We never used to get very cold.

I remember clearly when it was that they came out with wind chill because I was working as a ski patrolman at the time and we were tasked with explaining it to the skiers all day. They also gave us wallet sized cards that gave the wind chill for a given temperature and wind speed. This was, I believe, 1969 when we found out how cold we had always been while out working, playing or just walking somewhere in the wind, but we never knew it. Back then we didn't worry about layers either. You just had a tee shirt, your flannel shirt, and a heavy winter jacket. If you were going to be out for awhile you would put on some coveralls and a sweater under the heavy jacket. Now all they talk about is lots of layers as if you could be snuggie warm with twenty light weight dress shirts on. We had no high performance boots or gloves either. We had deerskin mittens with a wool liner, and a pair of high green hunting boots with two pairs of stockings. We would stay out in the cold for hours like that.

I'm not from "back then", lol, but I sure
do get a kick out of these people
freaking out over the cold. I came in a
little while ago from working on a truck
in this 0 degree weather, and a kid runs
up to me to inform me that I probably
have frostbite and cannot go out again
until Friday.

I'm all for being reasonable when it come
to cold like this, but sometimes I can't
help but think seriously people? Maybe
it's just me, lol

I can take the cold for 14 hours a day on an open
station tractor a lot easier than I can take 90
degrees

People must be told about the dangers. Nowadays people do not expose themselves to the cold, ie, go from the warm house to a heated garage to get in a warmed up car, why they don't even take a coat, the car will keep me warm! Many have little experience with the cold. So no knowledge of how to dress to keep warm. So while the weather IS BAD and the weather people do hype it a bit, its for those poor souls who just don't know how bad it could be for them. jmho gobble

Tom you?re right I see kids wearing shorts and no coat at 30 below just like you say they?re not out in it for more than five minutes

Yep and you walked to school up hill both ways in the driving wind and 4' of snow. Heck even killed yourself a bear when you were only 3 I bet! No
sissy layers for you, he$$s fire, you probably worked your ski patrol half nekkid 'cept for your deer skin mitties and good ol green huntin boots.

Yessir, all that stuff will keep you warm, until you quit moving for a while, or it's been several hours since your last meal and your body's low on energy,
or if you get.......wet. Flannel, wool, and leather are worthless when they get wet.

I'll take my layers, water proof Carharrt coat, and my Arctic sport muck boots w/ wool socks underneath for extended work time on the fridgid cold thank
you very much.

I have to agree with you. Could you imagine people
of today settling this country living in a sod house
and having to fend for themselves with no
government to bail them out.

(quoted from post at 21:21:10 01/29/19) I can take the cold for 14 hours a day on an open
station tractor a lot easier than I can take 90
degrees

Click to expand...

Not me. I'll work a long time in the open tractor at 90 degrees as long as I've got a hat and a jug of water. But an hour out on the open tractor at below zero temps and I will hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Knees will be so stiff they hurt. Face frost bitten. No, I'll take the heat.

I know what you?re saying, but I also know it IS life threatening cold here in MN. I haven?t seen as many winters as some of you, but I?ve seen enough to
know this is nothing to fool with. It was -28 air temp, -55 windchill when I was working on the automatic cattle waterer last night, and it is much colder
now at 1:30 am. It was so cold, the valve would freeze inside every time a cow pushed down a ball to get a drink. Then when we got enough water
coming through to keep it from freezing shut, it froze the valve open and began to flood the coral area. Finally had to put portable coral panels around it
to keep the cows away, got it to seal up and stop pumping water, and covered it with a heavy old horse blanket. Going to use a tank and hose tomorrow
to be able to water the cows. I?ll have to monitor it closely, but not many other options. It was installed in 1993 and has never froze up like this before.
Called my parents and told them they don?t go outside without calling my brother or I first to go out with them. My brother and I agreed neither of us
goes out alone for any reason. Call and the other will come out too so no one is outside alone. If a person where to slip and fall, get knocked down by a
cow, etc, you?d be dead in a very short amount of time. Dad?s cousin froze to death about 15 years ago when his car stalled on a remote country road
on a very cold night. No cell phones then, and he was disabled so couldn?t walk for help. Another fellow I know lost both hands and both feet to extreme
frost bite when his snowmobile crashed in a ditch in a remote area. He tried walking for help, and was found at 4am frozen to the surface of the road.
His family was told he wouldn?t survive, but by some miracle he did, but at a great cost to his body. In both cases, it wasn?t as cold as it is now, but an
accident occurred with tragic outcomes. Accidents can still happen today, and I?m not taking chances. It?s simply not worth it. Cold can, and does, kill.

Not me nothing I love more than a 90-95 degree with a hot South breeze blowing some to be out in hay field making hay,nothing I hate worse than cold weather.

We have always had cold temperatures, people that
had to work outside, and folks that lived in harsh
climate, wore appropriate clothes, or knew enough
to limit their time outside. Felt lined boots , wool
under clothes, and fur coats made a difference for
outdoor apparel. When Canada was looking for
people to immigrate into Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta , they advertised in countries like the
Ukraine, and Scandinavian, were people were
accustomed to living with extreme cold.

I was teaching skiing in northen Vermont one time and the place was full
of people from Toronto. Monday it was -36F everyone was out skiing, we
were doing ski-offs, standing and watching people ski to put them in the
proper groups. Tuesday it was -12F with a wind, I sent a number of people
in with frost nip(white patches), you need to watch other people as you
can't feel it. No one told me my face had white spots so I got nipped a
bit. Wasn't the first time. You must use common sense and be
careful/prepared. When driving in subzero weather I always have extra
clothes is case something happens.

X2

A lot of it depends on where you are. When we were in Alaska (Fairbanks) We would go out at 20 to 40 below wearing nothing but our snowmobile suit over a pair of levis and T shirt along with heavy military mittens and face mask and ride snowmobile for quite awhile. Here in Ohio you can't even buy a quality pair of gloves or snowmbvile suit. Seems like all the clothes are of lighter weight. Frostbite was a real thing up there as was wind chill (and that was in the 60-70s. We either wore Mukluks or the military VB boots to keep our feet warm. Muck boots are the warmest thing you can buy here because a cold spell is normally down in the 20s. Today there is no school because of the cold and it's supposed to get down to -15 wind chill, so I do believe it's what part of the country that determines how you dress as well as age. I know I sure get a lot colder now than I did in my 20s. Keith

I think it's sad when a weather man has to tell us it's cold outside and we should wear a coat,,Really?? So..if we had no social media would we just walk out the door with out a coat,,knowing that there is snow on the ground and icicles hanging off the porch roof...

During my last year of High school we had a cold spell where it never came above -20 for a week and was down to -40 each night. They called school because they couldn't heat the building or start the buses. I put on my jacket and green hunting boots and went snowshoeing one day. Another day my buddy brought his Ski-Doo out and we went riding. The motors started right up but it took two of us to get the tracks turning. One to hold it on its side and operate the throttle and the other to pull on the track. This was before helmets or face shields, and I think that it was the only time I ever wore a scarf. And off we went!

(quoted from post at 01:56:37 01/30/19) Yep and you walked to school up hill both ways in the driving wind and 4' of snow. Heck even killed yourself a bear when you were only 3 I bet! No
sissy layers for you, he$$s fire, you probably worked your ski patrol half nekkid 'cept for your deer skin mitties and good ol green huntin boots.

Yessir, all that stuff will keep you warm, until you quit moving for a while, or it's been several hours since your last meal and your body's low on energy,
or if you get.......wet. Flannel, wool, and leather are worthless when they get wet.

I'll take my layers, water proof Carharrt coat, and my Arctic sport muck boots w/ wool socks underneath for extended work time on the fridgid cold thank
you very much.

Click to expand...

Complete over reaction to what the OP said. And FYI, wool s about the ONLY material that will hold heat when wet. I've worked in -50F weather a few times and done a lot of it in -40F. Believe it or not we survived before Carharts, Mucks (which are near worthless at those temps and crack) and miracle fibers. The point is that all the "record cold" isn't anything unusual to many of us. Wool, felt lined pack boots or Mickey Mouse boots, good mitts instead of stupid gloves, avoiding cotton products, it's all old school and it all works just fine.

(quoted from post at 05:38:16 01/30/19) I think it's sad when a weather man has to tell us it's cold outside and we should wear a coat,,Really?? So..if we had no social media would we just walk out the door with out a coat,,knowing that there is snow on the ground and icicles hanging off the porch roof...

Click to expand...

To a degree, with a significant percentage of the population, yes. A certain number are indeed THAT stupid. Nothing new about that.

Many will go out with *A* coat, but usually it is not adequate for the conditions. They're counting on the car making it from point A to point B, and not considering that they might get stuck or the car may quit on them, and they will have to spend significant time exposed to the cold. They realize it at that point but by then it is too late.

It is a fact that such cold temperatures will cause frostbite in a matter of minutes, especially to people who are not accustomed to it.

I may be mistaken, but I think the point the OP was making was that when we were young, we could take the cold a lot better than we can now that we're older - and I agree..
At age 20 all I needed were jeans, and flannel shirt and a vest. Now in the same weather I need jeans, bibs, a sweatshirt and my carhart coat.
Pete

I agree Bret. And it was environmentally friendly stuff. Wool is anti-bacterial too. Wasn't made from oil. Problem is, it's getting hard to find that stuff anymore these days, especially if you're not
somewhere where it's very cold. Here we are at the coldest time of year (traditionally) and all you can find in most stores is spring/summer stuff already. Gotta go way north of Toronto to find winter
gear of any quality in stores. And again, a lot of our newcomers come from equatorial areas. What will they know about cold. Many places around here, they're the largest part of the population
percentage-wise.

(quoted from post at 05:27:26 01/30/19) Not me nothing I love more than a 90-95 degree with a hot South breeze blowing some to be out in hay field making hay,nothing I hate worse than cold weather.

Click to expand...

This!

I spent 4 years in Alaska in the Army. What I learned is that cold is relative. I got so used to the cold that one winter was rountinely -40 and even as cold a -54. I got so used to the cold that the next spring in April it got up to 20 above zero and I was working outside on a truck. After about 30 minutes it occurred to me that there was frost on the engine, frost on my tools, I wasn’t wearing gloves and yet my hands were not cold.

There is an answer to that. If stuck out in the cold with light clothing on, don’t walk, RUN. Even a jog wil warm you up. I used to run outdoors at -20 in Alaska and it took about 3 miles for me to start sweating, but once warm I’d stay warm. Of course if I stopped for kore than a few minutes I’d cool off very quickly. I also always kept some army cold weather gear in the trunk of my car.

We are softies, compared to our ancestors. My step mother's grandparents emigrated from Romania to North Dakota in the later 1800's. The train ended at Carrington at that time and he walked 20 miles northwest from Carrington to stake his claim on the banks of the James river. After he had the land secured he built a sod house and moved his family out there. Can you imagine having little kids in a soddy during the winter on the barren windswept North Dakota prairie ? I don't think they lived in the soddy long because my step mom's dad was born in a house on the acreage where the soddy was but even one winter would be too long with those living conditions.

I'm no expert by any means but I recall hearing more than once that a good soddy was easier to heat than the houses that replaced them. They
were dirty and damp in rainy seasons so people naturally got something better as soon as they could but they were supposed to be snug like a
well sited bank barn in winter and cool in the summer. Miserable the rest of the year.

(quoted from post at 10:50:24 01/30/19) I agree Bret. And it was environmentally friendly stuff. Wool is anti-bacterial too. Wasn't made from oil. Problem is, it's getting hard to find that stuff anymore these days, especially if you're not
somewhere where it's very cold. Here we are at the coldest time of year (traditionally) and all you can find in most stores is spring/summer stuff already. Gotta go way north of Toronto to find winter
gear of any quality in stores. And again, a lot of our newcomers come from equatorial areas. What will they know about cold. Many places around here, they're the largest part of the population
percentage-wise.

Click to expand...

Ebay my friend. Just type in "Woolrich" or "Codet" or "Johnson Wool" and go from there. Summer, winter, spring or fall. Got a brand new pair of Johnson Malone pants for $30 last year and a pair of even heavier Codets for $12. No one south of border apparently knows what Codet is!

(quoted from post at 09:44:48 01/30/19)
During my last year of High school we had a cold spell where it never came above -20 for a week and was down to -40 each night. They called school because they couldn't heat the building or start the buses. I put on my jacket and green hunting boots and went snowshoeing one day. Another day my buddy brought his Ski-Doo out and we went riding. The motors started right up but it took two of us to get the tracks turning. One to hold it on its side and operate the throttle and the other to pull on the track. This was before helmets or face shields, and I think that it was the only time I ever wore a scarf. And off we went!

Click to expand...

Would that maybe have been in the early 90's? We had over 30 days straight in the Adirondacks where the day time high never got to 0F and lows got down to at least -52F. 40 below and we were out like it was 25 above working in the woods.

algores global burnup at work

(quoted from post at 11:18:44 01/30/19)

(quoted from post at 09:44:48 01/30/19)
During my last year of High school we had a cold spell where it never came above -20 for a week and was down to -40 each night. They called school because they couldn't heat the building or start the buses. I put on my jacket and green hunting boots and went snowshoeing one day. Another day my buddy brought his Ski-Doo out and we went riding. The motors started right up but it took two of us to get the tracks turning. One to hold it on its side and operate the throttle and the other to pull on the track. This was before helmets or face shields, and I think that it was the only time I ever wore a scarf. And off we went!

Click to expand...

Would that maybe have been in the early 90's? We had over 30 days straight in the Adirondacks where the day time high never got to 0F and lows got down to at least -52F. 40 below and we were out like it was 25 above working in the woods.

Click to expand...

No, this was 1967.