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Coldest temperatures that you've experienced

-110 at a lovely place called Hall Beach in northern Canada in the late 80s. I didn’t see a thermometer, but that’s what I was told by someone who worked there. Went back a year later and it was much warmer. -65. Almost balmy!
 
vesper said:
Usually here in Central Ohio we get below 0 in January or February a few days every year. Tonight it will get down to -4 with snow squalls. Wind chill expected to be -22. But the coldest I can remember was below 0 in the teens actual temperature.

Tomorrow the high is only expected to get to 3 but come Saturday we are suppose to reach a balmy 43. Until then I can't think of any good reason to head outside. Today it only got up in the teens but we had gusts of wind 36 mph. Hubby and I were out pricing kitchen appliances and a washer/dryer. It was brutal. The good news there wasn't a whole lot of people out and we had all kinds of folks available to assist us.
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they're saying that we'll be in the 50s by this weekend. that's a fairly wild temperature swing.
 
Helix said:
they're saying that we'll be in the 50s by this weekend. that's a fairly wild temperature swing.
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Yes it is. But I am looking forward to it and I am sure you are too. The ice and snow will melt. You can go for a walk/run or ride bikes.
 
Damn you guys are crazy. 12 degrees here is California and I thought that was but ass cold.
 
Amelia said:
I'm not sure of the coldest.

But it's -10F right now so I stepped outside in my shirtsleeves just to say I did.
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i wouldn't be surprised if i saw someone in shorts during this cold snap. around here, a parka with shorts isn't uncommon. however, i just took the dog out, so i can guarantee you that it won't be me.
 
Sorry I saw a bunch of uncivilized brutes speaking in... Fahrenheit?

Haha.

That's adorable.

Coldest I've been in was I think, -49c.

It. Sucks.
 
Helix said:
is it one of those mummy bags?

i have a regular style bag that is rated to a temperature at which i would not be camping, at least not willingly. i generally cover my face with an extra comforter when i'm camping below 45F. that seems to work ok.
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Yes, it is one of those mummy bags.
But, I really enjoy winter camping. There is usually no one around crazy enough to camp in freezing temps, but I do so enjoy the fact few people are around in winter.

I have it because sometimes thew weather person gets it wrong and you can be in the midst of some really cold overnight temps.
During the daytime you can move around and enjoy the fact no one is around, but the critters seem to be just as active winter or summer, and the fish seem to love cold weather.
For me, at least, I enjoy starting that first fire in the morning and putting on my huge coffee boiler and keeping hot water in it all day long and into the night.
I am normally a tea drinker, but nothing smells as good in the morning as coffee and bacon over a campfire.
Another advantage is i don't have to keep ice in the ice chest. Things stay pretty cool without it.

Most important, there are much fewer bugs and frogs around in winter. Those suffering from Ranidaphobia like me enjoy winter camping.
I just will never go if i can't bring my -30 degree mummy bag.

If i ever loose heat in the house in winter, I have plenty of sleeping bags for the wife and cats to enjoy too, though i have a strategic plan (if I live long enough) to get a small shack and install a wood burning stove in it for just such an emergency. I had one before and you can cook on them too. Nothing warms the bones as well as wood heat.
 
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Amelia said:
I'm not sure of the coldest.

But it's -10F right now so I stepped outside in my shirtsleeves just to say I did.
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Madison currently shows -17 with a forecast of -24 before sunrise.

Don't try the t-shirt trick again....big dummy.
 
Here in mid-Missouri we are looking at not much worse than the zero mark.

But with high winds....so tomorrow is still gonna be pretty miserable.
 
Like 28f (-2 in real measurements) when I was in New York. Now, hottest temp was around 116f (47c) on holidays in a lovely town called Mildura.
 
-27 degrees on January 10, 1982 Rockford Il.

*Official City Record*

The real bitch of it was that our power went out for over 24 hours, I cant remember the reason....we all lived in the Family Room and fed that fire with a blower under it all the wood it would take....Mom braved the kitchen to cook and we kept bathroom breaks to a min.

I was in charge of firewood supply.
 
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PleasantValley said:
Yes, it is one of those mummy bags.
But, I really enjoy winter camping. There is usually no one around crazy enough to camp in freezing temps, but I do so enjoy the fact few people are around in winter.

I have it because sometimes thew weather person gets it wrong and you can be in the midst of some really cold overnight temps.
During the daytime you can move around and enjoy the fact no one is around, but the critters seem to be just as active winter or summer, and the fish seem to love cold weather.
For me, at least, I enjoy starting that first fire in the morning and putting on my huge coffee boiler and keeping hot water in it all day long and into the night.
I am normally a tea drinker, but nothing smells as good in the morning as coffee and bacon over a campfire.
Another advantage is i don't have to keep ice in the ice chest. Things stay pretty cool without it.

Most important, there are much fewer bugs and frogs around in winter. Those suffering from Ranidaphobia like me enjoy winter camping.
I just will never go if i can't bring my -30 degree mummy bag.

If i ever loose heat in the house in winter, I have plenty of sleeping bags for the wife and cats to enjoy too, though i have a strategic plan (if I live long enough) to get a small shack and install a wood burning stove in it for just such an emergency. I had one before and you can cook on them too. Nothing warms the bones as well as wood heat.
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a few of my old camping buddies used to (possibly still do) get together to camp every January, but i never tried it. mid October is usually my limit, as things generally get a bit hairy here after that. still, i see why people do it. as for your shack and wood burning stove idea, that sounds awesome. i'd love to have something like that, as well.
 
There was a cold snap in Alaska many years ago and an out of area news crew was interviewing locals. One native Alaskan was asked, “what is -40F like?” The man replied, “oh, it’s just like -20F, only colder.”
 
Right now here the temperature is -15F with the wind chill -25F

I am so glad I work from home and there was no school. It's an all day fuzzy pajama no going out for nothing kind of day!
 
Helix said:
in light of the coming polar vortex, i figured that this would be an interesting topic, and i'm curious about what kind of temperatures posters north (and west) of me have experienced.

i'll go first. the coldest temperature that i have ever experienced was -36F during winter term during my freshman year in college. i looked it up, and it's also the coldest temperature ever recorded in my state. it was cold enough to freeze my slightly damp hair pretty much instantly when i went out for a few minutes that morning. the heat went out in the dorm, and somehow my buddy and i got my car started. we went to the nearest town and bought one of the last electric space heaters at a Value City. we came back and huddled around it in my room. i probably wouldn't make that drive these days, but i was nineteen then and didn't think about what i would do if my car died and we froze to death in it. luckily, we made it there and back ok. i still can't believe that the car started. it was buried in snow, which might have acted as insulation.

so, how about you?
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wow, i got nothing that bad . . i really cant remember all of them but back in like 94 or 95 i remember it was -12 with a windchill of like -20 i think . . . it was a big deal cause it lasted for 3 or 4 days . . . .
Pittsburgh PA
 
AGENT J said:
wow, i got nothing that bad . . i really cant remember all of them but back in like 94 or 95 i remember it was -12 with a windchill of like -20 i think . . . it was a big deal cause it lasted for 3 or 4 days . . . .
Pittsburgh PA
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I wonder if it was 1994. That January was a doozy.
 
Helix said:
I wonder if it was 1994. That January was a doozy.
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You maybe right i cant remember, there was a big blizzard around that time too 93 i think and then in 94 an ice storm. i was in highschool lol where does time go.
winters have been so light since then . . it sucks lol i miss the snow like that
 
Casper said:
-34 F, Korea, didn't know the wind chill, at that point it just doesn't matter, pain.
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My husband was stationed in Korea for many years, and he said that that was the coldest he'd ever been in his life, and he was born and raised in upstate New York. :lol:
 
The coldest I've ever been that I actually looked at the temperature was -2 in January, in Syracuse. It was so cold that the window defroster was on, and as quickly as the ice melted, it would refreeze. Made for a rough drive. :lol: It's possible that I've been colder, but can't verify it, so I'll stick with -2.
 
Tho I lived along the NY side of Lake Ontario for awhile where temperatures drop well below freezing all too often and much of the winter, I've never experienced some of the temperatures spoken about here and now being experienced in the midwest. This morning, in sunny NYC, I woke to walk the dog in 20 or so degree weather. He may be a big, oafish, lazy, stupid, cowardly dog, but he is sensible. We were back indoors in less than 5 minutes. He did what he had to do, leashed, and dragged me back inside as fast as he could, barely giving me time to clean up after him. Once inside, he ran back to his bed and pulled his blanket over his head. The cat yawned.
 
Helix said:
in light of the coming polar vortex, i figured that this would be an interesting topic, and i'm curious about what kind of temperatures posters north (and west) of me have experienced.

i'll go first. the coldest temperature that i have ever experienced was -36F during winter term during my freshman year in college. i looked it up, and it's also the coldest temperature ever recorded in my state. it was cold enough to freeze my slightly damp hair pretty much instantly when i went out for a few minutes that morning. the heat went out in the dorm, and somehow my buddy and i got my car started. we went to the nearest town and bought one of the last electric space heaters at a Value City. we came back and huddled around it in my room. i probably wouldn't make that drive these days, but i was nineteen then and didn't think about what i would do if my car died and we froze to death in it. luckily, we made it there and back ok. i still can't believe that the car started. it was buried in snow, which might have acted as insulation.

so, how about you?
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Stanley Idaho in, probably, 2000. I saw a note on the news that the wind chill was going to be -76°F and, some some dumb ass reason, figured I needed to know what that felt like. I don't know what the dry bulb temp was, probably -30-40° but the wind was nasty. I got out of the car, spent about 30 seconds contemplating my stupidity, and drove back to Boise. All I can say about that temp is that it was damned near impossible to breathe and if you turned your face toward the wind I'm pretty sure your cheeks would freeze solid in a minute.
 
-20. That's more than cold enough for me. That was east of Pittsburgh when I was around 12 years old. I had a morning paper route. I remember that morning. We had two feet of snow, and my eye lashes would freeze from the condensation of my exhalation, and my eye lids would freeze shut. So I'd just sit in the snow, take a glove off, thaw them out, and continue. I'm sure the folks who got their paper on time appreciated my dedication. Okay, probably not. Oh, all right. They didn't give a crap. I was just doing my job. I can promise that if they didn't get their paper on time, they'd have bitched.
 
Back when I was just a wee lad, it hit -30 at the town I was in. The walls of the house were soo cold you could see the distortion of the light waves because of the temperature differential. I remember seeing it, but didn't know how COLD it was until my mother was talking about it years later. I don't think it's hit that cold around here since then.
 
Helix said:
a few of my old camping buddies used to (possibly still do) get together to camp every January, but i never tried it. mid October is usually my limit, as things generally get a bit hairy here after that. still, i see why people do it. as for your shack and wood burning stove idea, that sounds awesome. i'd love to have something like that, as well.
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Well, if I was up in your latitudes, I do not think I would do it, so no shame there.

I tried cooking on my wood burning stove one time and it was a miserable failure. The cast iron skillet just did not get hot enough to do much.
Then one morning i was awakened by the smell of cooking bacon and went to the kitchen to see what was going on. It turns out my son came to visit and he figured it out.
Wood burning stoves have these cast iron disks on the top of them. To cook properly you need to removed one and place the skillet over the hole in its place. Then it works just fine.

I am sure my grandmother was looking down and laughing her ass off at my first silly attempt to cook with the iron disk still in place.

Let me tell you, that breakfast was very special. Wood heat, bacon and eggs cooked on a cast iron skillet over a wood burning stove. It just does not get much better than that.

That is why I hope to get a small shack out in the jungle and put one in it. I may never come back to the big house.
 
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