As I'm pulling together my research materials for the day, with the happy glow of the early morning sun gently brightening my Venetian blinds, I glance at my weather page online to discover that it is -12ºF (-24ºC) outside right now, with a wind chill factor of -27ºF (-33ºC), and with an expected high temperature today of 2ªF. Holy. Freaking. Moses.
A hundred and fifty-odd miles to the southwest, I see that it is currently -20ºF as my Dad heads out to work with the first grade students he volunteers with, and that it is -34ºF (-36ºC; wind chill -46ºF/-43ºC) in my hometown of Oregon, Illinois. Naturally, having no idea of the forecast yesterday evening, after a three-hour conversation with Professor Mattox, on account of how cold it was then, I ended up putting off my grocery shopping until today. Oh, joy.
I'm going to – just to amaze and dazzle you. And to get bananas.
I remember it getting down to -60ºF (with the wind chill factor) at night for one awful week my first year at Notre Dame. We were deeply impressed by the complaints of a visiting professor from Moscow State University wishing to go home to Siberia where winters made sense. Given that Siberia was the watchword for cold, and the apparent origin of our cold air, we were deeply impressed. He explained that Siberia didn't have the addition of the winds that the Midwest added to the cold. Whether or not that's entirely true, we were nevertheless pretty impressed.
Only children or some types of outdoor workers wear them, if they are the same thing as what we call "snowpants." I had to look up the word, myself, having never heard of "salopettes" before and assuming that this is some other cracked Scots thing like kilts....
My Dad couldn't hack his first winter in South Bend, and that (coupled with his marriage to his high school sweetheart) was what led him to eventually complete his degree at the University of Houston.
I remember it getting down to -60ºF (with the wind chill factor) at night for one awful week my first year at Notre Dame. We were deeply impressed by the complaints of a visiting professor from Moscow State University wishing to go home to Siberia where winters made sense. Given that Siberia was the watchword for cold, and the apparent origin of our cold air, we were deeply impressed. He explained that Siberia didn't have the addition of the winds that the Midwest added to the cold. Whether or not that's entirely true, we were nevertheless pretty impressed.
Do folk wear salopettes or similar to go out in that? I find that makes all the difference to tolerating the cold.