What is The Coldest Weather You Have Ever Been In?

[Parche]

When I was in the Air Force
Christmas 1983 Minot AFB North Dakota....on a missile site
it was 100 below zero wind chill

:woohoo: :woohoo: :hi:

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Winter in Chicago, 1981 or 82. It was about that cold as well.

[AngryAmish]

4. -72 wind chill thereabouts

Once, over Mongolia if airplane screen said -55 f outside. I was glad I was sitting inside the airplane.

[havocmom]

38. -72 windchill...-58 real temp on the ground in MT back during my first winter here.

Figured I survived that so other winters weren't so tough! ;) It was a rather miserable walk to work that morning, though. We went many, many weeks where the temp did not make it to zero. Bad winter. One does not go out with ANY exposed skin in those temps.

[quip]

8. Hmmm, then I would have been that cold here in Mpls a day before you, Peake!

:hi: :brrr:

[KamaAina]

10. Coldest night in Chicago history (at the time): -26F, late '80s

What fun to be in a drafty old stone building with an aging electric heating/AC unit! :scared:

The following morning, I discovered the temperature at which mucus congeals within the human nose into a substance closely resembling rubber cement. For reference, that temperature is approximately -5F.

[abq e streeter]

39. Another night of -26 in Chi ---winter of '78-'79

high the next day was -7...I was living about 3 blocks from Lake Michigan. wind chill in -70's...Missed some amazing shows at the Aragon Ballroom that winter because I just couldn't make myself go out in that kind of cold. (wind chills in at least minus 30's and 40's for what seemed like weeks on end) Among 'em was J. Geils and Southside Johnny, Elvis Costello and the Fabulous Poodles, and most depressing of all to have missed: THE CLASH and Bo Diddley. At least I stayed good and stoned the whole time...

[Blue_In_AK]

68. We get that frozen nose hairs feeling here right around 0.

[IndianaJones]

2. they let you near missles? nt.

[Parche]

9. Nice Response Goebbles

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I guarded the damn things :bounce: :bounce: :hi:

Minuteman 3 Nucular Missiles...............:hi:

[Goblinmonger]

3. Perhaps ironically, I was in Minto, ND

that winter and it was that cold there.

Minot has to be the shittiest place to be sent when you are in the Air Force, yes?

[catmandu57]

6. I don't know I don't want to think about it

but 83 was one cold bitch of a winter.

[sarge43]

11. One of the top four or five shit holes

Shemya Alaska

Wake Island

Thule Greenland

Amarillo AFB TX (gone but not forgotten)

There were others, but the threat of those would result in zoomie behavioral modification.

[LeftyMom]

5. I think it got down to 19 here overnight in '89.

:shrug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. If we're thinking of the same winter

it was '90 or '91 — I can never remember which. It got down to about 18 in Salinas, and people were freaking. Every news report for a few days had the dramatic immediacy of the aftermath of a major earthquake, with stuff like "How to wrap water pipes" and other aspects of cold-weather life that native Kollyfornians (like me) would know nothing about.

In retrospect, it was kinda funny. About three-fourths of the country gets a lot colder'n that every single winter, but we were all "ZOMG!!! We're gonna DIE!!!" :D

[LeftyMom]

16. All the newer houses here are on conctrete slabs because of the flood risk.

So all the newer houses here have the water lines in the ceiling.

Imagine what a mess that is if the pipes freeze and then thaw and start leaking everywhere. Apparently a lot of people woke up to flooded houses.

[supernova]

7. Standing next to Portland Headlight, ME

facing the ocean spray on Boxing Day in 1988. :D

I think it was about -10 but felt like -20 - -30 with the wind chill.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Who thought that would be a good idea?

Criminy. That's awfully cold for December. The Ptld area usually saves the deep chill for January and February. I walked to school and there was one week when the morning temps were never higher than the -20s -- that was brutal. Negative single digits on the other hand were quite common.

I used to bicycle to Portland Head when I was a kid.:)

[supernova]

24. We visited my now ex's

aunt and uncle for Christmas that year. :D

They wanted to show us the highlights of course. We also went shopping at LL Bean in the middle of the night. LOL!

I always wanted to go back and do summer there, but I haven't gotten the chance so far.

Did you grow up there?

[Gormy Cuss]

26. Yes, and if you ever make plans to go back, PM me.

I have family all over the southern and western parts of the state so I know many cool places to go. The islands off of Portland, for one.

[sarge43]

12. Right here Campton NH

Winter of '94 - wind chill minus 50

[flvegan]

13. I don't know about weather, but my ex wife was pretty damn cold.

And that was year round.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. -40° actual. I have no idea what the wind chill was.

[SoCalDem]

17. - 70 something(wind chill)..Michigan City, Indiana circa 1977

My Maverick was the ONLY car in the parking lot that started after work that night :)

[KitchenWitch]

18. Milbank, SD

December 1995, 6, or 7 (can't remember). -48 with windchill of -88.

[skygazer]

19. I have no idea

I grew up in the cold and never understood the fascination with thermometers. What difference does the number make? You can't change it. It's cold. Bundle up. :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

20. Biggest temp change in ONE day..124F to 16 below

we boarded a plane in Panama and landed in Kansas City..my brother was born in Panama and had never worn anything warmer than a tank top & sandals.. he refused all attempts to wrestle him into a coat.. WEhen they opened the airplane door and sent us down the stairs to walk across the tarmac..he grabbed for that coat with all the energy a 3 yr old could muster :evilgrin:

[jpak]

21. -43 F in Maine in 1970 (?)

We had a regional ski meet that day - brutally cold.

At last someone had brains enough to cancel the Nordic events...

[SPKrazy]

22. -30

growing up in Utah

:scared:

fucking cold

[huskerlaw]

25. -60, I think

at least, that's the coldest I remember.

[cloudbase]

27. Korea in winter.

I don't recall what the numbers were, but it was c-c-c-cold.

[Flaxbee]

28. Illinois, 1989

somewhere around -70 with wind chill in the middle of February. Unfreakingbelievable; I was born and raised in SoCal (near Palm Springs) and had NEVER experienced anything much lower than 30 degrees or so. It was then that I really understood how helpful wool actually is (and down, of course) in staying warm.


:hi: Parche!

[carly denise pt deux]

29. North Dakota........-48 with wind chill of -72

a fun thing to do in that kind of weather..if you can stand to be outside for a few seconds.....
take a cup of hot water, don't use a real glass cup, paper, throw it into the sky, see what happens.....a little falls to the ground, the rest turns into snow and blows away.

if you are not that adventuresome, here is what it looks like when some dude did it for youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-GSrrk_ATM&feature=related


Carly

[Captain Hilts]

30. Moscow 1980. 1 March. So cold vinyl camera bags kind of shattered. nt

[DarkTirade]

31. Only cold weather place I've ever lived in for any extensive period of time is here in upstate NY.

So however cold it gets here is the coldest I've been. :)

[Tektonik]

33. I've lived in socal all of my life

Well I was born in the fall in Saint Etienne, France and it does get cold there, so that would be the coldest weather I've experienced :P

In socal, umm maybe 30 degrees Fahrenheit? :shrug:

[DarkTirade]

34. Well, I was born in VT, which I think is colder than NY most of the time

but I left when I was less than a year old, so I doubt I experienced the temperature outdoors too much that winter.

[driver8]

69. What part of NY are you in?

I grew up in Potsdam, NY and went to college in Fredonia.

[DarkTirade]

71. Upstate, near Rochester.

[BreweryYardRat]

32. Holeee fuckin' shit.

I'm from Florida. I can't even imagine that kind of cold. Lowest I've ever experienced was about 35 F actual, maybe 22 with wind chill.

Edit: No, wait, I stand corrected. In this state, those are the lowest temps.

I was in New York in March once on a school trip, and it was about 10 with wind chill, probably 25 actual.

[CatholicEdHead]

35. Winter of 1996-97, Grand Forks, North Dakota -80 windchill

Using the old scale of course.

[Goblinmonger]

49. That was after I left

but I grew up in that area. You a UND alum?

[MnFats]

36. western mn. 1960s through '80 ...-35 at times..

...wind chill, round -70.

if you didn't dress for it, you could die.

i was with a bunch of boy scouts that camped out in one of those -30 below nights to get our winter camping merit badge.
we dressed for it, kept a nice fire going, double-bagged ourseves in sleeping bags and retired to the tent early.
of course we put down a couple bales of hay to offer some insulation between us and the frigid ground.

you really can get dead out there if you get stranded and don't have warm clothes etc.

[ironflange]

37. -40 or so, don't know about wind chill

That was many years ago. Back in the '60's and '70's here in Alberta we could look forward each winter to cold spells that could keep us below zero F. for weeks at a time, with several days not getting above -25. That just doesn't happen any more.

[mark414]

40. i remember about 12 years ago here in WI the wind chill dropped to -86 one day

my brother and i spent more time putting on and taking off clothes than we did outside

[Robeson]

41. One word.....

...Minnesota.

[Breeze54]

42. I'm not sure...probably -35 below wind factor during a blizzard

in Illinois. The well froze and my husbands' mustache turned to ice and our dog's hair had ice on it when they went out to clear the drifts off the well to fix the problem. We had ice forming in the toilet and we had to stack bails of hay up around that side of the
house (the bathroom wall) to try to keep it warm. We failed and the pipes froze up. The wind was wicked coming across the plains. Brrrr!! I was 7 months pregnant and in dire need of a bathroom!! Yikes! That was my first and last year living on a farm! :P

[rockymountaindem]

43. -62 wind chill one night in Colorado

Young kid I was, I just had to go outside and stand in the wind. I always recall it as the night we had a blizzard but without the snow :)

Edit: Cold is one thing, but we get messed up with hail more frequently than most people would like. One of them this summer was with golf-ball hail and it sounded like someone was shooting at the house on all sides for about four minutes. That was the worst one since I was a little kid.

[CreekDog]

44. -10 below. Don't make fun of me. (nt)

[Broken_Hero]

45. -30

Minneapolis, ST Paul Jan of 1996

[fudge stripe cookays]

46. Up til now, about 7 degrees in Iowa...

in January, going up to canvas for Dean during the primaries. I know the wind chill was way lower, because at the time it was impossible for my body to comprehend how cold I was. I'M A TEXAN!!

So this winter is set to be more fun than I've ever experienced, here in Milwaukee.

[RebelOne]

47. 15 below when I was on a trip to Inverness, Scotland.

To me, that was very bone-chilling because at that time I had been living in South Florida and was only used to tropical temperatures.

[yellowdogintexas]

48. streak of Blue Norther in Tennessee around 1976-77 when there were ice floes in the Cumberland River

in Nashville, and people were driving cars across the Ohio in Louisville. It stayed below 0 for days in middle Tennessee and it was not just cold, it was damn cold. and of course the dreaded wind chill and the humid air, from all the local lakes and rivers.

Now I was in Maine for a weekend in 1971 where frisbees shattered when caught by a dog. that was cold too

[underpants]

50. "First Graf"

That's all that had to be said to cause a pause amongst anyone in my Cav unit who went through it.

Newly aligned unit with Bradleys and M1A1 tanks so since it was completely new they decided that we would roll off the train in Grafenwoehr and right out into "the field". We would refuel and re-food and everything on the fly. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

I got a radio message from one of the tank crews "Guess what the temperature is" Me, "it cold" --the tank "ONE it is ONE degree"

My Bradley actually had a heater-I begged borrowed and got the mechanics drunk for a week to make sure of it. As we sat in the brilliant sunshine my driver had the Cure pumping through the headsets we sat there... BOOM BOOM "Man there must be a tank range near here" I said. BOOM BOOM. Then I saw this shadow coming up behind me, it was our Sgt. he is SCREAMING something at the driver. Being the nature of our unit the driver looks right up at him and says "Are you ^T*$&ing CRAZY?!?!" Turns out the BOOMs were the heater on fire and exploding. I look down and the turret is filled with smoke but the fire had stopped.

There was this really long pause.




Finally the driver clicked on his radio and says "Hey"
"Yeah" I say

He says, "This is going to suck"

We had no idea.

10 days out in the elements. We got so cold that we backed up a M1A1 to our dropped ramp and took their exhaust into the track and then sealed it up as best as we could.

I still feel it in the tips of my fingers when it gets really cold.

[Phoonzang]

51. Syracuse, NY

20 below, wind chill in the -50s. Once you get to -10 or so it all feels the same. :)

[momophile]

52. around -50 wind chill in northern Wisconsin nt

[rocktivity]

53. On a ski weekend in Vermont the temp was 13 below on Saturday.

You had to warm up in the base lodge, get on the lift line, warm up in the summit lodge, ski down, and warm up in the base lodge again. On Sunday it was 23 above--still well below freezing--but I'll never forget how it felt just like summertime!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Rosie1223]

54. My contact lenses froze to my eyes

It was about -25F with a stiff wind. It was the most pain I've ever been in and I've given birth 3 times.

[seemunkee]

55. Camping in -35

Damn that was a cold night. My sleeping bag is only rated to -20 and my friends is rated at -30.

[Dulcinea]

56. Erie, PA, January 1984.

-21 temperature w/ -80 wind chill.

I was a student at Penn State-Behrend, & that 500-yard walk to the dining hall was harsh! It's hard to breathe when it's that cold.

[driver8]

70. I was at Fredonia at the same time -- it must have been cold there, too!! n/t

[GirlinContempt]

57. That's only -73

WIMP

[krispos42]

58. -23°F on the thermometer

Don't remember what the wind chill was. Eastern South Dakota maybe three-four years ago.

I'm in Minnesota now, and it's only +9°F now! Wind chill is -5°F!!

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

59. I grew up in Kansas and lived in Pittsburgh for 5 years, BUT

The coldest I've EVER been was in Piazza di Santa Croce in Florence in November 2005. The wind was whipping mercilessly, and I had no coat, just a down vest. OH - MY - GOD - WAS - I - COLD!!!!! We are scheduled to return in May - here's hoping for more favorable temperatures!

[Beausoir]

60. Oh yeah! I lived in Grand Forks for many years. It IS the coldest spot.

All the wind comes roaring down from Canada.

I can remember walking around campus at UND and the President of the college would drive his big car around and pick up frozen students to take them to their next class.

So cold your head felt like exploding.

Now I'm in Central MN and it is positively tropical compared to Grand Forks. Hell, even Fargo is warmer.

I've seen minus 38 actual temperature with an 80 below windchill.

[Trailrider1951]

61. Yikes, that's coooooollllllldddddd!

My coldest morning was up in Bozeman, Montana, about 40 below. I had to get to my 8am class, and the fircking heater in the car wouldn't work, and every time I exhaled, the moisture in my breath would freeze on the inside of the windshield. I had to drive with one hand and scrape that windshield with the other so I could see where I was going. Thank God/Goddess I moved back to Texas!

[Roon]

62. In the twin cities

I don't know the exact temperature,but I got frostbite unloading my 18-wheeler with my bare hands.It was so cold, that when I made a sharp turn, my glad hand brake lines snapped. I finally got to Omaha, NB and it was zero degrees...zero felt good.

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

63. It was -40 degrees before the wind chill 2 years ago in Mass.

The only time anyone around here remembers school being canceled because of cold. The news reports were telling everyone to stay inside, and to put vaseline on your dogs' feet so that they would not freeze to the pavement... ouch! There was no way my dogs were going to stay out there long enough for their little feet to freeze, but I vaselined them up anyway. Worked good for them outside, not so good for me when they came back in with that stuff on their feet.

A couple of years ago we went to go skiing at Sunday River. The thermometer in the car said it was -25. There were about 2 people on the slopes, but my DH was going to go skiing anyway. Before we parked I asked him to let me off at the lodge so I could ask someone how cold it was at the top. They told me that it was -75 with the windchill. I went back to the car and told DH that we were going shopping.

I can deal with cold down to about -25 when I ski, but that is my limit!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

64. In 1963 when I walked home from school on a day when the HIGH was -36°

They didn't report wind chills in those days, but I'm sure it was nasty.

When I stepped inside the house, my glasses immediately frosted over. When I tried to take them off, I found that they were stuck to my nose!

[Rabrrrrrr]

65. Coldest absolute is about -35 or -40. With windchill, I've been in -110-120.

Being a Wisconsinite and all, I've known cold.

I remember one awful winter in the early 80s waiting for the bus for many, many days in a row in -70 windchill weather. I had two coats, my regular clothes, big gloves, and an almost full face hat plus the hood on one of the coats.

[IronLionZion]

66. Minnesota last winter, like 15 below (actual)

don't know about the windchill. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I love getting all bundled up and going outside in those conditions. That day I went to see the Wabasha st. caves and take the St. Paul gangster tour. Another time when it was crazy cold I went ice skating outside...at night.

[Blue_In_AK]

67. It gets pretty nippy up here sometimes.

Probably -30 or so, but it gets down to -20 nearly every winter even here in Anchorage and much, much colder in the Interior.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

72. Why not, Minot, huh?

I landed in Minot in January and drove to a small town in Montana several years ago. It was only about 50 below wind chill when I was there. Quite balmy, in fact.

DAMN that's one fricking cold place. arggggghhh

[SethInUpstateNY]

73. Rochester, NY

-19 in January 1994. Don't remember what the wind chill was. I do remember that the speedometer stopped working and the dashboard had about 4 inch crack on the passenger side on my mother's '85 Volvo.

[swag]

74. Many winters in Havre, Montana

50 below without wind chill factored in.

[Wapsie B]

75. That winter of '83 was brutal in Iowa as well.

Not nearly 100 below, but it was frequently 20 below or more for quite a few days with horrible wind chill added in.

[madrchsod]

76. working in 26 below record cold

and 72 below wind chill during the 70`s cold spells in northern il. 1996 was record breaking cold across the midwest