If you haven’t ever lived in a place that can get really cold, it may be hard to understand what it’s like today in the city of Chicago.
You’ve heard the reports in the news . Temperatures of 24 degrees below zero this morning…and wind chills of 55 below.It’s the coldest it’s been in Chicago in 34 years and the coldest it has been on this particular morning, January 30 th , since 1966.
And you’ve heard the reports about how your exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes when temperatures and the wind chills get that low. And you’ve heard that schools and most workplaces have closed.
If you have lived in a place like Chicago, where I grew up, you know what it’s like, and how you learn what to wear, the masks that cover your head except for eyes and nose along with the warm underwear. And you know that even with that, you learn how to not breathe in when you turn toward the wind. And you learn how to keep your car battery from becoming frozen by bringing it inside or going outside every two hours to start your car to keep it alive.
And you also know that people who do live there describe themselves as tough people able to deal with frigid temperatures every so often through the years, even taking pride that they get through it no matter what because they are Chicagoans.Ask them what they think about us Californians who get chilled when it gets down to 50 degrees above zero and they’ll tell you we’re weaklings, and not like the hearty people in the Windy and now extremely cold city of Chicago.
But ask people who have moved to San Diego from Chicago (and there are a lot of them) if they’d ever move back, and 99 percent of them will tell you, no thanks. Especially on a day like today.
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