Cold here? Try Duluth

January 16, 2009 01:21 PM Email| Comments (16)| Text size – +

(AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Amanda Hansmeyer)

Superior Street is the main drag in Duluth. Dick Skogg took his daily walk downtown during a snow flurry in December.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Frigid in Boston? Folks in Duluth, Minn., know the drill for cold weather better than the recipe for their best tater tot hotdish or their favorite walleye fishing hole.

Steger Moosehide Mukluks keep the toes snuggly warm. Fleece neck gators and facemask insulate the head. Mittens replace gloves.

"You just have to dress ugly, that's the deal," said Sam Cook, a longtime outdoors columnist for the Duluth News Tribune, in a telephone interview today. "Maybe that's harder for people on the East Coast than here. We have no problem not looking cool."

The temperature was expected to climb above zero today in Duluth for the first time since Monday, said Cook, who moved north from his native Kansas decades ago because it "wasn't cold enough."

Plug-in electric engine block heaters are standard and help start vehicles on days so frigid that car exhaust freezes. Drivers remember to take keys out of their pockets before they head outside. It was 5 degrees below zero last night and Cook went for a stroll through a wooded park with his yellow Labrador retriever, Lucy.

"It was a lovely walk," Cook said. "Your nose was a little cold, but it was OK."

In Duluth, the temperature usually bottoms at 22 below. An hour north where many Minnesotans have weekend cabins, it can get even colder.

"At 40 below, it starts to freeze when you spit," Cook said. "At 40 below, when you throw a cup of water in the air, it crystallizes before it hits the ground."

"We just kind of accept it."

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16 comments so far...

The cold still beats the heat of the desert. Last year in April I was in Saudi Arabia and it was 105 every day and it gets much worse in the Summer. At least in the Winter you can dress for it. How do you dress for 105?

Posted by Poky Steve January 16, 09 04:56 PM

Cold here? Try Fort Kent, Maine at -52 degrees this morning. You don't have to go too far outside Boston to hit -20 degrees plus this morning. That's OK, I hear a Nor'easter might be on its way.

Posted by Steve January 16, 09 05:08 PM

For Pete's sake move away from there...!

Posted by SoCal Comfortable January 16, 09 05:28 PM

I get real tired of everyone complaining about how cold it is. I am in the military, stationed in Alaska. It was -40 or colder for 16 days straight with a low of -62 just recently and you never heard anyone whine and carry on like I hear my fellow New Englanders doing. Also keep in mind that in March and April when the flowers are blooming for you, Alaskans are still dealing with sub-zero temps. And lets not forget about the lack of sunlight during the 91/2 month winters. So suck it up and quit whining

Posted by Chris January 16, 09 11:06 PM

Not sure what the point of this article is.....I think everyone who lives in Boston and has been here for more then 2 years knows what the weather can and will be......why does the media continue to write articles about how to cope with snow, cold, heat etc. It is not like this current cold wave is a one in a million year event....

Posted by Josh January 16, 09 11:56 PM

I live in Duluth, MN. I had to miss work 4 days this week due to medical problems and with it being that cold out there. I hate winter so much. I was out for a short time Thursday and my lungs BURNED and my skin kinda burned as well. I would like to be in a warmer state in the winter time and live here the rest of the year, but that isn't a possibility for me. I love living here, Duluth is my home..wouldn't move anywhere else!

Posted by C.L. January 17, 09 12:08 AM

You know what IM real tired of? Comments like Number 4 who tell everyone to suck it up cause its worse some where else. Its ALWAYS worse somewhere else. Someone always has it worse. Things could ALWAYS be worse. Does that mean you have to always suck it up and never whine? Please. That guy probably complains when he runs out of beer. Yes its new england duh its going to be cold but does that mean we have to enjoy it? No. Ill stick with it and STILL whine when my hands are cold. Why? Because I can and because i want to. Dont like it? Suck it up.

Posted by steven January 17, 09 12:24 AM

why do people go through this? I've lived in new england, and california, and florida, and I say go to where it's warm! enjoy the better weather, AND the better looking people!

Posted by charles krup January 17, 09 01:01 AM

Duluth Represent!

Posted by great lake heart January 17, 09 01:13 AM

I love this weather.
Maybe not as much as Sam Cook, but enough to enjoy the brisk cold of a snow swept new england landscape.

Posted by HappilyFrozen January 17, 09 01:55 AM

Pokey Steve, I grew up in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and the way to deal with those temperatures is to either be a kid, swim at the local pool, or stay in the air conditioning.

Posted by Patti111 January 17, 09 08:26 AM

We need hire gas taxes so that we can fight global warming....

Posted by Jon Fraud Carry January 17, 09 09:13 AM

Wow Chris, a little bitter? I lived for 10 years in Northern Minnesota and despite the cold it was a wonderful place to live. Give me the cold over the heat any day.

Posted by Snug'n'NH January 17, 09 11:49 AM

Why all the whining" If you don't like the cold, move to a palce where it's warm! You may not have a choice as a child , but once on your own and making a living, (an all too uncertain possibility, thanks to the idiots who run this country),
you control what YOU do. Cold spikes may be greater in the Midwest and the
Northwest, but nothing changes quicker than New England weather. "If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute and it will change, and, we only have two seasons in New England, Winter and the Fourth of July! are
two sayings that come immediately to mind.

Posted by Brian Rich January 17, 09 12:30 PM

I agree with Chris who posted at number 4. Just be glad it's not all year round and be appreciate for four beautiful seasons to enjoy for rest of your life! As my sister-in-law said "Get used to it!" For suggestion in the future take a week vacation (doesn't have to be expensive places) down south to enjoy a warmer weather from February to April and then come back and deal with cold and chilly weather until warmer weather comes. That's what some of the families I used to work for do.

Posted by Townie of NE January 17, 09 12:45 PM

Dick Skogg is part of a group of 6 guys who walk 5 days a week, year round. It did get even colder a few days later--windchills of 45 below, and the guys walked--totally bundled up, and loved it!! They have been doing this since they all retired. Helps to make winter go by faster.

Posted by Mary Olson January 18, 09 06:08 PM