AKSAR: When I was in Anchorage in the late '80's (Air Force), I went to the Winter Carnival and rode the Ferris Wheel at -20F. It was brisk!

Ah yes, the joys of "Fur Rondy"! I remember when my daughter was young, dressing her in every stitch of clothing she had, and we still froze our butts off on the rides. Fortunately they have warming tents set up to thaw out.

My parents, both 78 years old, still live up in central Minnesota (sucks to be them). I talked to dad yesterday and he mentioned the governor closing the schools and telling people not to go to work if they can avoid it...but in the words of my dad, "He didn't say anything about senior citizens not going out for coffee so ma and me went." No worries from me, dad carries enough winter gear in his Subaru to outfit a platoon of Norwegian warriors!
-Blast, who found today's 55F weather in Houston, TX a bit chilly.

Well Blast ... I'm up in that freezing air right now. Not Minnesota, but St Louis and it is darn cold out there tonight (5 Jan). Have not felt wind chill like that since i lived near Chicago. Polar air. Nearly froze my face off walking to a pharmacy to get my wife some meds. Ain't love grand. Hahaha!!

Pete

i took off my gloves for just a minute this afternoon to take a few photos and my fingers felt frozen for to long after that!
for the first time in a long time we did not suit up and walk the dogs after dinner,i think that was just fine with them....

Yeah, it's fairly common at a certain point to just close school. My wife is from WI and if the temp was a certain point, the governor could call it off. Apparenlty the local school boards could do the same thing.

Problems w/ cars not starting, having to wait at the bus stop, kids licking telephone poles, etc. Plus, if it's bad enough that the school teachers can't get there, it's kind of silly to make the kids go.

Also sets up a conundrum if the teachers' kids can't go to school, then they have to call out to take care of their own kids ....

I would assume the kids today are also typically more wussies than in years past. Thanks, old folks, for making video games and damning your kids to being those wusses.

For the record, it's 16 here in Charleston this morning. Not nearly the -5 I had in AK, or the 4 that was in WI over Thanksgiving, but a nice brisk temp none the less. Too bad my dog doesn't have the insulated, 100lbs dog house we had when we lived in Michigan.

MD..no wussies in Minnesota,here is a shot of kids doing "one match fires" in sub zero weather a few years ago.
local schools brought them out to a nature center for snow shoeing and a couple of us gave them a run down on fire making,gave them one wood match and let them loose,with an adult watching of course.

Canoedogs! You need those photographer gloves where the index finger & thumb can fold back & open like mittens. The problem is that those gloves aren't terribly thick. But something is better than the cold on bare skin.

I went out and took pictures in -10 degs F. The cold is really beautiful. I was wearing a balaclava, which directed my breath upward. That would fog up anything you put near your eyes -- glasses or the optical viewfinder (for those of us who still use them). My camera ended up with some icicles hanging off exterior of the viewfinder. After half an hour, I was shooting half blind because of the fogged viewfinder.

Do you guys know of a solution? How do you cover most of the head without causing condensation around the eye area? It almost seems unavoidable, because the nose is built right there.

Been there, done that and have still have my Viking Council "Wind Chill Thriller" badge for camping out at -50F back in the earlier 80's.
-Blast

You could use an inexpensive face mask together with a pair of cheap Ski Goggles.