#like one that I can layer with when it’s -20f with windchill should I have to go out

[we-re-always-alright]

realized my big winter coat is probably too small which sucks (but it did last a decade) so now time to invest in another expensive jacket since the farmer’s almanac says it is going to be a cold one this year

[foccaccia]

it never ceases to be hilarious when people around the world find out just what kind of weather we live in, up in my neck of the american midwest.

like, winters regularly hit -20 degrees fahrenheit (-28C), and thats not including windchill. of course, around here, where the winds are usually 7-15 mph (11-24 kph) on an average day and can go into 40 or even 50 mph (64-80 kph) on the worse days, you really fucking need to include windchill. with that, the 'real feel' some fun winter days can be -40 to -60 degrees fahrenheit(-40 - -51C), and often hover at -20F on the nice pretty days where walking across campus just means you probably need gloves and cant get away with just sticking your hands in your pockets.

snow? we average about 50 inches (1.3m) of snow per year, and once winter is in earnest a lot of that doesnt melt for a good long time. its always fun seeing some snowpiles, after the roads are plowed, as tall as two-story houses. i particularly love walking to the bus stop to get to class the day after a blizzard and struggling over the 7 foot (2.1m) snowbanks, because the roads are plowed but the sidewalks arent yet but they didnt cancel class, why would they??? its not blizzarding anymore.

its always fun to do the rounds of 'whos car is actually working in the cold right now because its the kind of cold where if youre not covered up you can get frostbite in a minute and no one should be leaving the apartment at all, but we really want pizza rolls and alcohol so its time to go to the corner store'.

theres so many little things we do and think about. how to keep the pipes from freezing. how do we layer up but like, not fuck up our hair, still look cute. keep the roofs and the apartment balconies from collapsing under the weight of snow. wool, salt, three layers of socks, and shoes with treads, the little shuffle you do across the ice because theres no actual sidewalk anymore. just ice as far as the eye can see. how to park, how to drop off the people on the passenger side a bit early because heres a good place to get out of the car, otherwise youre climbing into snow. rotating street parking for the snowplows. what to do when you hit black ice - because you will hit black ice, honey, youre never gonna see it coming.

and damn, but youve never seen anyone as happy as a bunch of midwesterners when it hits 30 degrees fahrenheit (-1C) in '''spring'''. its a genuine heat wave.

and honestly, as im typing this, i cannot imagine people who find any of this weird or unusual. i know most of the world lives in far warmer climates. but like... i cant imagine living somewhere where half an inch of snow means anything at all, where 40 degrees (4C) is considered genuinely cold and glasses dont fog up when you come inside. when i was a kid at my tiny shitty elementary school, we didnt have a playground, we had a parking lot, and winters were the best because if you brought snow pants and other necessary accoutrements you got to play on the huge fuckin snow pile during recess.

okay, you might say. okay, youre a fuckin polar bear, cool.

well yknow it also hits like, 90-100 degrees fahrenheit (32-37C) here in the summer too, right? maybe we're not as muggy as some of yall southerners, and our summers are w a y shorter, but it does get hot here too.

and dont even get me STARTED on tornado season. lime green skies and sirens, baby, and years of drills in school where kids huddle in lines of hundreds, crouched on knees against the wall with hands over their necks and heads. first wednesday of every month we hear that test siren go off.

like... this is all normal. apparently according to a lot of yall this is super weird, and its kind of hilarious seeing people flip out, but its... just life.