# What is the coldest weather you've ever been in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348 "2008-01-28T19:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/81 "2008-01-29T05:28:16Z")
The coldest I have personally felt was around -27C in Bancroft, Ontario, without the wind chill. The nightly low was -35C without the wind chill, and I was sleeping in an unfinished solar-heated room, though, which was basically just a walk-in solar collector at that point. Except that it was night. The temperature in the room got down to +6C. (The homeowner had an indoor recording thermometer, as she was checking out the conditions for the plants.) I had a _really_ big pile of blankets. šŸ™‚ In the morning, my feet went straight into my [Sorels](http://www.sorel.com/Product.aspx?top=1&cat=110&prod=50)\* before the rest of me got far out of bed. I put on multi layers, finishing with parka and mitts. Outside, I discovered brilliant sunshine and the sparkle of snow as I went through the -27 morning to the outhouse. Never have I been so glad of a padded toilet seat. It warms up rapidly, you see. (Did I mention the place was under construction?) [sub]\*Linked boot is similar to mine, but taller. Thay are not cheap. But utterly necessary.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/82 "2008-01-29T05:31:20Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Tell me about it. We donā€™t call them Alberta Clippers here, of course; we just call it a North Wind. Everyone knows what youā€™re talking about (the wind blowing from the north in winter is never a good thing). So you guys should be getting this tomorrow, then? šŸ˜ƒ [/QUOTE] Down here in the balmy Twin Cities, weā€™re going to be in the teens below zero by tomorrow night with -30 windchills. But at least we donā€™t live in North Dakota anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/83 "2008-01-29T05:41:26Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Thatā€™s _windchill_ I was talking about. Do you not know the difference between ambiemnt temperature and windchill? [/QUOTE] Of course I do, I studied it in college and earned a degree in it. > [@](#): > > The very coldest I can remember is a clipper in North Dakota that dropped ambient temps to -60 F, with windchills of over 100 below. That kind of cold is rare in ND but they get days like that every few years. Ambient temps in January and February stay at sub-zero for weeks on end (usually single digits or teens) with occasional dips to 20, 30, 40 below. Are you over 52 years old? If you arenā€™t youā€™ve never experienced -60F temps. Your last sentence is a flat out lie. Continue digging your own grave if you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/84 "2008-01-29T05:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=Meyer6] Yeah, when I was a kid and school closure came up on TV shows (in the plot of kids movies, etc.) I thought it was a myth invented to progress the plot. I really canā€™t remember school ever being closedā€¦ [/QUOTE] I do remember one school closure. It was the day after an ice storm. I was living in Toronto, and an ice storm had dropped power lines all over the city. We all walked to school (no school buses in our neighbourhood), so for safetyā€™s sake, school was cancelled. So my schoolmates and I knew such a thing was possible. But we certainly never had a school closure due to snow or cold. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/85 "2008-01-29T06:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] Of course I do, I studied it in college and earned a degree in it. Are you over 52 years old? If you arenā€™t youā€™ve never experienced -60F temps. Your last sentence is a flat out lie. Continue digging your own grave if you wish. [/QUOTE] Iā€™m 41. The day Iā€™m talking about happened in '96 or '97. Whatever the actual ambient temp was, the -100 windchill is rare enough that I remember the day pretty distinctly. The other time I remember the windchills getting that low happened in the winter of '81-82. Iā€™m the only one whoā€™s posted any cites. Youā€™re talking a big talk but youā€™ve cited nothing. Calling someone a liar outside the Pit is against board rules, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/86 "2008-01-29T06:49:17Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Iā€™m 41. The day Iā€™m talking about happened in '96 or '97. Whatever the actual ambient temp was, the -100 windchill is rare enough that I remember the day pretty distinctly. The other time I remember the windchills getting that low happened in the winter of '81-82. Iā€™m the only one whoā€™s posted any cites. Youā€™re talking a big talk but youā€™ve cited nothing. Calling someone a liar outside the Pit is against board rules, by the way. [/QUOTE] You keep moving the goalposts. Prove your asserstions if they are true. The data is available free of charge. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/87 "2008-01-29T06:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] You keep moving the goalposts. Prove your asserstions if they are true. The data is available free of charge. [/QUOTE] You keep saying that but I have no idea how to find it. If you know where it is, help me out. I donā€™t notice you posting any data or responding to the cites Iā€™ve already posted. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/88 "2008-01-29T08:29:19Z")
MLK Day 2000. I still had the flu but the Americorps ā€œcelebrateā€ MLK day as a Day On, and was informed that if I wasnā€™t actually hospitalized, dead myself, or otherwise attending a funeral, I had to paticipate in the dayā€™s service project, some 55 miles from home. The temperature for the day was -28 but there was a fierce wind, so for the second time in my life (the first being in early 1999) I got to experience a windchill in the -40s. I think it bottomed out at -47. Some people were disappointed it didnā€™t get to -50. Have you ever pumped gas in a wind like that? It rips through your clothes like youā€™re naked. A few unfortunate folks spent **all day** outside, and Iā€™m surprised none of them ended up in the hospital. As it was, we ended up totting things in and out of buildings all day, and I wished I was dead a few hours before we were allowed to go home. Hereā€™s a story on [CNN](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WEATHER/01/20/winter.weather.03/) about that week. Itā€™s about a city I used to live in, a hundred plus miles south (which we note is always slightly warmer than here - my aunt who still lives there keeps us informed). It ā€œonlyā€ got to -40 windchill there. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/89 "2008-01-29T08:41:26Z")
Oh, and Lamar? Hereā€™s a cite from the [national weather service](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/bis/sd1996/February.pdf) that mentions -100 windchill in 1996 in Diogenes the Cynicā€™s area (since ND and MN are neighbors). I think you owe him an apology. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/90 "2008-01-29T08:55:06Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Oh, and Lamar? Hereā€™s a cite from the [national weather service](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/bis/sd1996/February.pdf) that mentions -100 windchill in 1996 in Diogenes the Cynicā€™s area (since ND and MN are neighbors). I think you owe him an apology. [/QUOTE] God, you are stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/91 "2008-01-29T09:09:17Z")
Wow, you meteorologists sure are testy. Iā€™m reporting this bad boy. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/92 "2008-01-29T09:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Utah in December and Minnesota in February. It may or may not have been the coldest _ever_ (I grew up on the East Coast), but it felt like it, since I was coming from San Diego and Tucson, Arizona, respectively, almost ten years after Iā€™d moved west. [/QUOTE] California pussy here. Amazingly enough, Iā€™ve encountered -15ĀŗF as my lowest temperatures in both Utah and Minnesota also. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/93 "2008-01-29T09:16:45Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Ambient temps in January and February stay at sub-zero for weeks on end (usually single digits or teens) with occasional dips to 20, 30, 40 below. I can remember more than one instance of 60-80 below windchills and twice when the windhills broke 100. Let me tell you, a day like that makes you appreciate 20 below. [/QUOTE] Bring me stats for these claims before you ask me for an apology. We have a department called the National Weather Service that keeps these statisics and gives them out for free. Make a simple phone call to Fargo or Grand Forks or even Minot and show me one single time where the temperature stayed below zero for ā€œweeks on endā€. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/94 "2008-01-29T09:18:54Z")
I canā€™t even guess at what the temperatures were in either place at those times, honestly. After enough years in Southern California, I completely abandoned my ability to accurately gauge temperatures under 50 deg F, all of which now register simply as ā€œFUCKINā€™ COLD, HOLY SHITā€. 25 may as well be -25 to me now, and vice versa. ETA: Itā€™s a little sad, since I clearly remember days in the negative double-digits in my native Prince Georgeā€™s County. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/95 "2008-01-29T13:06:20Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] God, you are stupid. [/QUOTE] **Lamar Mundane** , this isnā€™t the Pit. Calling people stupid and telling them theyā€™re liars (or lying) is pretty damn insulting. Knock it off. (Really? Over weather? People get this upset over temperatures? Who knew?) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/96 "2008-01-29T13:25:00Z")
On December 24, 2004 I got up early to take a train from Chicago to visit a friend in St. Louis. This was my third Midwestern winter, but Iā€™m pretty sure that was the coldest day I have ever experienced in my life. I seem to recall it was -24 F, but I may be conflating that number with the date. It was definitely in the negative twenties, though, and it SUCKED. The train station in Chicago is really close to the Sears Tower and I had to walk by on my way from the El. There was a sign cautioning people to watch for falling ice. I started running when I saw that. Iā€™m not sure exactly what would happen to someone hit by an icicle falling from the Sears Tower and I didnā€™t want to find out. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/97 "2008-01-29T13:57:47Z")
Iā€™m getting the impression I havenā€™t lived. When I was a kid, temperatures got down to 0F in the UK. But the coldest Iā€™ve ever _felt_ was -15C (+5F) at Everest Base Camp, with a windchill of Christ-knows what, as 120kph+ winds howled straight off the side of Everest down the glacier into the Rongbuk valley. The place we stayed had no heating. And the toilet had frozen up so we had to go outside. Imagine your bare ass in that environment in the middle of the night. JESUS that was cold. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/98 "2008-01-29T14:03:53Z")
-29 F in the East Lansing, MI area I think about 1979. The good news was my 1973 Gremlin started. The bad news is I had to sit in the driveway with the clutch pedal down for probably 10 minutes for the engine heat to warm up the transmission before I could shift it. Cold weather fun: boil some water. Pour it in a coffee cup and go outside. Throw the water in the air and it immediately turns to fine snow. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/99 "2008-01-29T14:09:54Z")
-25 F in Peoria, IL, where I used to live. Hottest: probably 110 or so in the California desert. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348/100 "2008-01-29T14:10:12Z")
Iā€™m kinda afraid to post without cites, but Iā€™m going to risk it ;). I spent the winter of '80-'81 in Ft. McMurray AB. I remember that is was regularly -45 without the windchill. Right now I live in central Alberta, we are in the middle of a cold snap. The TV says it is -54 with the windchill. As it has been said before, once it hit -20, it really doesnā€™t matter, it just damn cold! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-coldest-weather-youve-ever-been-in/435348.md?page=6)