Image: Ottawa Citizen's web site todayWhen I was seven or eight, I lived less than a block from my elementary school in Edmonton, Alberta. The rule at that time was if you lived more than six blocks from school, you could stay for lunch which lasted an hour and a half. (The school day ended at 4 pm.) One winter's afternoon, I set off for school with double mittens on, for the walk that took me five minutes tops. By the time I reached the locker hall, I couldn't feel my hands. Then I could. They felt heavy, like red-hot iron. I burst into tears. The next thing I could remember was being in the principal's office. He was normally a terrifying man and one was never there unless there was trouble. He knelt in front of me, and in a gentle voice I'd never heard from him before, said: "Pretend my hands are a warm oven..." and I wept and wept as the feelings returned to my frost-bitten fingers. There'd been a wind-chill that day that had driven the temperature to well below -40. When it's that low, it doesn't much matter whether it's Celsius or Fahrenheit.
This morning, we had been warned, but I check the Environment Canada website to be sure. Clear skies, temperature -25 Celsius, windchill factor of -39. And this isn't particularly unusual for this time of year in Hades. As younger daughter and I set out, it takes a matter of seconds for me to feel the toothpicky sensation in my nostrils. That's the snot freezing. You bury your nose into your hood, scarf, or balaclava and your nose runs; out to breathe, the mucus freezes again. Two white dots appear in my lower field of vision where the tears accumulating from my watery eyes have also frozen into minute snowballs. Those of us intrepid enough to venture out on foot look ready to rob banks, but as we cut across the school field, I see few tracks in the fresh snow. On days such as these, children are admitted into school before the bell, and most students have been driven. Younger daughter, clad in Mountain Equipment Co-op gear, Kamik boots, and with a white patch where her well-balmed mouth meets the balaclava, heads in cheerfully. As I walk home, the breeze picks up and my thighs, despite two pairs of pants and a regrettably ample coating of fat, begin to sting.
Oh, and the bus strike has just entered its 36th day....
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8 comments:
I knew my -3 experience was going to seem pathetic compared to yours. -40 sheesh! I can't begin to imagine that. Hope you've warmed up now.
i grew up in NYC where snow days of any kind were a rarity and there never was a "wind" day. i went to the university of iowa and have never experienced cold, wind and snow lit it before or since. (i have returned to NYC). even the trip i took to Iceland one february wasn't much different -- climate wise -- than NYC. i find with the (as you say) ample layers of fat i have, i can if reasonably layered, get from my house to the bus stop, from the bus stop to the subway, from the subway to my office and back again, fairly comfortably up to 17F with a wind chill of -1 or so. after that, it becomes just so much ridiculousness. such days aren't frequent here -- but today is one of them. i can never phathom how important could it be to go to school or work in such weather?
I was feeling the bitter tingling while working outside last night (delivering papers) at -29 WC. The kind of cold Ottawa and Winnipeg are dealing with is beyond belief.
Well, all three of you are probably dealing with a rather moister cold which is that much more miserable. Aside from that incident in Edmonton, I've experienced mild frost-bite three times, all in Victoria, BC, where the rare snow is always wet, so soaks right through the inadequate clothing one wears there. If you live in a place like Ottawa, unless you're short of funds (or a fashion idiot), you make damn sure you have the proper gear. Our walk this morning wasn't torture, and as I've said, it wasn't unusual for this time of year. Ottawa can't afford to shut down each time the wind chill goes below -35. Besides, freezing rain, a product of temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Celsius, is far far more dangerous. That's when I refuse to go out.
And here I was thinking how this evening's 25(F) feels positively balmy compared to this morning's 6(again, F). We are at something over 3 inches of snow for the day now, and it's still going strong.
Our plus for the past 36 hours is NO NEW ICE (well, except for where you spread ice melt, which once it's run it's course the melted snow/ice refreezes). Yay Ohio. Sheesh.
In awe people. Seriously in awe. The coldest I've ever been was as a student in Liverpool when it got to minus 13 and we had ice on the inside of our windows, no heating and went to bed in our clothes. I feel like a right English cissy now!
well, the arctic temperatures continue to try and test us here in NYC. i have managed to walk my 3 miles at lunch time, despite the biting cold, because of my proper prep for the walk. today, i was defeated. i did a mile and a half and had to give in -- it's the wind that does it. my sympathies to you up there in Hadesland... keep warm, mes amis.
Holy Heck! I can't even imagine feeling that cold. It was -2 here recently and I hated it. Thank goodness you have the fires of Hell to warm you.
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