as cold as it it,it could be worse

[rdking647]

the coldest place on earth... -136 f

thats 25 degrees colder than dry ice
http://www.universetoday.com/107074/and-the-coldest-place-on-earth-is/

[2naSalit]

1. Well...

I'll tell ya, -50F is plenty cold and that's about all I could handle and not for a long time. Currently, up here in Montana at 7K ft, it's been well below 0 for the last ten days with the exception of about one to two hours a day where it got to be 0 or 1-3 degrees above in the afternoon on a couple of those days. Mostly we see -20F to -30F but it's warming up to -10F or around there. Sometimes we get -50F though.

At -50F every breath freezes on the outside of your face covering, I wear a neoprene with a fleece gator over that and you kind of have to let them thaw a bit before you can remove them once you get indoors and everything crackles or makes a styrofoam like sound, especially the snow. Snowmobile suits work really well for overall coverage and I recommend sheep fleece (thick pile) boots with a thermal shield on the insoles. And then there are those nifty little hand and toe warmer packets, lifesavers!

We'll probably have temps like this into Feb or March, off and on. The best thing about it, though, is how magical everything looks, the mountains, the stars at night, the frost that gathers at the places on your door or edges of your house or windows where inside air might be escaping, it looks like frozen ferns from outer space. And then there are sun-dogs and glittery frozen moisture that falls from a clear blue sky... those are the really neat things about extreme cold. The bad part is that everything and anything can/will break if you put enough pressure on it, including steel. Better to walk, ski or snowshoe than try to start your vehicle... best to just stay inside and bake things to stay warm.

[Warpy]

2. When I was a kid in Indiana, I discovered

that if I spit into -22F air, it would bounce off the pavement. I thought that was pretty neat.

I don't find -22 feels a whole lot different than +22, it just feels that way a lot faster so it's best to start moving and keep moving.

[2naSalit]

3. I have noticed some big differences

between those two temperature circumstances. At +22F, it's perfect for skate skiing and other Xcountry stuff. But at -22F and varying temps as it gets colder, (I used to drive semis and one winter here I operated a medium sized Caterpillar machine that had the exhaust stack on the front corner of the vehicle where you could see it out the window) diesel exhaust does some odd things. I first noticed that the truck exhaust would hang in the air for a very long time, the colder it is the longer it hangs there. But what really got my attention was in that Cat thing, especially at night, at -20F-ish the exhaust comes out and slightly expands but stays at the same height as the top pf the pipe, at -40F it comes out in the shape of the exhaust pipe, seems to never expand and looks like a rope of gas is being set in suspension as you pass by it, that was unusual and eerie... especially because I was normally far from town in the mountains or out in the wild in the middle of the night alone.

But I don't know if I could stand it if there was no winter snow and cold so I take what comes and enjoy the good parts and try to make the rough parts good. Keep moving is really good advice!