# How Cold Is It? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996 "2014-01-06T03:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/41 "2014-01-07T05:41:42Z")
Well, it’s warmed up from -9F here in Columbus to -7F, apparently. That still makes it Russia cold, particularly with the wind chilll. I’m still saying that the “how cold is it?” index is at “as balls”, myself. (My own are quite snug and cozy, indoors and in denim and thermal underwear, thank you.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/42 "2014-01-07T09:46:25Z")
It’s 57F here. Brrrr! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/43 "2014-01-07T13:11:49Z")
2 degrees F here in Eastern Tennessee. We got 3 more inches of snow yesterday and I think it stuck. 😉 Slept in the loft above the woodstove and was almost too warm. The SO was warm and happy though, and that’s what counts. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/44 "2014-01-07T15:13:58Z")
**Mrs FtG** went for a walk yesterday afternoon. Upon returning: “It would be only bitterly cold if it wasn’t for the wind.” Low 20s, windchill around 13 at the time. This am: [weather.com](http://weather.com) said 6 and windchill of -10. My analog thermometer said it was 0. My digital thermometer wasn’t working at first. Too cold? Eventually started reading 7.5. We’re up to 15 now. Heatwave baby! We were planning on staying home all day, but **Mrs FtG** just found out she needs to return and replace a thing for a project that she Must Start Today. Later, dear. Later. Like when the temps get into the 20s and the wind dies down. It’s going to be in the 60s this weekend. That’s more like it. (There’s a wind chill alert for Ft. Lauderdale: low to mid 30s. Time to put those bermuda shorts away guys.) ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/45 "2014-01-07T16:17:18Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > (There’s a wind chill alert for Ft. Lauderdale: low to mid 30s. Time to put those bermuda shorts away guys.) Completely untrue! > **[Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground](https://www.wunderground.com/?cm_ven=cgi)** > > Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weather reports, maps & tropical weather conditions for locations worldwide ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/46 "2014-01-07T16:26:16Z")
Incidentally, this may be the first time I’ve really noticed an effect on my car from extreme cold. The clutch “sticks” to the floor for an instant before coming back up; the shift lever itself feels like I’m shifting through molasses, and the steering is noticeably stiffer. (All of this eases as the car gets warmed up, to varying degrees, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/47 "2014-01-07T16:27:53Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Completely untrue! > [Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground](http://www.wunderground.com/q/zmw:33004.8.99999) Travis McGee is comfy in Fortlauderdamndale at any rate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/48 "2014-01-07T16:28:32Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > I came into this thread expecting “How cold is it?” jokes like Carson used to do back when the Tonight Show aired from NYC. > > How cold is it? > > It’s so cold that the flashers in Times Square are only describing themselves. Cold enough that Democrats were spotted with their hands in their own pockets… 7F in Lexington Park, MD this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/49 "2014-01-07T16:39:51Z")
The external thermometer said 0 F at 6:30AM today. The sun must have warmed us some, though, because the external thermometer said 3 F at 8AM. Tropical. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/50 "2014-01-07T16:40:41Z")
-6 in Asheville NC this morning with a windchill of -22. It’s warmed up to 0 now. I can honestly say this is the coldest day of my entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/51 "2014-01-07T16:46:29Z")
When my friends from the south ask “How can you live in Minnesota? Isn’t it too cold up there?” I reply “Yeah, but it’s a DRY cold.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/52 "2014-01-07T17:47:37Z")
Up to 23 in Little Rock. A veritable heat wave! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/53 "2014-01-07T18:01:44Z")
13 with a wind chill below 0 at the reporting station a few blocks from here. ---
**Author:** ![Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schrodinger_s_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/54 "2014-01-07T18:31:15Z")
So cold that I blow dried myself while dressing because my house’s heat just isn’t keeping up. It’s drafty through the weather stripping and plastic sheeting. I was shivering through four layers of clothing on my commute. The North Pole can have it’s damn weather back posthaste. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/55 "2014-01-07T19:02:17Z")
Actual air temperature at my house in Kewaskum, WI this morning was -22°F. At my Dad’s house in Aiken, SC it was 32°F. So it was literally freezing at his place, while being 54 degrees colder at mine. Boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/56 "2014-01-07T19:08:09Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > It’s 24 here in West Georgia, and will be 10 when I leave for work in the morning. That’s _cold_ to us! The weather channel says it will feel like -20 tonight with the wind chill! :eek: “Wind chill” is much used as a fear thing but ill understood. Wind chill defines the effect of the cold on exposed skin if the wind is hitting it. If you are wearing clothes, as I would hope people will do, the effect of wind chill is effectively cancelled out except on those parts of your body still directly exposed to wind. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/57 "2014-01-07T19:18:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Wind chill defines the effect of the cold on exposed skin if the wind is hitting it. If you are wearing clothes, as I would hope people will do, the effect of wind chill is effectively cancelled out except on those parts of your body still directly exposed to wind. Wind chill advises how much one should bundle up. I’ve been in a February wind that made my heavy parka feel like I was wearing a sweat jacket. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/58 "2014-01-07T20:27:56Z")
4 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/59 "2014-01-07T21:11:48Z")
> [@James\_Toothpaste](#): > > 4 degrees. You are quite a succinct poster. _Too_ succinct in this case, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996/60 "2014-01-07T21:23:03Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You are quite a succinct poster. _Too_ succinct in this case, perhaps. Perhaps it is too cold to type. Eloquence requires warmth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/677996.md?page=4)