Frozen Snot

If you want to know how cold it’s been, I can describe the extent of the coldness to you. This is how you can experience the wintry feeling of Tampere:

First, go to the Meschke-Shin lab at the UW. Look around for the -20ºC freezer. Push aside the PCR reagents and Nalidixic Acid stock solutions. Climb right in there and close the door. After your body equilibrates to the temperature, try to imagine walking around in a place that is 10ºC colder than the -20ºC freezer.

I have clothes that are quite a bit warmer than anything I would ever wear in Seattle, so most of the time I’m pretty comfortable. Just below -20ºC, however, is when my snot freezes. No matter what I’m wearing, frozen snot creates a very uncomfortable situation. And there’s nothing I can do about it either. Shallow breaths or deep breaths, my snot is still frozen.

The coldest I’ve experienced is -32ºC (-25ºF). Most of the time it’s a much more manageable -5 and -20ºC. I just got some ice skates and I hear the skate tracks in Nasijarvi are open!

Note: Don’t try this freezer thing at home (even though your freezer is probably -20ºC). I was just kidding, but it really is that cold.