Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Coldest Weather I've been in

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,324
Location
Ontario
Temperature is -20C this morning, by the mercury. We've had it that low a few times this winter, but only with wind chill dragging it down. Today it's a genuine -20C. I will wait a few hours to let the sun warm things up before I go for a walk.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,252
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
Here in very northwestern Westchester, it's currently 2 degrees with a vicious wind. At least we got a lot less snow yesterday than folks to the south and east of here: some places got over a foot!
 

thor

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,009
Location
NYC, NY
We got 10 inches of snow on the road, and 6 inch thick ice on the river. Great day to be a ferry boat pilot.
image.jpg
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,324
Location
Ontario
On Wednesday we got hammered here in SoOnt although I did manage to make it to my client's office and back. Temperatures have been extremely cold again and it's getting tiring. For some reason even inside I can't seem to get warm. This too shall pass...
 

Fanch

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,490
Location
Texas
On Wednesday we got hammered here in SoOnt although I did manage to make it to my client's office and back. Temperatures have been extremely cold again and it's getting tiring. For some reason even inside I can't seem to get warm. This too shall pass...

Even cold in N central Texas lately but nothing like what my neighbors to the far north are experiencing. The only thing worse is August in Dallas, Texas!
 

robrinay

One Too Many
Messages
1,490
Location
Sheffield UK
The coldest 'weather' i've been in was in the Summer of 1976 in Nottingham UK when my last holiday job before taking up a teaching post was working as a packer for Walls Ice Cream. It was a record heatwave but I spent most of it at -15 degrees C wearing what I was told was Canadian Army Arctic Gear.
:eeek:
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,324
Location
Ontario
Temperatures here in SoOnt are finally lingering around the freezing point, but the wind is making sure that it feels much colder. I want this bulls**t winter gone and I want it gone now!
 

Hal

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
UK
Dr Damage, I only wish we'd had some real winter in the UK. Eight months of above-average temperatures, and nearly three months of continuous wind and rain, with flooding and other damage - low temperatures and snow would have been preferable, I think! One can dress for the cold and regulate one's comfort this way FAR more easily than in the heat of summer.
 

Stand By

One Too Many
Messages
1,741
Location
Canada
So over the weekend, Toronto had it's 35th Extreme Cold Weather Alert this winter ... and it was lifted yesterday, so this morning's pre-dawn dog walk in the wood/park was still darn cold at -15C and, with the wind-chill, it was feeling like -24C. Nothing unusual in that ...
And then one of our three dogs ran waaay ahead of me (and I'm calling her but she's scenting something and I'm speaking Urdu) and, as she has a light on her collar, I saw her go down to the partially frozen river - then I heard her fall through the ice on the river. And her light wasn't moving.
I got to her as fast as I could - and sure enough, she's in the river at the steep bank trying to get out - and no way can she get out. She can't move and is surrounded by ice.
I got down the bank and tried to lift her out but the bank's too steep and she's too far below me to lift ... I've got to get her out - fast - so there's just nothing for it. I lowered myself into the icy river to get behind her to push her out ... and thank God - I touch the bottom of the river bed and the water's only chest height.
Oh, and I'm wearing my ELC Irvin and C3 beneath that and Buzz A-10s .
I push her out and she's safe - and then I can't pull myself out for the same reason she couldn't get out! (and that was the most frightening moment - as I'd been in there for about 1.5 mins and I could feel my thought processing actually slowing down - so now I have to get out fast!) - so I broke the ice to my right and heaved myself out further upstream where there were tree roots to grab ...
I got out on my hands and knees. Then I started to really feel the cold. Hooked the dogs up to my umbilical leashes and got to the car ASAFP - and amazingly the car key operated the locks okay (as they'd been in my back pocket). By this time I was covered in a strange ice - like frosting. Couldn't un-do to leashes as the hasps were all suddenly frozen solid (as they'd been in the river with me).
Got home, peeled off all my soaked gear (and my flannel-lined pants were like hard cardboard) and showered.
That's no way to start a Monday morning, I tell you. And I hadn't even had a coffee yet! And as I type this, I still feel chilled (though I feel warm), my chest feels wheezy (though I'm not remotely asthmatic) and strangely I can't stop coughing.

I can now say that the novelty of Winter has worn off for me - and I am royally done with it. Let the warm weather come. Bring it on.
 
Last edited:

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
So over the weekend, Toronto had it's 35th Extreme Cold Weather Alert this winter ... and it was lifted yesterday, so this morning's pre-dawn dog walk in the wood/park was still darn cold at -15C and, with the wind-chill, it was feeling like -24C. Nothing unusual in that ...
And then one of our three dogs ran waaay ahead of me (and I'm calling her but she's scenting something and I'm speaking Urdu) and, as she has a light on her collar, I saw her go down to the partially frozen river - then I heard her fall through the ice on the river. And her light wasn't moving.
I got to her as fast as I could - and sure enough, she's in the river at the steep bank trying to get out - and no way can she get out. She can't move and is surrounded by ice.
I got down the bank and tried to lift her out but the bank's too steep and she's too far below me to lift ... I've got to get her out - fast - so there's just nothing for it. I lowered myself into the icy river to get behind her to push her out ... and thank God - I touch the bottom of the river bed and the water's only chest height.
Oh, and I'm wearing my ELC Irvin and C3 beneath that and Buzz A-10s .
I push her out and she's safe - and then I can't pull myself out for the same reason she couldn't get out! (and that was the most frightening moment - as I'd been in there for about 1.5 mins and I could feel my thought processing actually slowing down!) - so I broke the ice to my right and heaved myself out further upstream where there were tree roots to grab ...
I got out on my hands and knees. Then I started to really feel the cold. Hooked the dogs up to my umbilical leashes and got to the car ASAFP - and amazingly the car key operated the locks okay (as they'd been in my back pocket). By this time I was covered in a strange ice - like frosting. Couldn't un-do to leashes as the hasps were all suddenly frozen solid (as they'd been in the river with me).
Got home, peeled off all my soaked gear (and my flannel-lined pants were like hard cardboard) and showered.
That's no way to start a Monday morning, I tell you. And I hadn't even had a coffee yet! And as I type this, I still feel chilled (though I feel warm), my chest feels wheezy (though I'm not remotely asthmatic) and strangely I can't stop coughing.

I can now say that the novelty of Winter has worn off for me - and I am royally done with it. Let the warm weather come. Bring it on.

Boy you were lucky Stand By and so was the dog!

Pleased to hear you are OK. Don't know if you have access to one but back in northern Norway we used to jump in the sauna if we got seriously cold, warms you up completely.

Cheers and once again you're one lucky bugger :)

Tim
 

Fanch

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,490
Location
Texas
That's one of the most compelling stories that I have heard in a long time, and by far tops the list of anything else I have ever read on the FL. Both you and your dog are fortunate to be alive. I don't know what else to say that wouldn't come off as trivial. Very glad you are OK!!
 

Tomasso

Incurably Addicted
Messages
13,719
Location
USA
Jeez, what a nightmare! Glad you're here to tell the story after being in such a perilous situation.
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,324
Location
Ontario
Being located close by, I'm getting the same weather he's getting, and it's been savagely cold overnight the last few nights. He is indeed lucky to be alive. Good thing he was wearing those serious clothes otherwise he wouldn't have lasted as long as he did.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,298
Messages
3,078,206
Members
54,244
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top