What's New?

It's not that bad: A Minnesota transplant's winter survival guide

Frostbite is a real concern when temperatures turn negative: some studies show that tissue can become damaged after just 20 to 30 minutes in -10 degree weather. Wet clothing or high winds dramatically accelerate that time frame. Extremities are most vulnerable.

“It’s part of our body’s way of protecting itself,” said Dr. Ryan Fey, a surgeon at HCMC’s Burn Center, whose department treats about 25 frostbite patients a year. “Our core temperature keeping the heart, brain, and vital organs happy and healthy is much more important. So from a survival standpoint, we sacrifice the limbs first.”

Most of us experience minor “frostnip” during exposure — the angry reddening of the skin that can become tender but goes away once warmed up. But watch for pain and a tingling feeling that can be a first indication of frostbite. If exposed skin becomes rigid, develops blisters or turns purple when reheated, it’s best to seek immediate medical attention.

Will my contacts freeze in my eyes in -25 windchill?

Almost certainly not, Fey said.

Your eyes are protected by good blood flow from the core to the head and neck.

Toes, on the other hand, are always at risk.

When it comes to boots, you can’t go wrong with either Sorels or Mukluks. No matter what, pick something warm and waterproof. Always wear wool socks.

To the amusement of his colleagues, Fey rolls into work this time of year in full winter garb, including a facemask.

“I’ll never win a fashion show,” he said, “but you’ll never see me complaining about the cold.”

How cold is too cold for Spot?

Veterinarians say many dog breeds have a higher threshold for the cold than humans, but smaller breeds with thin coats are more susceptible to hypothermia. Once temperatures drop below 20 degrees, owners should watch their pets closely and not leave them outside for long stretches. Some vets recommend washing your dog’s paws after walks to rinse away the corrosive salt. Coconut oil is also a good trick to keep their paw pads from drying out.

You can buy those ridiculous sweaters, too, but they’re more for your amusement than their comfort.

It’s Minnesota’s annual hazing.

Each year, like clockwork, thousands of Twin Citians awake to find their vehicles have gone missing overnight. No, your 2001 Kia Optima wasn’t stolen. It was caught by the dreaded tow trucks that clear a path for night plows.

It’s a harsh realization, knowing you’ll be slapped with a (hefty) fine — $138 for regular towing and $175 for “heavy duty” towing. There’s also an $18 storage fee, “applied each midnight.” Uff da.

The Star Tribune’s latest hire, a photographer from Chicago, and his wife both fell into the trap last weekend during Minneapolis’ first snow emergency of the season. They weren’t the only ones; during the three-day plow event, 7,707 tickets were issued and 1,387 vehicles were towed.

So sign up for those darn alerts, download the snow emergency parking appon your Smartphone and read up on your city’s policy.

Ignore your vehicle manual

Keeping your car running — and getting it to start — in blistering cold is another matter. When you turn the key and your vehicle doesn’t start, it’s usually because the engine is flooded with gasoline.

It’s a common misconception that you’re not supposed to put your foot on the accelerator when you start the car in the winter months, said St. Paul automotive technician Tim Moore. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

The gas pedal allows air into the engine to help prevent flooding, he said. It actually helps to press down about an inch while turning the key.

“Even the manuals say ‘don’t put your foot on the accelerator pedal,’” said Moore, founder of Dynotech Auto. “But most of those people don’t live up here.”

Do you really need winter tires? All-season tires are perfectly fine, he said, “as long as the tread is good.”

But it would do you (and your transmission) a favor to wait a few minutes for your engine to warm before peeling off to work, Moore said. This helps get the oil properly flowing.

Move yourself, man!

While everyone deserves some quality time to binge watch Netflix, the key to surviving a Minnesota winter is to keep moving.

Hermitting yourself indoors with spiked eggnog might be fun at first, but most of us get antsy. And watching Law and Order reruns won’t help combat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Trust me, I’ve tried.

The good news is that the North Star state has plenty of opportunities to keep the whole family occupied all season long. Take cross-county ski lessons at local parks like Hyland Hills, Theodore Wirth and Elm Creek Park reserves. They all offer packages to get you moving. 

Prefer skating? Some 25 neighborhood parks maintain outdoor skating and hockey rinks to use free of charge. Most open in late December.

Are lakes really safe to walk on, much less drive on?

Here, ice in and ice out are real words with real and important meanings. Before you trudge across Lake Calhoun though, it’s best to study the Department of Natural Resouces Ice In policy. Ice In varies lake to lake and generally represents the first time the water is frozen over and will endure for the remainder of the season. In the cities, lakes typically freeze in mid-December. Ice Out is when the water begins to thaw and becomes unsafe for people to walk on.

This weekend, nature enthusiasts will take a winter stroll in snowshoes at Wild River State Park in Center City, Minn., and conservationists will be grabbing binoculars for the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count. Most will only cancel if there’s a blizzard of extreme windchills. Sunday could see both, so check the weather before committing to leaving your couch.

All these activities have the same purpose: see the beauty in Minnesota’s winter.

After you bundle up, I hope you can too.

2019 WEATHER FORECAST FOR

SAINT PAUL, MN

At the Solstice

by Shaun O'Brien

We say Next time we’ll go away,
But then the winter happens, like a secret

We’ve to keep yet never understand
As daylight turns to cinema once more:

A lustrous darkness deep in ice-age cold,
And the print in need of restoration

Starting to consume itself
With snowfall where no snow is falling now.

Or could it be a cloud of sparrows, dancing
In the bare hedge that this gale of light

Is seeking to uproot? Let it be sparrows, then,
Still dancing in the blazing hedge,

Their tender fury and their fall,
Because it snows, because it burns.

The Darkling Thrush

by Thomas Hardy

I leant upon a coppice gate
            When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
             The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
             Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
             Had sought their household fires.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Snow

Gillian Clarke 

The dreamed Christmas,
flakes shaken out of silences so far
and starry we can’t sleep for listening
for papery rustles out there in the night
and wake to find our ceiling glimmering,
the day a psaltery of light.

So we’re out over the snow fields
before it’s all seen off with a salt-lick
of Atlantic air, then home at dusk, snow-blind
from following chains of fox and crow and hare,
to a fire, a roasting bird, a ringing phone,
and voices wondering where we are.

A day foretold by images
of glassy pond, peasant and snowy roof
over the holy child iconed in gold.
Or women shawled against the goosedown air
pleading with soldiers at a shifting frontier
in the snows of television,

while in the secret dark a fresh snow falls
filling our tracks with stars.

A Winter Bluejay

Sara Teasdale

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind

William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
  Thou art not so unkind 
     As man’s ingratitude; 
  Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou art not seen, 
     Although thy breath be rude. 
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: 
  Then, heigh-ho, the holly! 
     This life is most jolly.

  Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
  That dost not bite so nigh 
     As benefits forgot: 
  Though thou the waters warp, 
     Thy sting is not so sharp 
     As friend remembered not. 
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly...

Winter Morning

Richard Meier

Shyly coated in greys, blacks, browns -
to keep us out of sight of the cold -
we weren't expecting this this morning: sun

and shadows, like a summer's evening, like summer
teasing. And not quite under the shelter on
the northbound platform, an old man, the sun

behind him, just his crown ablaze; and heading
southbound, a woman inching ever nearer
the platform edge, the light a tear

across her midriff, ribcage, shoulders, closer
and closer that dearest thing, completeness,
all her darkness light at the one time.

In the Bleak Midwinter

Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter

Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.