# You know it's cold when... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732 "2005-01-14T16:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/41 "2005-01-16T05:43:06Z")
48 hours of Wind Chill Warnings just ended today. We had 'em down to -55F with mercury readings of -35. The temp ain’t hitting above 0 until next weekend at the earliest. (BTW, can we get all temps in C and F?) Of course, what we have now is a respite from what we usually get, but winter isn’t over yet. Guess why the Crips and Bloods aren’t staging in ND? We’ve decided to drive south and west until people ask us how much we’ve paid for our electric cars. (If you don’t understand that, you never, ever get to bitch about cold weather.) I still, year after year, get a warm fuzzy feeling when I hear about Easterners bitching about “fridgid” “bone-chilling” and “life-threatening” cold when the temp drops below 32F. With any reporter dressed to the nines in Land’s End and Eddie Bauer designer gear warning everyone of the cold. And you New Yorkers and Bostonites try to convince the rest of us how tough you are. :rolleyes: :wally ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/42 "2005-01-16T06:03:29Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Another extreme cold sound is snow “ringing.” What do I mean? Well, the wind packed the snow so hard on the front walk that when I went to shovel it off, it came up in chunks. And when I threw the chunks to the side, they “rang” when they landed. > > “Rang” may not be the best word to use, but it’s the closest I can come to describing the sound. > > Hang in there, western Canadians. According to the Weather Network forecast I saw earlier today, we’ll be above freezing next week. But I’ll believe that when I feel it. Been about -36 here for the last week. Thankfully the wind left when the -25 temperature left. The real kicker though was for about an hour or two on Wednesday, before the temp dropped below thirty, it was easily -5 Canadian. Could this be the beginning of the warm weather? Nope. Three hours later we had a snow storm, and then cold. And they’ve been saying it’ll warm up for the last week and a half, the buggers. The way i would describe the frozen snow is that it sounds just like Styrofoam. Acts like it too. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/43 "2005-01-16T07:41:07Z")
You know it’s cold when… Every girl that you see is considerate enough to let you know that the turkey’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/44 "2005-01-16T16:06:52Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > \*\*you know it’s cold when … \*\* > > - you have to break the ice in the diaper pail > > - your ink pen freezes up while taking notes during ROTC inspection > well, where I am, at least. Hang on, my brain is trying to process how these two things go together… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/45 "2005-01-16T22:17:26Z")
> [@Fuji Kitakyusho](#): > > Although my home is in Vancouver, where it never actually gets cold, I have been living in Thunder Bay for almost eight months while I go to school here. Now, I have been exposed to cold before, while working in such places as the arctic and Fort MacMurray, but have never had to deal with it for such an extended period of time. That is why we have the Kangas Sauna facility. The colder it is outside, the better a sauna feels. I see that it hit the magic -40 figure this morning – the number where degrees C and degrees F meet. I figure the wind chill while skiing down the hill for the first hour or so must have been -80 F or -90 F. A really odd feeling, the way it saps the heat and energy from you so quickly. I ran out of beans after a few hours, and retreated to my old lion’s footed bathtub by early afternoon-- another pleasure that feels all the better when coming in from the cold. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/46 "2005-01-17T00:22:35Z")
You know it’s cold when you walk inside and your contact lenses fog up… ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/47 "2005-01-17T00:27:47Z")
> [@elfbabe](#): > > … **Qadgop** doesn’t want to go in the hot tub. Of course not! He should pee into the toilet like everyone else! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/48 "2005-01-17T00:31:46Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > He should pee into the toilet like everyone else! So should the pranster who is peeing on Fuji Kitakyusho’s keyhole. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/49 "2005-01-17T00:46:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I recall back in college in Fairbanks standing in melted snow in the arctic entry putting on gloves, etc. prior to going out into -63 cold and ice fog. I walked outside and the air hit me like a slap. I stood there for about five seconds looking around in amazement at the ice in the air. When I tried to move on, I discovered that my wet shoe bottoms had frozen to the sidewalk. An odd feeling, to say the least. That reminds me… One really, really cold winter in college, my roommates and I went clubbing. It was a little awkward dancingin our boots, but we were drunk and didn’t care. You know when really hot things get really cold suddenly and it causes them to crack or shatter? Well, after several hours of dancing, we went to go home. I stepped outside and were heard “pop-pop!” The soles of my boots had split. One inch of serious treads. Good think I had an insole to keep the snow from touch the bottom of my foot. ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/50 "2005-01-17T00:59:55Z")
**You know it’s cold when…** your nipples are so hard, they could slice diamonds. Acck, I hate that feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/51 "2005-01-17T04:48:42Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > \We’ve decided to drive south and west until people ask us how much we’ve paid for our electric cars. (If you don’t understand that, you never, ever get to bitch about cold weather.) Hee. > [@](#): > > And you New Yorkers and Bostonites try to convince the rest of us how > tough you are. :rolleyes: :wally You know, I’ve read a lot of books and seen a lot of tv shows and movies showing how cold it is in New York, Boston, Maine, etc. Then it occurred to me that where I’m from is probably significantly colder than these places longer. Hmm. You know what I would really like? If Hollywood and the tv making people could do cold properly. The only show I’ve seen that came close to getting it right was Fargo, and even they made a serious gaffe by having the guy scrape his car before starting it. No one does that. Ever. Then you’ve got the people pretending to be cold, and you can’t even see their breath, and they’ve got their jacket collars all undone, and no mittens in sight…I could go on, but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/52 "2005-01-17T06:04:05Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > when you… umm… er… > > Haaaaaaaang on! I live in Florida, so I guess I don’t know s\*\*\*… > (I went outside in shorts and T-shirt to walk my dog this morning…) 😃 I used to chant, “Florida, Florida, Florida,” to my spouse during the winter. After the events of this summer and fall I’ve switched my refrain to “Vancouver, Vancouver, Vancouver.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/53 "2005-01-17T12:35:49Z")
I wish we’d get some of that cold weather in England. Since the early 90s our winters have just been pathetic. We haven’t had a decent cold spell in years and years. I hate this mild, wet, windy weather. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/54 "2005-01-17T17:12:11Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > You know, I’ve read a lot of books and seen a lot of tv shows and movies showing how cold it is in New York, Boston, Maine, etc. Then it occurred to me that where I’m from is probably significantly colder than these places longer. Hmm. Huh? I never got the impression that movies and TV shows tried to say that New York was a really cold place. It barely gets cold here at all. Most of the time, the winter daytime temps hover around freezing. It’s unusual for the temperature to dip below 20F, and really unusual to see temperatures below 0. We get snowstorms, sometimes big ones, but the snow usually melts away long before the next snowfall so we don’t end up with significant accumulations. Or to put it another way, most everybody here owns gloves, winter hats, and an insulated coat of some sort. But virtually no one has things like engine block warmers or balaclavas. A significant number of people don’t even have winter boots or long underwear. If New Yorkers seem greatly affected by our relatively mild “cold snaps,” it’s because we’re not used to it, and probably not dressed properly for it. ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/55 "2005-01-17T17:31:52Z")
…when you can walk on ice without slipping. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/56 "2005-01-17T17:41:10Z")
> [@Greenback](#): > > …when you can walk on ice without slipping. Ha! _has just fallen on her butt for the nth time in Queen’s Park_ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/57 "2005-01-17T19:16:01Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Huh? I never got the impression that movies and TV shows tried to say that New York was a really cold place. It barely gets cold here at all. Most of the time, the winter daytime temps hover around freezing. It’s unusual for the temperature to dip below 20F, and really unusual to see temperatures below 0. We get snowstorms, sometimes big ones, but the snow usually melts away long before the next snowfall so we don’t end up with significant accumulations. > > Or to put it another way, most everybody here owns gloves, winter hats, and an insulated coat of some sort. But virtually no one has things like engine block warmers or balaclavas. A significant number of people don’t even have winter boots or long underwear. If New Yorkers seem greatly affected by our relatively mild “cold snaps,” it’s because we’re not used to it, and probably not dressed properly for it. See, I did not know that. Maybe the tv and movies that gave me the impression were reeeeeally selling it. ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/58 "2005-01-17T19:50:17Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Ha! _has just fallen on her butt for the nth time in Queen’s Park_ When it was -50C with windchill here, I could barely slide. I don’t know but it seems that after a certain temp, ice is less slick. Cold in TO? BAH! Come to Winterpeg and we’ll show you cold. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/59 "2005-01-17T21:41:33Z")
You know it’s cold when you’re actually in physical pain. In retrospect, it’s my own damn fault for taking a walk without long underwear when the windchill’s at -2F/-19C. I was all bundled up and would have been fine if my knees hadn’t felt like they were about to fall off. I are dum. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732/60 "2005-01-17T22:34:10Z")
…A Calgarian complains about the cold. The week prior to moving to Yellowknife, we had motherf\*\*king cold temperatures in Alberta. Lower than -40C. How stupid is that? And then we went North. Even stupider. Love, Me. Who no longer owns boots, a parka, or even a scarf. In fact, today I wore sandals. (Of course, the neighbours think I’m nuts, but they’re softies). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-its-cold-when/284732.md?page=4)