What is the coldest temp you have been in?

[wederwarrior]

I am headed to Alaska after christmas for 10 glorious days.

One destination is the Arctic circle north of Fairbanks to view the N. Lights...the lows have dropped to a mind numbing 50 below this past week.

Any one have a lil bit of knowledge of that type of cold that they would like to share?

How does one stay warm outside?

Gear? tricks? Whiskey?

[Marsky]

I am headed to Alaska after christmas for 10 glorious days.

One destination is the Arctic circle north of Fairbanks to view the N. Lights...the lows have dropped to a mind numbing 50 below this past week.

Any one have a lil bit of knowledge of that type of cold that they would like to share?

How does one stay warm outside?

Gear? tricks? Whiskey?

-26 in 1978.

Long underwear! Wool sox (Smart wool or Patagonia are good brands). Down slippers/booties. Corduroy not jeans (stored away until spring).These are all my winter mainstays.

[tamarack]

Was out (briefly) in -42, both 1/1979 and 12/1980, in Ft.Kent. The day my max-min hit -47, I'd stayed overnight on our border camp near St.-Pamphile, PQ, and it was "only" -40 there. We spent the morning looking at timber, going out in pairs rather than alone due to the cold, and the snowshoeing kept us reasonably warm. By noontime the temp was up to -20.

On 1/18/1982 we had -34 with winds gusting into the 30s, -101 chill on the old scale, about -70 on the new, with -SN (vis 1-2 miles) just for fun. In that kind of wx, layered clothing and full skin protection are a must, along with very warm boots and headcovering. When it drops below -50, it's a new world I've not experienced, except while reading "To Build a Fire", a short story by Jack London.

[Itunis]

-10 or so at friends' house in Breckenridge. They had an outdoor hot tub, which we went in despite subzero temps. That was a brutal run from the hot tub to the house...

Here the coldest I've been outside in was when it was 3 (I think) degrees back in 2003 or 2004. School was delayed because of the temps..

[eekuasepinniW]

-24 in 1994

I vividly remember waiting at the bus stop, unaware the buses wouldn't start and school had been called off.

Eventually the city sent police cars through the bus routes to look for unaware children like me.

[Mercurial]

Around -50F in Wisdom, Montana when I was a kid visiting my grandparents who lived there at the time. Wisdom is located in a particularly nasty high valley.

[ayuud]

-30F once i was visiting watertown ny ,i had heated gloves and jacket though lol

[lindywx]

-19F at SUNY OSWEGO 1/1979

[PSUBlizzicane2007]

-23 F two mornings in a row this past January in Bellevue, NE. It was fun taking my husky out for a walk that morning, and immediately upon stepping out, having my beard freeze!

[wederwarrior]

Long underwear! Wool sox (Smart wool or Patagonia are good brands). Down slippers/booties. Corduroy not jeans (stored away until spring).These are all my winter mainstays.

Thanks! Yea, definitely thermal underwear in my bag.

On 1/18/1982 we had -34 with winds gusting into the 30s, -101 chill on the old scale, about -70 on the new, with -SN (vis 1-2 miles) just for fun.

When it drops below -50, it's a new world I've not experienced, except while reading "To Build a Fire", a short story by Jack London.

That's freakin cold...does it hurt to breath that type of air in?

Thanks for the tips!

[weatherMA]

about -7 or so a few years ago at my house. Nothing too crazy.

[MJW155]

Thanks! Yea, definitely thermal underwear in my bag.

That's freakin cold...does it hurt to breath that type of air in?

Thanks for the tips!

Yea it hurts to breathe. You gasp for breath because it's so cold and it hurts your lungs. I've been in the Adirondacks during the winter. Not sure how cold it was but it was def. below -25 at night.

Also, don't sweat. Don't spend 10 minutes getting dressed and then going outside. You'll be too hot in the house and start sweating. You are betting off being cold for a minute outside than sweating and going out. I'm not saying go out in shorts and t-shirt and then get dressed, lol. But don't put on the heavier layers until you are already outside. The last winter jacket and hat/gloves is fine.

[Mallow]

Probably around 10F

[noforsnow]

Went to spend Christmas in Montreal with a friend. After experiencing -32c weather, I promised myself never again to travel north of Orlando during winter and kissed the ground upon arrival back home in Miami.

[msp]

can't say for sure, but somewhere around -30F

[Scorpion]

I'd say around 10F, was in DC for a school field trip during a very unprecedented arctic blast. Really wanna experience subzero sometime.

[dendrite]

-28F. When you're bundled up it's not a huge deal...it's just that your snots instantly freeze when you breathe in.

[Vandy]

-10F. And yeah.. it wasn't too bad if dressed appropriately. 10F with a 30 MPH wind is much much worse.

Technically -15F is the lowest I've lived through, but I wasn't outside at 5AM!

[Scotty Lightning]

-2 back in 2004. It was a cold Saturday morning in February and I was wearing shorts.

[LVblizzard]

-10 or so in middle school. It was so cold that school got canceled, which happens usually once a year around here during the most bitter arctic snap of the winter.

[baroclinic_instability]

About -40F with plenty of -20s to -30s. To get that in almost any area, you need a fat arctic high or an insane valley inversion with weak winds. Quite honestly, it really begins to feel the same after you dip below -15/-20. After thats it is just cold. It does hurt to breathe in, especially if you haven't acclimated to anything close to that. In reality, 0 degrees with 35 mph winds is far worse than the -30 calm wind nights.

[RutgersWx92]

Back in January 2004 I think it got down to slightly below zero around here.

[Yukon Cornelius]

I was up near Millinocket Maine snowmobiling in January 2009 and experienced around -30 temps (without the wind chill). Dressed warm I was fine, but it was instant heat sucking temps. We had the heat on high in the truck while changing into our sled gear and I remember if the door was open for a couple seconds that the inside of the truck would instantly lose all its' heat immediately. Simply impressive cold!

[phlwx]

-32 in Minnesota in Feb 1996.

[Cory]

-53 in McGrath, Alaska, February 2006.

[Analog96]

Only -3 here in Jan. 1994.

[JCT777]

-14 in January 1994. It was a rare time that I had quite a bit of trouble starting my car due to the cold.

[MJW155]

-14 in January 1994. It was a rare time that I had quite a bit of trouble starting my car due to the cold.

LOL really? I had problems starting my POS Camry back in HS when it was 40 degrees.

[NortheastPAWx]

It was something <0 in January 2004. Don't think I was out when we got to -20 in 1994 (I wasn't even 2yrs. old at the time).

[Itunis]

LOL really? I had problems starting my POS Camry back in HS when it was 40 degrees.

Down here the buses seem to have trouble starting when temps are in the single digits (or so the school district says...). I don't get what sets the buses down here apart from those in NNE/Upper Midwest that have to deal with these temps regularly. My old car had no trouble starting in cold weather (granted high single digits aren't too cold by the standards of most here).