Coldest temperature you've experienced?
- Thread starter Steve
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About -22 around Xmas break in ~1989 at ISU, windchill had us around -40. :arghh: I took a final that night and walked from Helser to Curtis. Central campus was a cold, cold place to be. Took the battery out of my car that night to keep it warm and put it back in the car in the morning. I remember taking 5min turns outside with another guy trying to get the battery out. Then the next morning it was so cold car still wouldn't start. They had a towing service with a generator and jumper cables on a truck. He went down the line of cars and got $20 if it started. He was about 50% successful. Cold as I've ever seen here.
I have been in Iowa since 2002, so the coldest I have ever seen was -21 (-40 wind chill) last January. Didn't even bother starting the car during that cold snap. I just rode the bus with the students. It was a cold A$$ walk to the bus stop!!
Driving back from Minneapolis last night we saw temperatures dip all the way down to -21 in some wide open areas of southern MN. Kind of a shock back to reality as we had been in 70 degree Tempe weather a few hours earlier
Driving back from Minneapolis last night we saw temperatures dip all the way down to -21 in some wide open areas of southern MN. Kind of a shock back to reality as we had been in 70 degree Tempe weather a few hours earlier
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Back in the early 1980's, around -30 up in Alexandria, Mnnesota. I was pretty amazed that my Datsun 280Z started the next morning after being outside and not plugged in. The clutch and manual transmission were so stiff you could hardly get the thing in gear. Car never did warm up. I wore coat and gloves all the way back to the Twin Cities.
PS: That Datsun was an awesome damn car.
PS: That Datsun was an awesome damn car.
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Not sure what the coldest is, but I was around in '82, so that might be it. I'm still ****ed at my parents- they met in freaking San Diego, and both being Iowans, decided to move back here. What the hell were they thinking?
I lived in Bagley, MN (near Bemidji) at the time. Tower was -60 and we were somewhere around -50. Wind chills were in the -80s. School was canceled but my dad walked a mile and a half to work that day and eventually wrote a book about it.
Yeah. I don't want to make this seem like "my dad is a bad ***..." but he walked to work each day regardless of the weather. He didn't think much of it until people kept telling him about how crazy/interesting that was.
We lived on a gravel road 1.5 miles out of town (no cell phone, either) so in retrospect that had potential to be fatal. Probably not the smartest move but interesting story, nonetheless.
I remember that. The temp was something like -31 before the wind chill. I remember a week later walking with my jacket open and seeing the bank sign saying it was something like -1. It felt warm compared to what we had just been through.
I did arctic survival school at 35 below and saw temps approaching 50 below while in Alaska. Great thing about that is there is no whine chill to worry about.
All I know is that it was -20 in Omaha a while ago and I dont like it. Usually I look to Fargo, where I have a friend, to feel better about how cold it is here but it was only -5 there! Damn it! I have 4 feet of snow on either side of my driveway and its never going to leave...
1982 - My wife was working 2nd shift and my aunt baby sat our kids. I went and played golf all day and got drunked up and my aunt had to watch the kids until about 11:00 that night. I was only about 6 hours late.
It was -80 below in my house for about a week. Still gives me the shivers today.
It was -80 below in my house for about a week. Still gives me the shivers today.
early to mid nineties- I remember the record set for biggest temperature drop in a day... it was like, in the 40s in January, and then dropped with wind chill to -50. Of course I cant remember the details, and I lack any search function on my computer... :wink:
speaking of crazies... the town barrow i lived in doesnt have plumbing because it is too cold.. anyone so a guy hand delivers your water, and he doesnt wear a shirt... still doesnt til this day... he has been doing it for over 20 years... so farthest northern city, and he doesnt wear a shirt... insane..
1985 Bjerkvik, Norway.....it was frickin cold as hell. Cold weather training for the military. Two weeks of -69 average.