Mastodawn

Prof. Sam Lawler

Yesterday my partner and kids visited the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, and they were all delighted by the penguins and huskies. They were less impressed by the "cold room" (which was -8C and had fans that also blow wind at 40km/hr, they have parkas you can borrow...)

Saskatchewan has completely changed our standards for cold weather! My 9yo: "It didn't even freeze my boogers! That's not cold!" My partner: "It was nice dog walking weather."

Bud Talbot 1d ago

@sundogplanets 🤣 that would be a cool place to visit, though

@bud_t @sundogplanets cool, yes, but not actually cold by the standards of much of Canada. The Antarctic Centre is generally cool though!

*_jߍyrope 1d ago

slightly_smiling_face

Delta Sierra 1d ago

@sundogplanets please let your nine year old know that an internet stranger 30ish years their senior will be using the phrase "It didn't even freeze my boogers!" from now on.

Rupert V/1d ago

@notthatdelta @sundogplanets Real cold is when your nostril hairs freeze. That is a weird and unpleasant sensation, but fortunately even in Minnesota it doesn't get that cold very often.

Marc Trius 13h ago

@rupert one time I was riding my bike and my eyelids froze shut on a busy street because I was too lazy to put on my ski goggles. Now THAT's an unpleasant sensation 😅
@notthatdelta @sundogplanets

Ewen Bell 📸1d ago

@sundogplanets

-8°C is pretty much my perfect winter. Cold enough to do stuff, not so cold I have to fear for my life if the car breaks down!

Ideal temperature for standing around a frozen fjord shooting auroras :)

Martha Crimson 1d ago

@sundogplanets
-8C°??? That's just normal winter weather! And Sweden doesn't have half as harsh winters as Saskatchewan. This reminds me of the time GB prepped one of their princes for Antarctica by putting him in a giant freezer - despite having a direct flight line to Swedish Lapland.

Cat West 1d ago

@MarthaCrimson @sundogplanets I suspect the joke was on the Prince

@sundogplanets Sheesh, I'm a soft southern Californian and I could handle that with a parka and beanie.

-8 definitely falls into "sure I can get the mail in this with no coat and wearing shorts."

Dana Fried 1d ago

@sundogplanets I was gonna say, -8 and 40KM? That's late December weather.

Perfect skating weather.

Sir Osis of Liver 🇨🇦 🇲🇽1d ago

Your 9yo got a chuckle out of me. 😆

Michael Wyman 1d ago

@sundogplanets -8°C? I grew up in Minnesota. That’s not even close to long underwear weather. Barring deep snow or particularly icy sidewalks, I might not even switch out of my Birkenstocks.

I can’t believe its not @twcau 1d ago

@sundogplanets Tell your 9yr old that I’m borrowing the ‘didn’t freeze my boogers’ line! 🤣

Michael Porter 1d ago

@sundogplanets
Sounds like my kind of weather

WhichOne'sPink 🇫🇮1d ago

@sundogplanets -22 in Helsinki and Tallinn taught be a lot about Hobart in winter.

@NickSchwanck @sundogplanets
Both places have the same rates of death by hypothermia?

WhichOne'sPink 🇫🇮1d ago

@sabik @sundogplanets I don't know but I imagine it's a risk for some.

@NickSchwanck @sundogplanets
AIUI, Australian housing stock has rather poor thermal properties, particularly at the lower end, so people die of cold because they can't afford to heat their poorly insulated homes

As opposed to the Nordics, where people die of cold because they get lost staggering home from the pub

Emelia/Emi 1d ago

@sundogplanets -8c is somewhat colder than what we usually get here (thanks to being a coastal city) but further inland that's "an average winter day" and we don't get particularly harsh weather here outside of the occasional "shitloads of snow"... (Though this year it got cold AF for a good stretch, down to -25C in some areas, which is very firmly "long johns or snow pants" territory, IMO)

@sundogplanets your kids have such a cool, unique childhood!

Ambient Sponge 1d ago

@sundogplanets That's funny. Having lived on the prairies myself, that's almost short and t-shirt weather.😂

I moved to Vancouver four years ago and I do find that I have adjusted and now I get cold at temperatures that would have had Alberta me calling me a wuss. 😂

I used to explain the Alberta cold to people by telling them to go stick their head in their freezer and that that was probably warmer than Alberta is in winter.😂

Oliver Seiler 19h ago

@sundogplanets more importantly - did you jump on the Hägglund ride?

@sundogplanets I was there a few weeks ago and it's such a great place! The -8° was fine but the wind chill in that room makes it feel like -20°.

At -8° everyone was having fun and taking photos. The kids were barking about.

At -20°, everyone but us left the room!

It was fascinating how the wind changed everything. And how hiding inside a snow structure made it feel instantly warmer.

Henryk Plötz 16h ago

@sundogplanets The place I lived in once got a new clinic/rehabilitation centre for various specific diseases, and for their opening they did an open house and let everyone look at and try all their special equipment.
One thing they had was a cryo room for helping with rheumatoid arthritis: -110°C and you normally enter mostly naked.

On opening day a lot of people went in of course, and the combined exhaled humidity caused a respectable ice blizzard in there :)