This past week has been a major deep freeze here in the West. In the last few days it has now warmed up to a lovely -20C. This blast of coldness has confirmed something that I have long suspected. For me it is now a profound, deep, meaningful truth:

Cold is cold.

When a comment is made about how cold it gets out here in Western Canada I have often heard people console themselves with the statement “But it is a dry cold”. I don’t find that comforting. I have also heard people talking about my home region, the East Coast, and exclaim that it is such a damp cold there, and that a -10C temperature there is far worse than a -20C here.

I will now testify that that isn’t true. Cold is cold.

Weather for Sackville, New Brunswick today: Freezing rain warning, -9C, 64% humidity
Weather for Olds, Alberta today: Cold, -29C, 70% humidity – colder and more humid than Sackville which is going to get freezing rain.

A few days ago we had a low temperature of -34C (-29F). Even then humidity was hovering between 69 and 74%. Not very dry, but very, very cold.

These observations prompted me to further investigate the claims of “its a dry cold”. A quick Google search turned up this weather lore from The Weather Network:

I know many who have experienced cold stress, especially those of you on the Prairies, may take exception to this, but the assumption that dry cold is better than damp cold is largely a myth. Soldiers exposed to severe cold in climate controlled cold chambers did not find damp cold any more penetrating than dry cold, and if you consider the physics of heat transfer, the differences between the two are negligible. But why then do the majority of Canadians prefer dry cold to damp cold? One’s perception of comfort or discomfort while exposed to cold air depends on several factors but let’s just consider the weather conditions. Cold, dry days have usually sunny skies, high pressure and light winds – weather that is much more pleasing than overcast skies and shivering wind chill. Also soaking up sun’s rays only adds to your comfort. So there’s good reason to believe that you’ll be more comfortable in a dry cold than humid cold, but it’s not because of the difference in humidity. Of course, all this assumes one is not perspiring, his or her clothes are dry and it’s not raining.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=help&pagecontent= faq&pagecontent=weatherlore

Moo = Ask me if this is a dry cold.

There you have it. Empirical evidence that the perceived benefits of a dry cold is a myth.