweater today

... And that's while you're still indoors!

When I was in high school, one of our neighbors' mother was visiting. She described some of the things that happened when it got to -40 or -50 F when she was growing up in Minnesota. One thing was, there would be frost on the inside doorknob.

I've read that the coming of air colder than -40 is sometimes heralded by a glittering mist, which is probably due to -40 being the temperature at which any excess moisture in the air spontaneously freezes out. I've also read that when it gets extremely cold, pine trees, or their branches, can explode.

Mercury solidifies around -40, and 100 proof liquor will freeze somewhere around that point.

[storm5510]

This is shirt sleeve weather for those folks.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by storm5510

This is shirt sleeve weather for those folks.

[bsquared]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

... And that's while you're still indoors!

When I was in high school, one of our neighbors' mother was visiting. She described some of the things that happened when it got to -40 or -50 F when she was growing up in Minnesota. One thing was, there would be frost on the inside doorknob.

This is a common problem for us here in MN. We run a whole-house humidifier in the winter so we won't all wake up with bloody noses. The drawback is that the inside door hinges frost up, and ice dams form on the inside of windows, where all that (relative - still only about 45%) humidity condenses. Just the other day we had a mini-waterfall occur indoors when sunny weather melted the ice dam that had formed on the top section of a 10-foot tall bay window. It's never good when we hear water running/splashing in the living room...

[kriesel]

When I was growing up in Wisconsin there was frost on the inside of the inner window panes of bedrooms in the winter. And the only humidifer was us. We could get quite a light show from the static discharges of the blankets.

[Dr Sardonicus]

It wasn't more than -15 C, but there was snow on the ground and it was powdery, when I indulged in a winter custom at a hot springs I was at long, long ago. The custom was, after being in the sauna for a while, people would run outside, naked, make "snow angels," and then go back into the sauna. It took a while before you really started feeling the cold, but once you did, it was time to run back to the sauna!

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

It took a while before you really started feeling the cold, but once you did, it was time to run back to the sauna!

Resonating with this. Somewhat along the lines of evolution in action...

Some of us grew up where we were exposed to extremes and were always told by our immediate caregivers not to put our tongue on anything cold.

Or, if you were that stupid for some reason, don't pull away. Wait for the teachers and the principal to come to the rescue with tepid water (some while screaming).

For some weird reason, at least one kid per year in my elementary school graduated with fewer tastebuds than most...

(A possibly weird, but true, story. When we got into later grades we played different tricks on each other dealing with low temperatures...)

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Resonating with this. Somewhat along the lines of evolution in action...

Some of us grew up where we were exposed to extremes and were always told by our immediate caregivers not to put our tongue on anything cold.

A documentary I watched several years ago about a group of men searching in Siberia for an intact frozen Wolly Mammoth. They decided to talk to some of the indigenous tribes which wandered the area. One man they spoke to was wearing only a red tee-shirt outside. The narrator says the temperature is -70°F. The old saying, "It's all in what a person is used to," certainly rings true in this instance. The man would not be able to tolerate the environment most of us are used to, and we could not tolerate his.

[Dr Sardonicus]

In a 2013 LA Times article about the (then) coldest temperature of 135.8 F or -93.2 C recorded by satellite in Antarctica, I found what is probably the most extreme "dash from the sauna" done anywhere:

If you haven't heard of the 300 Club, that's when those wintering at the Amundsen-Scott station observe the first day at 100 degrees below zero Fahrenheit by soaking in a sauna then dashing outside wearing nothing but their boots. That's a temperature change of 300 degrees.

[LaurV]

I remember when I was young and living with parents, during the tough Romanian winters when it got to -20°C, -30°C, and sometimes below, we always had trouble.... in wardrobes, chiffoniers, etc, , they were around the rooms on the walls and when you get over +20 inside the walls and under -20 outside the walls, then the dew point is exactly in your cupboard. So, if you don't let the cupboard open to warm the air inside, the air inside them gets colder because the wall behind is cold, and your clothes get soaked and you smell like wet dog all day.