There is a cold snap making its way across the Midwest. We are currently at -22F, ‘feels like’ -34F. I had stuck out one hand to see if it was really that cold–it was. Some time ago, I don’t know when, they changed the way they measured windchill to be more accurate. That means we’ll never have a windchill of -100 again. We had that when I was a kid, by the way. And, yes, they closed school for it.
I’m someone who loves the cold. L-O-V-E-S it. WHen I was younger, I used to play the (to me) fun game of seeing how far I could go into winter without closing my car windows. I could make it until it dipped below zero, and then I would roll up the windows.
Even then, I would keep the heat off. This was part two of the game–how long would it take for me to begrudgingly turn on the heat. Usually, it was around ten below, and then the game was over fror the year.
I use to have the thermometer in my house set at 62 during the day and 60 at night. As I said, I like it cold. Here’s a weird thing, though. The older I get, the less cold I’m able to tolerate. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s there. I think it’s partly menopause, honestly. They talk about heat flashes, but I was getting cold flashes instead. It was interesting to get the cold shakes; it was almost an out-of-body experience.
Back to today. It’s cold. It’s really cold. It’s “stay the fuck in the house” cold. It would have been cold for me before I hit menopause, and it’s still cold now. I’m ready to hunker down the whole weekend and not step a foot outside.
Here’s the weird thing. The last four or five winters (the ones since my medical crisis)have been all over the place. More snow in general (save one year), not as cold, and just all over the map. Probably because of climate change, sadly. I love the more snow personally, but I don’t like what it says about our weather patterns. Also, I’m aware that other people don’t like snow and/or cold as much as I do, so I feel bad for them. I don’t have to drive in it, either, which helps.
I bring it up because one of the things that makes me happy is watching the ICE fall on ice. I have included a SNL skit that has a St. Paul-born comedian ragging on ICE falling on ice. It’s easy to tell that they are not Minnesotans because they are not prepared for Minnesota winters. Wactching them flail their arms as they vainly attempt to stay upright has given me much joy.