Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Mad_Jack]

But in the early 80s, an arctic blast hit us in KS, damn near killed me. Temps hit -53degF;

Respect. (From someone who lived through the Blizzard of '78. In my lifetime, we've never gone below -20 here.)

 

[Mad_Jack]

My mindset is not gonna keep my 3-year old from freezing. I don't know where you live, but multiple weeks of consecutive single digit to negative cold during which we have had 11 inches, 4 inches and then 2 more inches of snow at a go without heat or hot water is not something I could ever smile about, except maybe when it was finally over.

Connecticut. Call it New England Black Humor. When that sort of thing happens pretty much every year, you eventually adopt one of two mental strategies to deal with it: Grit your teeth and bear it, knowing that it will end eventually, or laugh in the face of absurdity and take it as a personal challenge.

 

[Ryujin]

I’ve personally lived through 4 notably bad winters.

The least nasty one was when my folks had to do some renovations/repairs on the house, and we were down 2 of our 3 bathrooms. And THAT one had a hole in the ceiling and roof above the tub. So you’d be taking a shower in a column of 40degF air as raccoons looked down on you from above.

(Understandably, Mom left town to visit relatives.)

The 2011 & 2021 freezes in Texas would be 2nd and 3rd on that list. The 2021 one caused long and then rolling power outages that resulted in our indoor temps dropping into the 40s.

(Hon. mention to a previous year’s ice storm that dropped 7” of solid ice on our back porch and encased our gate’s drive chain in 1” thick ice.)

But in the early 80s, an arctic blast hit us in KS, damn near killed me. Temps hit -53degF; the system was even giving the Canadians fits as temps THERE dipped under -80degF. I got hypothermia walking home from the bus stop (they sent us home early because of the blizzard). My hands were so cold that I couldn’t grab my keys or ring the doorbell- I kicked the door to let my folks know I was there. To this day, my hands are still MUCH more sensitive to cold than any other part of my body.

(And having also experienced near-fatal HYPERthermia, I’ll still take cold over hot every time.)

I experienced heat exhaustion, or heat stroke (not sure which) back around 2005. I was working as pit crew for a girlfriend, at the motorcycle races. Her sponsors, who generally showed up in the pits to help out, never showed. As a result I was pulling triple duty and pretty much forgot to drink anything in 30+ degree Celcius weather, for more than 8 hours. The nigth after that I drove straight from the track to home (over 200 Kms) and have zero memory of it. Missed two days of work after that. It it's not "The Day After Tomorrow" cold then I'll take cold over heat, every time.

 

[trappedslider]

 

[Richards]

I was stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota for the first seven years of my 20-year career. On 1 Feb 1988, it was the coldest place in the continental US, at (if I remember correctly) -88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another time, we got so much snow the entire front of my house was covered, from roof to ground. I was on a "down day" that day (between alert days - I was a missileer), and a neighbor called that morning to see if we were all right. I didn't know what he was talking about, so he told me to go open my front door. I did, and saw a solid wall of snow. Fortunately, I had a back door to my house and my garage, so I was able to open the garage door from the inside and start shoveling the driveway and sidewalk from there.

Fun times.

Johnathan

 

[RealAlHazred]

We’re in the midst of one of the coldest streaks on record for our area (16 days in a row where the high temp is below freezing-the record is 33 days) and we woke up this morning to a broken furnace that needs a part that can’t be procured until Monday at the earliest.

So here we are, the five of us (me, wife, child, dog and cat) staying with friends until Monday morning, realizing the million little things we left back at home and feeling grateful for friends but also just kinda generally miserable.

When I walked the dog this morning the temp outside was 11 degrees Fahrenheit with a real feel of -11 (that’s approximately -11/-23 Celsius) and the interior temp had already dropped to 56 degrees.

When Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey, my house was in an area that was relatively unscathed. I ended up hosting more of my friends during that week than I had in the previous 10+ years I'd lived in my house. My washing machine and dryer were running constantly, I had two power strips on my dining room table for charging devices, I provided towels for people who hadn't been able to shower for days, and my TV was set to, basically, the local news channel (News 12) and the Weather Channel all week.

I was thrilled to be able to provide this service to the people I care about when they needed help, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I envy your friend.