When do you feel cold?
When I was much younger I seemed to handle the cold much better than the older person I have become.
I loved to ski and the temperature was never a problem, except when it was too warm and melted the snow. I can recall even running in the dark on cold January mornings when I was training for the Pittsburgh Marathon.
Last week when we had a visit from the Polar Vortex that dropped temperatures into the teens and 20s I barely went out of the house; age will do that and it has to be at least 40 without much wind to send me out for a walk.
You often hear the weather people talk about brutal cold and this usually occurs around here when we have cold air in place and the wind chill, or feels-like temperature, makes it even colder. The thing I hate about winter is all the extra clothing required to go outside; sweaters, coats, gloves, boots, scarves and of course the tassel cap to keep our head and ears warm.
Incidentally the tassel cap is unique to the area and elsewhere it is called by many names including hat, head gear and caps. All of this winter clothing seems to add about 10 pounds of weight to carry around on our walk.
Average winter days in our area are in the upper 30s to around 40 and nights in the low 20s. Records are a low of 22 below zero and just zero for a record low high. Our mountains just east of Uniontown recorded a low of -34 in Elliottsville and -27 at Chalk Hill.
The record for Pennsylvania is -42 at Smethport in McKean County. In the lower 48 states Embarrass, Minnesota recorded -64 on Groundhog Day 1996. Every state except Hawaii with a reading of +12 has experienced below zero weather. Florida has a record of -2 set in February 1899 in Tallahassee and you may recall last year several inches of snow fell there as well as Pensacola and Jacksonville. Alabama has a record of -27.
Much of December this year has seen temperatures in Fairbanks, Alaska well below zero with several days of minus -30 for the high and lows in the -45 range.
Even though we have had our share of cold and gloomy days we do get to see the sun every few days while Fairbanks is dark 24 hours a day. Its record was -66 on Jan. 14, 1934. The record for Alaska is -80 at Prospect Creek.
When breath freezes at this temperature it makes a hissing sound and breaking ice sounds like breaking glass. It’s easy to freeze your nose without even knowing it.
At -30 you at least feel it coming on. All of these records are actual air temperatures and do not include wind chills although the best chance of actual record cold is when an area has clear skies, no wind and snow cover.
By now you are probably ready for a hot chocolate and the warmth of your fireplace and if you go out don’t forget your tassel.