Embarrass, Minnesota, hits 54 below
Everybody left their cars running. It was pretty much breathtaking when you walked outside.
- Trish Roggenbuck
Yes, Virginia, there is a reason I no longer live in Minnesota…and this would be it. Granted, weather this extremely cold is rare, but after the temps drop below zero, it’s merely a difference between COLD, DAMN COLD, and $&#%, IT’S COLD!!!
Growing up in northern Minnesota, I have many war stories about cold weather. The one I remember most is when I was perhaps 9 or 10. The low that day was also -54. It was so cold that no gasoline engine would start. In fact, our car’s engine wouldn’t even turn over. You know it’s cold when you turn the key in the ignition and you don’t even here a click. If you are fortunate enough to be able to start your car, you leave it running 24/7, because there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to start it a second time.
For reasons I have long since forgotten, my father decided that we needed to do some grocery shopping. (He had this thing about never giving in to the weather.) We bundled up like Michelin Men (the only part of my body that was exposed were my eyes), and we walked the half-mile to the store dragging a toboggan with us. On the way home, and the walk took perhaps 10-15 minutes, a carton of milk froze almost completely solid.
“You keep living, but it gets old after a while,” said Christine Mackai, the town clerk for the community of about 1,400 people in northeast Minnesota.
Minnesota’s record is 60 below, set on February 2, 1996, in Tower, about 10 miles north of Embarrass.
The deceptive part of cold that severe is that there usually isn’t any wind behind it, and it’s so cold you almost cannot feel it. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. It’s ridiculously cold, and you recognize that on an intellectual level, but the temptation is to take off your hat and your gloves, because it doesn’t FEEL cold. This is, of course, when frostbite become a very real risk. In -54 degree weather, frostbite can be virtually instantaneous.
Since everything is frozen, everything moves more slowly, if it moves at all, including sound. The world around you looks and sounds much different. It’s rather amazing, really, though you probably wouldn’t want to spend much time outside appreciating it.
My day in absolute zero is an interesting memory, but not one I’d particularly care to revisit. Now that I live in a part of the country where 32 degrees is considered unreasonably and ridiculously cold, I’ve become a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold weather. I kind of like it that way. There are times when I miss Minnesota, but November through March generally are not those times. I have come to love and appreciate palm trees. You can have the snow drifts and the frozen lakes.
