Some of you said you like really cold temperatures. However, there has to be a limit since the human body can withstand so much. How cold is too cold for you that like it frigid?

I generally like it to be at -20 to -25 after that, it becomes annoying.

I couldn’t stand living in the lower 48, it’s too warm down there!

Depends on what you are doing. If you are active it is easier to be comfortable at reasonably low temperatures. If you are snowshoeing or even just walking you can stay pretty comfortable down to at least 30-35 below. Once things get down around minus 40 and colder it gets a bit more serious. Even dangerous. The air is pretty darn dry at those temperatures and it has the effect of dehydrating a guy quickly. You also will notice a distinct lack of stamina. The old tales of the trapper sitting down to take a break and never waking up are not a fantasy. The cold can tire you out quickly and make you sleepy.

I usually won't check traps if it's -40 or colder. I have done so at -55 but it was no fun and I would not have done it if I didn't have to. ( I had other commitments in the following days). That is why we don't have trap check times in Alaska. It's a safety issue.

But I find it perfectly comfortable to be outside and active at minus 20 as long as you are dressed for it. Making beaver sets under ice or snowshoeing will keep you adequately warm. Just don't get wet, or sweaty.

White brings up a good point about hydration.

The most dehydrated I ever feel is when working outside in the cold.

I worked with a native Alaskan that shivered in 30 degree Mississippi winter weather.


Another good point. Humidity makes a huge difference.
I can feel a lot more uncomfortable at 20 degrees above zero in Anchorage than I would at 40 below zero at my house.
The difference is that Anchorage is located right on Cook Inlet and that open water pushes the humidity up a great deal.

At 40 below the relative humidity here may be 10% but at 20 above in Anchorage it may be 75-80 %

You hit on a good point J Staton...I have froze out northern hunters down here in the humid cold...Pretty surprising really.

I fell a sleep a few times. You get cold and wake up. At least I did.

Yeah I nearly did too but caught myself just as I was starting to nod off

I took naps. I was tired. Can't walk all night without getting sleepy. It was after bedtime. I always worried that you could die, but why would you? You wake up shivering and get up and start walking again to generate heat.

Hopefully. With me it scared me so badly that I never sat down for a break again. Never stopped for food or coffee until I got to cabin or tent camp.

Yep, humidity and wind with minus temps is a killer. Still and cold is bad but I can take a lot of minus degree without wind or humidity.

"Remembering that hypothermia can cause you to doze, some outdoorsmen (and outdoorswomen, of course, if that’s a word) worry about falling asleep in survival situations, afraid that the reverse could be true as well: that dozing can cause hypothermia. This doesn’t seem impossible—core body temperature does fall during sleep, after all—but it turns out not to be a problem unless the sleeper is already suffering badly from exposure to the cold. “Unless you’re severely hypothermic,” said Quebec Life Flight nurse Lance Taysom at a 2010 conference on wilderness rescue, “uncontrollable shivering will wake you up before you get too cold. When that happens, run around or do some jumping jacks or something else to warm up before trying to catch another nap.”"

This is the way this generally works.

Doesn't even need to be severe cold, you want to be miserable?, come down to the coast with humidity, a stiff wind, and temps in the teens and twenties...
Last time I was in extreme cold, it was -30, no wind ,and dry as a popcorn fart, was practically comfortable....

I do pretty well in -30 or so. When it was around - 40 , That was uncomfortable . One would need to be dressed as they do on snowmachines in the outback . These temps were all in Montana, BTW.

I often check weather in Fairbanks. I was there in March running JR's trapline with him. There were some cold days at that time also. But not in such longer duration.

The rest of the country, of which AK is also part of the states, guffawing aside, is varied immensely. The western mountains , such as Montana, are so much different . Not a few times, it is much cooler here than Fairbanks. In summer. Even in winter, for example, several days ago it was 40 above in Fairbanks and into the interior places, but 23 here. Both states are nice in that it is way less humidity. Not sure how humid it gets in SE AK.

So the weather is often back and forth no matter where on the map a state is located.

I've been in Florida in their winter where I was wet cold , and much more uncomfortable than here in winter. That southern humidity makes a big difference.

I remember finding a new teacher that had been out exploring the area. Unprepared for conditions he became hypothermic. It was odd. He had started removing his outer clothes for some reason. Then he started running. More clothes came off that we found along his trail. We finally located him completely naked .....not even any socks !! Face down..dead in the snow.

Have heard of that very thing happening.Not a stitch of clothing on.

The thermometer alone, I feel, tells you little. In the interior, I was usually dressed for the cold, and was comfortable usually at -40F. I lived on the water (ocean) for 5 years at Sitka, where I never saw 0F, but I was cold most of the time.

Jack

Under ice beaver trappers never get cold even at minus 40.
Every house they set they jump in the water qith their chest waders to feel the entrance with their feet so they get to warm up.Water is above 0c.

its colder here at 35 when its windy cloudy and high humidity than it is at 0 when the air is dry and sunny.

The thing about humidity is true. When I lived in PA, the coldest it got where I lived was -23 F. Since I moved to Idaho, the coldest I felt so far is -20 F. the minus degrees in PA certainly feels a lot colder.