Whimps!
 

Hi,

Weenies!

I delivered newspapers in Madison, WI at 5AM with 25 degrees below zero and wind chill factor at least to 35 or 40 ... it was a challenge with all the ice and snow on the ground, of course ... but fun ...

Thick socks, cowboy boots (great for that) ... and off you go!

Over here in Portland/Vanvcouver, we get more rain than anything else and it has been hovering around 35/40 every night and 45 during the day ... and it is boring, when the wind picks up ... but it's really good for them windsurfers just further up the river around Hood River!

Santa Barbara was kinda nice ... but needs some rain really bad to wash off all those Channel 69's and Mercedes 69's, or Diesel 69's and bring some of those richies down to earth a little!

Tomorrow is a high of 77, and I'm trying to figure out, "which sweatshirt to wear."   This is a cold, cold, winter..  Here in Florida...   I've never been so cold.   I just went outside for a smoke...  Its brutal out there!!

Humidity and wind are the killers when we talk about tolerating cold.  A temperature of -20 C (-4 F) on the seashore in Finland is far worse than -30 C (-22 F) in central or northern Finland, where the climate isn't humid.

If it's calm, dry -20 C weather, you can easily go to get the firewood from the shed or  see the dog take a pee wearing just a t-shirt and sweatpants, but with high humidity and the slightest wind you start to shiver in 30 seconds.

Feeling cold is also surprisingly much a mental thing.

Then again, I don't like too warm weather. When it's over 25 C (77 F) my batteries start to fail. At 30 C (86 F) I pull the curtains down and don't feel like going out at all, I feel so uncomfortable.


The whole temperature thing is strange. Think of how narrow tolerance we humans actually have. It sounds like the feared global warming of 3-5 degrees Celsius isn't so much, but if our body temperature rises 3 C, to 39,7 (103 F) we are seriously ill and immobilised,  two degrees more and we're dying.

Lapland is the coldest place I've been (down to -40C on a frozen lake), but it was quite tolerable with the right clothes. It's a dry, still cold, which as Kalle rightly says, is much better than humidity and wind.

I remember the midnight skidoo rides at around -35 C, and the sweat misting up my goggles...

mmmm...I remember spending a few years in Yellowknife and seeing temperature go to -50F with windchills hovering around -70F or so....