# God has forsaken the North East **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 16, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709 "2004-01-16T03:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/1 "2004-01-16T03:29:30Z")
A record was broken to day in New Hampshire. For the first time since they’ve kept records of the weather, the daily high was less than 0 F for two days in a row. At the moment it’s a brisk -9 F ( -22 C to some of you) and it’s going down by the hour; the predicted low for tonight is -17 F (-27 C). Yeah, that’s pretty cold, even for those of use born and raised in New England. It’s not that bad, though; when it was -3 F yesterday, it was completely windless, so it felt more like a windy 10 degrees. But guess what! It’s really fucking windy now! Guess how low they think the wind-chill is going to go tonight. Go on, guess. -45 F to -60 F!! (that’s really fucking cold in Celcius too, btw). How cold is a -60 F wind chill? I don’t know, it’s never gotten that cold during my life time. It _has_ gotten to a -45 F windchill within the past five years, however, and that sucks, so I’m sure this will suck just a little more. At a -45 windchill being outside for 5 minutes during the wind makes you feel naked, even with a thinsulate lined jacket over your sweater and t-shirt. Woe be to you who pumps gas in this weather… I hate winter, hate it hate it hate. I hope that global warming melts the polar icecaps, if only to elminate some ice and snow from the world. Why do people envision hell being hot? The flames would be welcome about now… ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/2 "2004-01-16T03:36:27Z")
How do you think we feel since we’re just above you ? They say it will be warmer tomorrow, but with the wind it will feel colder. At least there’s at the most only 10 more weeks of winter. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/3 "2004-01-16T03:40:21Z")
> [@detop](#): > > How do you think we feel since we’re just above you ? You can’t be from any farther north than NH. Everyone more north of here is frozen solid, they have to be. How could you type if you were frozen into a block of ice? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/4 "2004-01-16T03:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > the daily high was less than 0 F for two days in a row So put the shorts and sandals away, and break out the tennies and jeans. 0°F just ain’t that cold. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/5 "2004-01-16T03:58:05Z")
Here in central Vermont (Barre, a town less than 10 minutes from the state capital of Montpelier) the average temperature over the past few days has been anywhere from -10 to -15 during the day, -15 to -30 in the evening, and that’s not taking into account wind chill as long as you’re prepared (the secret is _layers_) and keep exposed skin to a minimum, you should be fine, heck, i plan on skiing this weekend and it’s going to be bitter, but i’ll be prepared… Hot Chillys thermals, sweat pants, sweatshirt, insulated ski pants, ski jacket, neoprene face mask, goggles, hat and gloves, it may sound bulky, but since most ski clothing is a little oversized to trap air pockets, it’ll be fine… one strange thing i’ve found is that the ballistic nylon shell fabric on ski jackets actually gets stiff at -20 and below, it almost feels brittle right now it’s a little on the “warm” side, it’s “only” -15 (all temps listed in Farenheit) hmm, (switches digital thermometer with wireless remote sensor \ to Celsius… -26) ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/6 "2004-01-16T04:01:52Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > How could you type if you were frozen into a block of ice? _Avec beaucoup de difficultés_ (with lots of difficulty) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/7 "2004-01-16T04:03:31Z")
Meh, I’ll admit, -100 degrees below windchill is, as we say here in Chicago, ‘fuckin cold’ but ya gotta take the good with the bad. Personally, there’s no place better in the world to me than Chicago in the summertime, so i’ll take the really, really below zero crap for a couple of months just to watch the early June sun shine on the lake…aaah! ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/8 "2004-01-16T04:25:30Z")
Yeah, it’s freezing here, too. I went out to wash my car today and it was too cold to take off my sweatshirt. Florida sucks. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/9 "2004-01-16T04:39:04Z")
It’s colder here than it is on Mars. [Seriously](http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html). > [@](#): > > Wednesday in the early afternoon at the Gusev crater it was plus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (-11 Celsius), according to the rover’s infrared instrument. > > At 1 p.m. Wednesday in Syracuse, N.Y. it was -4 Fahrenheit. In Mt. Washington, N.H. it was -36. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/10 "2004-01-16T04:53:11Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Yeah, it’s freezing here, too. I went out to wash my car today and it was too cold to take off my sweatshirt. Florida sucks. C’mon guys, let’s rush 'im. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/11 "2004-01-16T05:08:01Z")
> [@Daerlyn](#): > > C’mon guys, let’s rush 'im. \ ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/12 "2004-01-16T05:12:41Z")
You know, I’m finding this winter quite amusing. Here in Saskatoon it’s extremely common for there there to be a couple or three weeks in Jan-Feb with lows of -35 to -40C and highs of -20 to -30C. Before windchill. So when I see Letterman going on about how cold it is, and then shows a billboard thermometer reporting -12C, it makes me chuckle a bit. But the thing is, it’s positively balmy here. We’ve been flirting with positive temperatures here this week, and that just does not happen here in January. And all these midwesterners and easterners are getting a taste of an actual winter is like, as opposed to those pantywaisted things they usually get, and I don’t even have to plug my car in (much). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/13 "2004-01-16T05:28:04Z")
Well, it’s like this, **Gorsnak** : Normally, us Northeasterners would be grumbling mildly about the winter but not really bothered by it, at least those of us who’d grown up in this climate. We’d be handling our usual snow, ice, and around-freezing temps with the kind of casual ease that you show toward your extreme cold – coping, and snickering at those south of us (like, say, in North Carolina) who panic and drive off the road with an inch of snow. “Heh,” we’d be saying, “those Southerners just don’t have a clue.” But now… Now God, or the Fates, or (insert choice of supernatural power here) is punishing us for our hubris. Now it’s payback time for all those sneers and jibes at those in warmer climates who aren’t as hardened and skilled at winter as we Northeasterners like to think we are. Which leads me to my next thought: Just what kind of weather is going to descend on _ **you** _, **Gorsnak** , to humble _ **your** _ pride? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/14 "2004-01-16T05:28:51Z")
Geez, Elfkin, it occasionally gets down to 20 below here in Central Illinois and you don’t hear **us** whining about it. 😛 Folks here seem to regard it as an interesting novelty, or maybe a damn nuisance (those are the folks who go through the car wash and then have their car doors freeze shut on the way home), but nobody whinges about how God has forsaken them. And we’re not even _Northern_ Illinois, let alone Saskatoon. Here’s a survival hint for you godforsaken Yankees: Stick the gas nozzle in–and then get back in the car while it pumps. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/15 "2004-01-16T05:33:24Z")
Just to put things in perspective for the Celsius folks, -40 is the same whether you’re talking about Fahrenheit or Celsius, so it’s DAMN cold. Here in PA as of right now, we’re looking at 9 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill to bring it down to -9. And I still go outside wearing nothing but soccer shorts to smoke a cigarette. Why? I dunno. Because I’m either one tough bastard or one stupid bastard. Or maybe I’m just lazy. I’ll leave it up to you which one of the three it is. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/16 "2004-01-16T05:34:47Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#): > > Here’s a survival hint for you godforsaken Yankees: Stick the gas nozzle in–and then get back in the car while it pumps. That’s illegal here in good ol’ Pennsylvania, and it is enforced. So we can’t do that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/17 "2004-01-16T05:35:35Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#): > > Here’s a survival hint for you godforsaken Yankees: Stick the gas nozzle in–and then get back in the car while it pumps. But…but… even the Myth Busters guys say that’s more likely than cell phone use to cause a fire at the pumps. Getting back in and out of the car can create static electrity and…boom! You’re not trying to kill us off, are you? It’s not like we’re the _NY_ Yankees, or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/18 "2004-01-16T05:44:13Z")
[curses silently as evil plot to do away with the perpetrators of _Yankee_ magazine is foiled] [gets revenge on Elfkin] [WHAT’S THERE TO LOVE about winter? Quite a lot actually. And that’s a good thing because winter, as any seasoned New Englander can tell you, is the region’s longest season, throwing out its first icy blasts in mid-November and keeping us chilled right through April. There’s so much to do, outdoors and inside your home. To help you celebrate the season and take advantage of this uniquely beautiful time of year, we’ve created a special Winter Web package featuring food, home ideas, and travel that’s sure to delight. Click on the links to discover all that awaits you this season. Enjoy]([http://www.yankeemagazine.com/winter/index.php](http://www.yankeemagazine.com/winter/index.php)) Reflect upon this, my too-clever friend: People **pay money** to come where you are and “celebrate the season” by having their asses frozen off!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/19 "2004-01-16T05:47:47Z")
Yeah… no one said tourists were bright. 😉 People come up here to look at leaves too. Leaves! People will pay money for _anything_ Now, if only to make black fly season into something lucrative… ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709/20 "2004-01-16T05:59:31Z")
Winter really sucks! Today, for example, I had to wear a _sweatshirt_! With a _hood_! If I took them off, I would’ve been quite chilled! -emekthian, of California’s bay area [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-has-forsaken-the-north-east/224709.md?page=2)