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

Aerojoe

Practically Family
Messages
587
Location
Basque Country
You have a 'Polar vortex' coming this Sunday, 5th in the USA;

The temperature predictions are startling: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. At those temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can quickly set in because wind chills could hit 50, 60 or even 70 below zero.

Rock and roll!

If anybody really hits -70F, please post a pic :D
 

Worf

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,207
Location
Troy, New York, USA
You have a 'Polar vortex' coming this Sunday, 5th in the USA;

The temperature predictions are startling: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. At those temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can quickly set in because wind chills could hit 50, 60 or even 70 below zero.

Rock and roll!

If anybody really hits -70F, please post a pic :D

Nobody I know has a thermometer that GOES that low!!!!

-10 = Damn cold.
-20 = Too damn cold.
-30 = Bloody Hell!
-70 = WTF!!!!!

Worf
 

CaramelSmoothie

Practically Family
Messages
892
Location
With my Hats
OFF TOPIC:
At this time of year, feral cats may try to get up inside the car around the engine to seek warmth, please be sure to bang on the car several times and wait for a minute (just in case there is a cat in there to give it time to wake up and crawl out) before starting up the car.
 

Aerojoe

Practically Family
Messages
587
Location
Basque Country
Nobody I know has a thermometer that GOES that low!!!!

Mine only goes to -22F [huh]

-10 = Damn cold.
-20 = Too damn cold.
-30 = Bloody Hell!
-70 = WTF!!!!!

For me;

30 = I'll get by
20 = I'm starting to feel it, let me take my gloves
-10 = Shearling time. My ears about to explode, nose ok, butt starting to freeze off.
-20 = Ears and nose already exploding, ass totally freezed off
-30 = Let's see if N-3B really works. If I didn't make it back home by 8pm, it really didn't work.
-40 and beyond = I guess I woke up in the USA right under that 'polar vortex' of yours :eusa_doh:
 
Messages
15,563
Location
East Central Indiana
1558494_10152124012663905_539571243_n.jpg

Indiana blizzard of 1978...drifts on e/w country highway.
HD
 

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
When I lived in the Salt Lake City area several years ago, my church asked me to help out with its Boy Scout troop. Fine, I said; I was in Boy Scouts when I was a kid, and I'd earned my Eagle Scout rank, so I felt pretty prepared.

Wrong. Hoo boy, was I wrong.

The troop was run by a guy who--I swear--was trying to turn the boys into Navy SEALs. Every activity we had resulted in me bleeding, it seemed. (I flipped over my bike's handlebars while mountain biking, got slammed into a rock face by my spotter while rappelling, etc.) However, the activity that nearly did me in was snow-caving.

For those who don't know, a snow-cave is a survival shelter. If you're stuck in a frozen landscape and have to get out of the wind, and if there's no better shelter around, you can dig a hole in the snow (there's some technique to it, but that's really basically it). They're not exactly warm--though some people will argue 'til they're blue in the face that snow-caves are perfectly comfortable, but DON'T BELIEVE THEM--but they'll be warmer than the surrounding area.

I was busy helping the boys dig their snow-caves, and I didn't have time to dig mine before the sun went down. In desperation, I threw my gear into a hole under a picnic table at the campsite. (Why was there a hole leading underneath a picnic table, you ask? Simple! The boys later told me they saw a coyote coming out of it before I usurped its den.)

Problem was, I got lots of snow on my gear in the process of shoving it all into the hole. I woke up a couple hours later soaking wet; my body heat had melted the snow. So there I was, trying to sleep in a coyote den, soaking wet, high in the Wasatch Mountains, freezing to death. And a blizzard had moved in.

At that point, I figured that I'd fought the good fight. I had sworn that I'd never ask the boys to do something that I wouldn't do myself, but I was starting to worry that hypothermia would set in. I found the keys to the supply truck in my gear, ventured out into the blizzard, found the truck, and got in. I cranked the engine--I didn't care if I woke up the entire canyon--and turned the heat up as high as it would go. The seat in the truck was covered with a filthy blanket, but I didn't care; I wrapped myself in it, turned the engine off (so I wouldn't asphyxiate) and fell asleep. Every hour or so, the cold would wake me up, so I'd crank the engine again, fire up the heater, and repeat the process.

When I finally got home the next morning, I found that I'd lost three pounds overnight from all the shivering I'd done. It was a stupid campout to have. We shouldn't have gone--I only went out of a sense of duty and wanting to help the kids survive. As it was, another troop was snow-caving that same night, and they got caught in an avalanche; they got into serious trouble.

So, yeah, that's the coldest I've been. Don't know how cold it actually was, but it was enough to make me lose three pounds overnight.

I just heared a funny one that aplies here! "what doesn't kill you makes you weirder!"
 

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
The Ice Bowl

As much as I hate to admit it, nothing beets the Green Bay Packer fans! Remember, in 1967, the Packers played the Cowboys. it was -15, wind chill was -45 and the stadium was packed!
hi-res-458918593-fan-of-the-green-bay-packers-showing-his-support-during_crop_north_zpsb33c4fdb.jpg
BZ23Z1gIIAA0CNo_zps3481cb60.jpg
[video=youtube;mZo3wHpOuEc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZo3wHpOuEc[/video]
 

Dumpster Diver

Practically Family
Messages
952
Location
Ontario
90.jpg 91.jpg

Got me a pair of these Canadian Army issue Mukluks and Gauntlets the other day, the Mukluks were 80 bucks, and the Gauntles 50.

Worth Every penny, my feet have never been warmer.
 

Fanch

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,490
Location
Texas
13 degrees F with wind chill just under 0. Not a record but pretty cold for N central Texas while waiting outside in the wind for my DART train to arrive. My Teamster helps but forgot my gloves. [huh]
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
My Teamster helps but forgot my gloves. [huh]

Never a good thing in the cold Fanch!

I forgot my gloves one time in my first winter in northern Norway on a very cold day where I had to walk quite a ways and nearly went mad. I also forgot my hat/beanie (I'm from the Antipodes so we're not used to this sort of thing).

Ended up having to wrap my scarf around my head and especially my ears which I thought were going to fall off and - I'm embarrassed to say - stuffing my hands inside my actual trousers and underpants whilst attempting to walk very quickly.

I never forgot a hat and gloves again after that!

Hope everyone is keeping warm in that "polar vortex" up in North America which we're hearing about in the news down this way.
 

Aerojoe

Practically Family
Messages
587
Location
Basque Country
13 degrees F with wind chill just under 0. Not a record but pretty cold for N central Texas while waiting outside in the wind for my DART train to arrive. My Teamster helps but forgot my gloves. [huh]

Pack a couple of wool gloves in all your jackets. They don't take space and they are cheap.

'Polar vortex' dwellers are going to hate me; 64F here. More or less same latitude than NY. :eusa_doh:
 

archbury918

One of the Regulars
Messages
223
Location
wisconsin
minus 18 F (windchill -44) currently. My phone is getting non-stop dashboard temp photos...... :eek:

schools closed today and tomorrow....did you know when you blow bubbles in this weather, they turn to snowflakes when they burst! :D
 
Last edited:

Stand By

One Too Many
Messages
1,741
Location
Canada
Chilly1.JPG Chilly2.JPG

Yup. It's a balmy -39C with the windchill today .... It's really quite something! Makes one feel alive!
The Aero C-3 over the ELC RW B-3 handled it all perfectly on the commute to work. The only cold part was my face - but there's not so much to do about that ... I'm not sure a Burka would go well with what I have on.
And I had some super-thin cotton gloves under the Buzz A-10 gloves. That did the trick.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
View attachment 8076 View attachment 8077

Yup. It's a balmy -39C with the windchill today .... It's really quite something! Makes one feel alive!
The Aero C-3 over the ELC RW B-3 handled it all perfectly on the commute to work. The only cold part was my face - but there's not so much to do about that ... I'm not sure a Burka would go well with what I have on.
And I had some super-thin cotton gloves under the Buzz A-10 gloves. That did the trick.

That's some serious sheepskin action going on there. But hope you've got your thermals on though otherwise a bad case of cold bum!
 

Stand By

One Too Many
Messages
1,741
Location
Canada
I have a "Buff" similar to this, but it's a thin material and good for cool Autumn days only ... I'll look into this though, and hopefully they have a thicker fleece material too. Thanks Aerojoe!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,294
Messages
3,078,171
Members
54,244
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top