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The coldest weather you've experienced?

AlbqOwl said:
There were numerous winters in north central Kansas when we lived there that the temps dropped into the minus teens or minus 20's--days that the temperature never got above zero. I believe the coldest temperature ever recorded in Kansas was minus 40 fahrenheit. Oddly enough that is also the coldest temperature ever measured in Arizona (Hawley.) New Mexico beats both with the coldest temperature ever recorded at minus 50 in 1963.
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I would've never thought it got that could in the southwest!
 
JC Callender said:
I would've never thought it got that could in the southwest!
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Lots of people either forget or don't know that a whole lot of Arizona is at over 5000'. Northern and Northeastern Arizona tend to get a whole lot of winter. Even down here in Tucson the mountains will have snow all winter. We even have a small ski resort on Mt Lemmon which is a whopping 27 miles up the winding Catalina Highway from town.
 
-18 or thereabouts.
 
DaveFagan said:
In the 1950's, 51, 52 or 53 here in Western NY it was below zero for three weeks continuous. Sometimes as much as -28 to -30. The water main under our Main Street froze and burst and it was 16 feet below the surface. Not all that uncommon because the road is uncovered/plowed and the ground heat escapes more quickly. This was in the Village valley. Some of the rural higher altitudes, over 2000 feet had much colder lows. I remember it vividly because we walked a half mile each way to school on each of those days and we walked beside the trench to repair the water main. We didn't like it because we had poor quality winter clothes and we were always cold. Modern fabrics with good insulation have cured that.
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I wasn't around in the 50's but I sure remember the old black rubber boots that you just stuffed your whole shoe into. They'd keep your feet dry but didn't do a damned thing for the cold.
 
Lutherf said:
Lots of people either forget or don't know that a whole lot of Arizona is at over 5000'. Northern and Northeastern Arizona tend to get a whole lot of winter. Even down here in Tucson the mountains will have snow all winter. We even have a small ski resort on Mt Lemmon which is a whopping 27 miles up the winding Catalina Highway from town.
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Do you live in the mountains? How cold does it get around your house?
 
-30F air temp, 30mph winds, DMZ Korea.
 
Kobie said:
I went to a Bills-Raiders playoff game in 1994 that was 0 degrees with a wind chill of -32. That was pretty awful.

I think the coldest I actually remember it getting around here was -20.
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The coldest I ever experienced was the -33 in upstate NY, as I said earlier. But I swear the coldest I ever felt was in the 70's I went to a Jets game at Shea Stadium in December. It was in the teens I think, but a brutal wind coming off the water. We were sitting way up on top of the Stadium.. Nothing to block the wind.. I thought i was going to die. It was brutal;.
 
JC Callender said:
I would've never thought it got that could in the southwest!
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It does though and because it doesn't happen all that often, we don't cope with it just real well here either. :)
 
JC Callender said:
Do you live in the mountains? How cold does it get around your house?
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I'm in the valley. Winters in Tucson occasionally get below freezing overnight but generally we're in the 30's and 40's overnight and the 50's-60's during the day. We'll get snow in town every 5 years or so but I don't recall seeing more than 4" and then it was gone by noon.
 
Suppose to go to 0 here tonight, then by Sunday be in the 50's.

If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.
 
I live in Colorado...in the Springs area...elevation from 5000 to 6000 feet or so. The mountains are right there to the west, so getting to higher...and colder...elevations is very easy to do. Here in the Springs area, we regularly get into the minus teens every winter with lower temps from year to year.

But, the thing is...it's all relative. It might be -5, but as long as the wind isn't blowing we can stay outside comfortably all day because of the sunshine and people have a grand old time skiing in the mountains. On the other hand, I lived in southern Florida for a couple of years and when it got down to +50, everyone broke out their parkas.

Probably the worst conditions I've experienced was in Saudi Arabia the winter of '90-'91. Daytime temps +100. Nighttime temps +10. A 90 degree change in temps in a matter of hours.
 
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Mycroft said:
I live in Colorado...in the Springs area...elevation from 5000 to 6000 feet or so. The mountains are right there to the west, so getting to higher...and colder...elevations is very easy to do. Here in the Springs area, we regularly get into the minus teens every winter with lower temps from year to year.

But, the thing is...it's all relative. It might be -5, but as long as the wind isn't blowing we can stay outside comfortably all day because of the sunshine and people have a grand old time skiing in the mountains. On the other hand, I lived in southern Florida for a couple of years and when it got down to +50, everyone broke out their parkas.

Probably the worst conditions I've experienced was in Saudi Arabia the winter of '90-'91. Daytime temps +100. Nighttime temps +10. A 90 degree change in temps in a matter of hours.
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The Springs could get weird some times. It was probably 1985 or so I remember a week where we were in short sleeves in January but the following June there was a week when we got snow.
 
The coldest weather you've experienced?
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it was a January day in 1994; winter term, during my freshman year in college. the recorded temperature in the nearest town was -36F. heat in the dorm went out, so my buddy and i drove to buy a space heater, and we got the last one in the store. i still can't believe that my car started. we sat in my dorm room around the space heater for the rest of the afternoon / evening.

classes weren't cancelled earlier that day, and my hair froze pretty much as soon as i got out of the door on the way to class. it wasn't quite "To Build a Fire" cold, but it was cold.
 
Beaudreaux said:
I spent over a year in Alaska during a 20 day SERE course, and it got down to -20. We had snotsickles hanging from our mustaches and one guys ears turned black and he had to be airlifted out. On the last day of the field portion, while waiting on our ride out, we were standing around an improvised fire when we started smelling something like burning plastic. A couple of us looked down and saw that a BFN 2nd Lieutenant's survival (bunny) boots were on fire. One guy told him, and the LT said - so that's why my feet finally feel good - and then he just stood there. We kicked some snow on him and put it out.

You know its cold, when parts of your body go numb then later feel like they're on fire when there is no fire.
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I did SERE in Warner Springs, CA, but did TAD to Cold Bay, Alaska. Didn't like the brass fire extinguisher water spray around 32 degrees in the mountain wind. Naked as a jaybird. Unforgetable.
 
-50 some one winter. Net average is -35 or so. We've already hit that this last week.
 
-24 Jan 11th and 15th of the year 1979, Rockford Il.
 
It got below freezing a few times here in Phoenix, killed off my papayas and killed a lot of banana leaves.

I don't want to go through that hell again.

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About 20 years ago in Chicoutimi -45c. My car actually overheated because my antifreeze froze and I had to wait on side of the road for the engine to cool down. Cop stopped and asked me if my car had broken down. Gave me a funny look when I said no it just overheated. Didn't take long to cool down so I could carry on my way.
 
JC Callender said:
During an average winter in Metro Detroit, the actual temp. may get a couple of degrees below zero but it's rare. The Polar Vortex's that we've been experiencing 2 out of the past 3 winters have brought temps into the negative teens at times. From my understanding, we basically get Alaska's winters and they get ours, which screws things up for the homesteaders out there. Anyway, we had an actual temp of -17 a couple of years ago. It came the day after a heavy snow storm, so as I looked out of my window onto the downtown street, the snow, high winds, and lack of any living activity in sight made it look like Mars or something. I noticed a runner out as well. :shock: Pretty freaky.
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Gosh I am 200 miles South of you in the Ohio Valley and we have seen low temps in the -20's in the past. The weather around here is so fickle. Right now it is a balmy 5 degrees. By Saturday the high will be 50. It will be a good day to get the car washed. Who knows when the next opportunity will arise. We got about 4-5 inches of snow a couple of days ago. It looks like a Winter wonderland outside. The kids purchased us a 7 day cruise to do a little island hopping in the Caribbean for our anniversary. If it is going to be as cold this Winter as they are predicting, I will be more than ready.
 
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Johnson said:
I was running some errands thus morning in my local picturesque Wisconsin hamlet, and the temperature was a steamy tropical -12 F. That's pretty cold. It gets colder than that every now and again, but it's the type of cold you have to experience to understand. So what's the coldest (outside) temperature you ever had to suffer through?
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Laying next to my (then) soon to be ex-wife. I used to put a 6 pack next to her to get the beer down to drinking temperature.

I, of course, was an angel.
 
Kobie said:
I went to a Bills-Raiders playoff game in 1994 that was 0 degrees with a wind chill of -32. That was pretty awful.

I think the coldest I actually remember it getting around here was -20.
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It's the windchill that really gets you.




Johnson said:
Ooo yeah I spent a couple of weeks one winter in Florence Wisconsin (less than a 20 minute drive from the UP). It gets mercilessly cold that far north.
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Most northern states can get downright awful.

I have experienced cold when I was younger. I do not want to experience it any more.

What annoys me the most when it gets really cold like that is that damn dry squeaky snow.
 
Excon said:
It's the windchill that really gets you.
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The worst part of that game was that our seats were in the row directly in front of the luxury boxes. So not only were there rich people in sweaters barely paying attention to the game separated from us by just a pane of glass, but the snow from on top of the suites was blowing directly down on us and onto the back of my neck. Grrrrr.

The best part of that game was that the Bills won.
 
vesper said:
Gosh I am 200 miles South of you in the Ohio Valley and we have seen low temps in the -20's in the past. The weather around here is so fickle. Right now it is a balmy 5 degrees. By Saturday the high will be 50. It will be a good day to get the car washed. Who knows when the next opportunity will arise. We got about 4-5 inches of snow a couple of days ago. It looks like a Winter wonderland outside. The kids purchased us a 7 day cruise to do a little island hopping in the Caribbean for our anniversary. If it is going to be as cold this Winter as they are predicting, I will be more than ready.
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Wow, minus 20 huh! I'm surprised so many posters south of me get more extreme cold days. We got about 10 inches of snow here a few days ago as well. December is usually very pretty as well as good weather for walking around here but we're in the midst of another vortex and it's going down to -5 tonight. We're supposed to get another big snow this weekend. Hopefully your cruise is in Jan. or Feb., those are the best months to get out of dodge, imo.
 
Risky Thicket said:
I'm with you, man. Nobody likes getting their papayas frost bitten. I know I don't.
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Seriously, the main stalk is hollow. You get any ice or frost, and the thing implodes.
 
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