What is the coldest you have ever been ?

[jjeff]

Not the coldest but the dumbest I've been in the cold. About -20 figured it would be a great idea to take my previous city wife snowmobiling in the Northwoods. That was almost 20 yrs ago she is now known to me as my "ex city wife" lol

 

[Jstpssng]

I was dreading going to work one AM when it was around -20. Went out to my truck and it wouldn't start. I took that to be a sign from God and stayed home that day.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Cold is relative.

I've spent January in Tobolsk Russia which is in Siberia. I've been on a North Sea oil platform that lost hotel services and had to pile on the blankets at night. And, I've slept in tents during the winter snowstorms with the boy scouts back before they fell to ruin.

But right now I'm spending time at my sister's place as we attempt to clean out my brother's house after his passing. She can't stand to have the house above 65'F in the day and it drops to 55'F at night with the heat off. Her registers are all in the ceiling so the heat is fine from your waist up if you're standing. My brother's heat doesn't work at his place and it's been in the 30's during the day.

So, while it's not all that cold in reality, I swear to God I don't think I've ever been this cold this long. Particularly my feet.

Living on the Texas Gulf coast has definitely thinned my blood these past 30 years.

 

[TractorTYMe]

I rode motorcycle in the winter in North Norway as a teenager in -25F, coldest I've experienced has been -45F here in Montana.

 

[JasperFrank]

Christmas Tree Shagging in the Pacific Northwest is a sight to see. You are working very hard, and conditions sometimes are just right, that you are just hot enough to cause a vapor around you. So every one has this cloud of vapors coming off their body. It was surreal. We are all making this little cloud of vapor around us. It would trail, if you walked, like a vale behind you. It wasn't cold to us, yet the visuals are near indescribable to relate. Every one was like a god giving off this presence of warm bodied life.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I was dreading going to work one AM when it was around -20. Went out to my truck and it wouldn't start. I took that to be a sign from God and stayed home that day.

Sounds like a Tuesday.

 

[Jstpssng]

Sounds like a Tuesday. View attachment 780887

I'm not sure what you do, but back then I drove to the jobsite, struck out on a compass bearing and worked all day, walking back to a cold truck at the end. Often there wouldn't be another soul around for 6 miles or more. I also didn't check in with anybody at the end of the day. It's one thing to not have the truck start in the morning. If it doesn't start at the end of the day, that could quickly become life threatening.

 

[jjeff]

I've been in cold weather when vapor from breathing freezes instantaneously when exposed to the environment and you spit and it freezes before it hits the ground. Worked on framing crews quit working not because of it being to cold for workers but the compressor air hoses and nail guns would continuously freeze even with liberal amounts of antifreeze.

 

[MossRoad]

Christmas Tree Shagging in the Pacific Northwest is a sight to see. You are working very hard, and conditions sometimes are just right, that you are just hot enough to cause a vapor around you. So every one has this cloud of vapors coming off their body. It was surreal. We are all making this little cloud of vapor around us. It would trail, if you walked, like a vale behind you. It wasn't cold to us, yet the visuals are near indescribable to relate. Every one was like a god giving off this presence of warm bodied life.

We used to get something like that playing basketball outdoors in the winter. You're all bundled up and start playing around. Then you start heating up. Then you start taking jackets and gloves off. Your hands are steaming. Then the sweat pours through your shirt and your entire body is steaming. It looked cool under the lights.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I've been in cold weather when vapor from breathing freezes instantaneously when exposed to the environment and you spit and it freezes before it hits the ground. Worked on framing crews quit working not because of it being to cold for workers but the compressor air hoses and nail guns would continuously freeze even with liberal amounts of antifreeze.

At -20 or so we get what we call “diamond dust”. It is the humidity that is in the air and it freezes. So it is like snow even tho there is not a cloud in the sky.

 

[lman]

Back when I was young and dumb, I had to bring hay out to a field where we had cattle with an open cab tractor. I wasn't wearing the right hat when it was close to 0f with a 20 mph wind. After trouble with the tractor, I finally got out of the weather and discovered that both of my ears were frozen solid. They were painful while thawing, but had no problems. A few years later I noticed that my left ear was stiff and my Dr said that it had calcified possibly from being frostbit.

 

[jjeff]

Froze my ears solid walking to school a long time ago. I thought I was brilliant and put hot water on them. Definitely not brilliant lol . They blistered pretty bad and never got back to there original size they also freeze much more easily. On a lighter side when my dumbo ears are talked about i tell the kids I walked up hill 10 miles both ways in -50 temps and four feet of snow. Lol

 

[hosspuller]

Nothing compared to the previous frozen body part stories... 45 years ago, I rode a just purchased motorcycle from NYC to Easton, PA in the rain. It was during November. Not freezing weather but Cold, Wet, & Windy. My gloves were soaked, feet were wet, water penetrated my rain suit. Hypothermia happens above freezing... and just as deadly.

 

[Tpondel]

Opening day, Wrigley Field.
Nowhere colder on earth.

 

[dodge man]

Anybody read a short story by Jack London called ”To Build a Fire”. He is pretty descriptive of how cold it can get.

 

[Jstpssng]

Anybody read a short story by Jack London called ”To Build a Fire”. He is pretty descriptive of how cold it can get.

That's a good story. Also a lesson on why it's not good to be alone in some circumstances. Experience has taught me that it isn't usually the first mistake which gets you; that just makes it easier to do the second and third mistake.

 

[Snobdds]

The coldest I have ever been is when I went heli skiing in Alaska. That moist cold air went right to the bone. I'm use to cold, but a dry cold. That kicked my butt...

 

[MinnesotaEric]

-56 below F. Occasionally where I’m at it is the coldest place in North America because of our distance from warming oceans and why we refer to the northern portion of Minnesota as the polar peninsula. Anyway, most of the time, a cold day is in the negative thirties or negative twenties warming up to the negative teens.

I couldn't find a really cold photo in my terabytes of photos and video library and life is too short to keep looking. I will say this: today my truck has been plugged into the wall for four hours because I'm going to start it and go grocery shopping this evening.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
That's cold enough!!!!

 

[bmg88201]

As a pipe welder working on a new power plant. I was about 300 feet in the air on top of the boiler. It was in the single digits on the ground, the wind was blowing off the river too. Had to put my sandwiches inside my coveralls so they wouldn’t freeze. Don’t know what the windchill was that day but it was tough working 7/12’s that winter.