They do fine in the cold - they just need to warm up for a few minutes. I use them in my unheated garage and my shed.

As an aside - you want to leave a CFL ON once it's up to temp - cycling on and off - like in a closet or bathroom - dramatically shortens the life of the lamp. For my utility areas with CFL's I have a timer switch I found - it's a pushbutton thing - you press once for 10 minutes, again for 20, then 30 then 60 and then "hold" on. That way the lights get at least aa 10 minute on cycle. Had vastly improved the life of these CFL's.

If you think of CFL's as equipment - not some disposable item like duct tape or a paper bag - you'll quickly learn how to benefit from them. For example, in the last power outage from the big storm, my little 3600w generator was basically unaffected by lighting loads in my home, leaving most of the power for motor loads - well pump, septic pump and refrigerator - and my generator fuel consumption was very low as a result.