Do Minnesotan’s Know The Main Difference’s in -2 and -20?

I’ve only lived in Minnesota for a little more than a year. Most people have the same reaction when my wife and I say we moved here from North Carolina, “the weather here is a bit different than what you’re used to”, we hear some variation of that statement all the time. 

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But in the short time that I have lived here, I’ve caught myself saying, once it gets so cold, there’s no real difference. I was a part of a brief conversation in our building last week about that there is no difference in negative 2 and –20.  

After I finished that chat, I really started to think about that topic, and thought to myself, is that really true. I decided to find out. I reached out to Broadcast Meteorologist Cara Foster from Weatherology in the cities to get her take on that.  

I lead off the conversation with Cara with this; “I’ve got a stupid question” which caused her to laugh. I told her about the conversation I was a part of, and I wanted to know if there really was a difference between –2 and –20. 

Through her laughter, “plainly put yes” she said. Cara remarked that Mid-Westerners just accept the fact that it is cold. But as she put it, “there are some very stark differences in –2 and –20".  

“If we are just talking about the air temp with no wind, the first thing I think about is frostbite or hypothermia” Cara said. “If you are standing outside and it’s 15 degrees, if you have exposed skin, it will take about 30 minutes to show any sign of exposure on your body. But if you go to below zero temperatures, like –5, you’ll see signs of frostbite in about 15 minutes. At –20, it will happen a lot faster. If you have any wind, it happens so much faster”.  

Cara pointed out another area that she feels a lot of people don’t think about a lot and that’s de-icing. “Like the road salt for example. It's only usually effective enough to a little below zero, like –5 or –6. Anything past that point, it’s really hard to de-ice the area”.  

Another thing to know about how the negative temperatures can impact the roads, parking lots and sidewalks; “if there is any moisture in the air, it can cause ice to form so much faster, like black ice”.  

Cara reminded me that at any negative temperatures ice will form but the colder it is, the faster these things happen, and there’s only a few things that can help with a temperature like –20.  

So, this holiday when you are gathered with friends and family and the subject of the weather comes up, and someone will say there is no real difference in the negative temperatures, feel free to use this information to educate them.