Posted by Chad Orzel on January 10, 2011 A seasonally appropriate poll, brought to you by this morning’s frigid dog walk (15F/ -9C), and the memory of a newscast back when I was in Maryland that referred to an overnight low temperature of 22F/-6C as “Bitter, bitter cold”:
For the purposes of this poll, assume a still day with no significant “wind chill.” All of these temperatures are too high for quantum effects to be significant, so you may only choose one answer at a time, not a superposition of multiple answers.
Bitter cold is how cold it needs to be before people grew up in that place become bitter about it.
With DC’s “We’re the mid-Atlantic! We shouldn’t have to worry about cold!” attitude, 22F might qualify, whereas you would be laughed at in Schenectady if you had that threshold.
I gave the appropriate answer for where I live (New Hampshire), but it’s definitely location-dependent. I would prefer dealing with 0F hereabouts than 30F in Florida (where I grew up); we’re prepared for that kind of thing, they’re not. OTOH, if I’m in Fairbanks (which I have visited at this time of year), where the average daily high is below 0F, it’s not bitter cold until ice fog forms (this would be around -25F).
Evan nailed it.
I’m still sort-of calibrated to Schenectady levels, so I laugh at the pronouncement of DC-area “bitter cold” temperatures whenever it drops below freezing. And I recall windbreaker’s-enough-for-the-dash-to-the-car temperatures (mid-upper 30′s) when I had just moved to Florida, and seeing someone in a full snowmobile suit walk into a Publix supermarket.
A friend from Mexico, after a few Wisconsin winters, admitted that Fahrenheit is better than Celsius, because “when it’s zero Fahrenheit, it’s really cold.”
I would have selected -10F but it wasn’t a choice. So I went with the closest alternative.
C and F are the same at -40, so at that temperature you wouldn’t have to worry about which units you are using, but it still makes a big difference if you are using C or K! (-40K is meaningless, of course, but 10K is very different from either 10C or 10F…)
It depends on the humidity. 40F at 80% humidity feels a lot colder than 0F at 10% humidity.
It’s -18 C where I am today (Windchill: -28 C), and I’d count that as decently cold if you haven’t got a hat. But then I’m a Canadian in Canada.
Though I’ll agree with cheem that humidity makes a huge difference. Below 0 C and high humidity means ice freezing to your face, which is decidedly uncomfortable. Below 0 C and low humidity is kind of ‘meh’.
Humidity is a critical factor.
I’ve gotten by with an unbuttoned sport coat and dress shirt (no T shirt) when it is a calm 20 F in New Mexico, but the same temperature with 80% humidity and a breeze requires a coat and something heavier than a pair of regular dress pants.
Heh. In my hometown outdoor gym lessons at schools are not canceled if temperature is above -15C.
So -30C is cold, -40C is very cold.
It seems like many people put there live in cold climates. My usual idea is if I can see frost in the morning it’s definitely very cold. That’s below 0C in the night. Daytime temperatures below 5C are definitely bitter cold. One needs a scarf! And a hat! And gloves! The horror.
My kids were collecting daysies today near the Mediterranean shore.
The first day I learned to ski we had a high temp of 10 below. The sun was shining it was one of the most beautiful and fun days of my life. Granted, it was Illinois, skiing is done on hard packed snow, not powder, the hills are just that, hills. But, 10 below is just not bitter cold. The 2-3 weeks we get every year of 10-20 below with 40 mph winds is pretty flippin’ cold.
Though I’ll agree with cheem that humidity makes a huge difference. Below 0 C and high humidity means ice freezing to your face, which is decidedly uncomfortable.
At 0F maybe, if you were standing over open water. We get plenty of 0C and high humidity and I’ve never seen ice form on my face then. In actual cold temperatures, -20C, you don’t get the humidity anyway and the only way you get ice on your face is from your own breath and then only if you’re sporting facial hair.
I went with ‘where C v F doesn’t matter’, but my normal standard is that daytime highs that don’t go about -30C is bloody cold and bitterly if there’s a good wind. A good indicator is when you step out into the cold and it feels like it is sucking the air out of your lungs. We used to get at least two week long periods of steady highs in the -30C range but we haven’t had that in quite some years now, and I can’t recally a seriously cold spell at all last winter. This winter, so far, barely deserves the name. At this point I think it is appropriate to yell ‘Hey! You kids! Got offa my lawn!’
-20 is only cold. I’ve travelled to Geneve, Suisse, and at 0C you see all the locals out in down parkas and mukluks, while I’m going from airport to cab wearing a windbreaker over shorts and a T-shirt (airports and planes are too hot). Cabbies remark that I must be cold, but I say where I’m from it’s not cold until it’s at least -20. You can see them shiver at the mere thought.
“At 0F maybe, if you were standing over open water. We get plenty of 0C and high humidity and I’ve never seen ice form on my face then. In actual cold temperatures, -20C, you don’t get the humidity anyway and the only way you get ice on your face is from your own breath and then only if you’re sporting facial hair.”
Well, at -25C your own breath start to condense on your eyebrows and facial hair. You won’t get ice on your skin (unless you’re dead, of course).
bitter cold is definitely subzero in F or C scales. I would say -20°F/-30°C. anybody complaining about cold at temps higher than that just hasn’t been in *real* cold before.
this is the description form wikipedia of the city i live in:
“Because of its northerly location in the United States and lack of large enough bodies of water in close proximity to moderate the air, Minneapolis is sometimes subjected to cold Arctic air masses, especially during the months of January and February. The average annual temperature of 45.4 °F (7.4 °C) gives the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area the coldest annual mean temperature of any major metropolitan area in the continental United States”
then again, Canada is right north of Minnesota. where do you think the cold air comes from? Canadians get the bragging rights!
TEMPERATURE TRANSLATIONS
60 degrees: Californians put their sweaters on.
50 degrees: Miami residents turn on the heat.
45 degrees: Vermont residents go to outdoor concert.
40 degrees: You can see your breath.
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Minnesotans go swimming.
35 degrees: Italian cars don’t start.
32 degrees: Water freezes.
30 degrees: You plan your vacation in Australia.
25 degrees: Ohio water freezes.
Californians weep pitiably.
Minnesotans eat ice cream.
Canadians go swimming.
20 degrees: Politicians begin to talk about the homeless.
New York City water freezes.
Miami residents plan vacation farther south.
15 degrees: French cars don’t start.
Cat insists on sleeping in your bed with you.
10 degrees: You need jumper cables to get the car going.
5 degrees: American cars don’t start.
0 degrees: Alaskans put on T-shirts.
-10 degrees: German cars don’t start.
Eyes freeze shut when you step outside.
-15 degrees: You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo.
Arkansans stick tongue on metal objects.
Miami residents cease to exist.
-20 degrees: Cat insists on sleeping in pajamas with you.
Politicians actually do something about the homeless.
Minnesotans shovel snow off roof.
Japanese cars don’t start.
-25 degrees: Too cold to think.
You need jumper cables to get the driver going.
-30 degrees: You plan a two week hot bath.
Swedish cars don’t start.
-40 degrees: Californians disappear.
Minnesotans button top button.
Canadians put on sweater.
Your car helps you plan your trip South.
-50 degrees: Congressional hot air freezes.
Alaskans close the bathroom window.
-80 degrees: Polar bears move South.
Green Bay Packer fans order hot cocoa at the game.
-90 degrees: Lawyers put their hands in their own pockets.
-100 degrees: Hell freezes over.
I always thought “bitterly cold” was “exposed skin freezes in 30 seconds or less”, but looking it up I see this ought to be “10 minutes or less”, which starts around -25 C which isn’t on the poll.
Though http://www.ontarioweather.com/winter/safety/windchill.asp provides the following interesting, look-it-depends-on-who-is-freezing, note:
In Ontario/Atlantic provinces, the warning level is -35 C. In most areas of Canada, the warning level is -45 C. In northern Quebec, Manitoba, Labrador and the Arctic, the warning level is -50 C. In the high Arctic, the warning level is -55 C. This is due to human adaptability to cold over time.
I am from Interior Alaska. School was closed for cold exactly once when I was a kid. It was -68F (-55.5C). -60? “Go wait for the bus.”
I couldn’t answer, so I went with being of pure intellect.
See, I live in California, always have, but I don’t mind “cold”, but then cold here isn’t *cold*. So I don’t know when I would complain about the taste of it.
When hydrogen solidifies.
You've read the blog, now try the books:
How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books. "“Unlike quantum physics, which remains bizarre even to experts, much of relativity makes sense. Thus, Einstein’s special relativity merely states that the laws of physics and the speed of light are identical for all observers in smooth motion. This sounds trivial but leads to weird if delightfully comprehensible phenomena, provided someone like Orzel delivers a clear explanation of why.” --Kirkus Reviews "Bravo to both man and dog." The New York Times.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner. "It's hard to imagine a better way for the mathematically and scientifically challenged, in particular, to grasp basic quantum physics." -- Booklist "Chad Orzel's How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is an absolutely delightful book on many axes: first, its subject matter, quantum physics, is arguably the most mind-bending scientific subject we have; second, the device of the book -- a quantum physicist, Orzel, explains quantum physics to Emmy, his cheeky German shepherd -- is a hoot, and has the singular advantage of making the mind-bending a little less traumatic when the going gets tough (quantum physics has a certain irreducible complexity that precludes an easy understanding of its implications); finally, third, it is extremely well-written, combining a scientist's rigor and accuracy with a natural raconteur's storytelling skill." -- BoingBoing
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