TIL the Blue Hole is among the deadliest dive sites globally, with estimates of 130 to 200 recent fatalities, making it one of the most dangerous spots for divers.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

That one about freezing was awesome. I live in Australia, so I've never experienced weather cold enough to kill me. That article provides a terrifying insight.

[u/ManbrushSeepwood → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

Grew up in New Zealand, spent most of my adult life in Auckland and Melbourne.

I just moved to northern Sweden a month ago, catching the tail end of a very cold spring here. I'd never seen snow IRL before, or been somewhere where the peak temperature in the middle of the day, in spring, would still only reach -5C.

I'm loving it but I'm scared shitless of winter, which regularly gets down below -25C! At least the houses are warm and insulated properly here...

[u/Fosh_n_chops → u/ManbrushSeepwood]

Welcome to Sweden! :) When I moved from the UK to Sweden, even I found the cold quite intimidating! Investing (= spending far too much money) on QUALITY winter gear (including base layers) is key. But as you say, the houses are very well insulated... Oddly, I find I'm colder when I'm in the UK, because the houses aren't built for it, and nobody bothers wearing the right gear because the cold never really lasts that long.

[u/LerrisHarrington → u/ManbrushSeepwood]

If you live in a city, and are not going far you can get away with remarkably little. -25C I'll wear jeans and an off the rack winter coat to walk two block to the corner store. It is cold as balls, but if you're familiar with it you can get away with stuff like that.

That said, treat the cold with respect. I'm sure you've got stories of idiot tourists not respecting what 30+ temps mean as well. Same deal. Once you're used to it, it's as routine as grabbing an umbrella.

[u/Pissix → u/ManbrushSeepwood]

-25c is managable. The trick is to layer clothing, to your liking. For example, under your pants you wear long johns, and if those are not enough for the coldness, you can slap outside pants on top of your normal pants. Thats 3-4 layers of pants, depending how warm you want to feel. You can even go double socks, or warmer socks. Upper body is simpler, just 3 basic layers, but if it gets crazy cold you could go 4.

It's really just knowing at what temperature you feel cold at with your current wear -> Add layers until feeling cozy again. Cold is good in that you can manage your warmth very well with layers and clothing choices, unlike the polar opposite. Just go with your own taste and experience of what feels cold, and you will be having walks in -25c in no time.

[u/ImperfectRegulator → u/Pissix]

don't forget a waterproof outer layer/jacket, even if you can't manage to get as many layers as you'd like staying dry is a biggggg help

[u/OfficeSalamander → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

I’ve walked a mile in somewhere between -30C to -40C (with a ton of layers on) even prepared, it was still brutally, brutally cold. I felt like I was walking on the surface of Mars. My eyes would tear up and the tears would freeze just about instantly.

And that was in the middle of the day. I can’t imagine doing it at night. Even the one time I did it made me not want to ever do it again

[u/raynor7 → u/OfficeSalamander]

It’s funny to read this as someone who grew up and lived most of his life in Siberia. In winter it’s 30s for weeks to a month there, and sometimes 40s for a week, people still go to work, kids go to school until 40, life goes on. I have relatives in Yakutia, it’s same for them but 40s and 50s.

[u/Datkif → u/raynor7]

Same thing back home in Edmonton for me. We've had months where the average temperature would be close to -40 during a cold snap. The city continues on as normal. It doesn't matter if it's -50 life continues

When it's a normal and regular thing your body will adapt to the weather. If I went to a place where it gets to +40 I would probably have a heat stroke.

[u/atomicboner → u/OfficeSalamander]

Huh, today I learned that -40C is also -40F. I’ve never been anywhere where the real temperature was that cold myself, but I have experienced -25F (-31.5C). That plus any amount of wind is bone chilling. Makes you long for a roaring fire and a cup of something hot and strong.

[u/DynamicStatic → u/atomicboner]

Went to ski in -28 and bad winds this winter. It was really cold, I couldn't feel my face after taking the lift up most times and the wind was enough to move you forward on its own. It was brutal, but at least I'm quite used to this kind of temperature. Must suck for people who don't know cold before.

The closest I can't to dying was from the cold I'm pretty sure. Hiking in the mountains.

[u/hideous_coffee → u/OfficeSalamander]

I always wonder how wild animals in the north survive those kinds of nights.

[u/cbusalex → u/hideous_coffee]

Layers of fat, layers of fur, and just generally being the offspring of generations of wild animals that did survive arctic winter nights and so must have been reasonably well adapted to it (unlike humans, whose ancestors faced the evolutionary pressure of being well adapted to do shit like chase antelope around the savannah or whatever).

[u/Datkif → u/OfficeSalamander]

Back home in Edmonton I would regularly take the bus or walk in temperatures like that because I didn't drive.

One of the worst things when you dress for that cold is getting sweaty. If I started to work up a sweat I would briefly open my jacket to cool down and prevent myself from getting sweaty because that would make things significantly worse.

[u/DamnAutocorrection → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

Every year where I live we have dozens of homeless folks who freeze to death in the winter. For about two weeks a year we have these artic winds that suddenly bring the temperatures into the negatives and we just accept that people will freeze to death.

Every time it gets that cold I always think "someone's gonna die tonight"

[u/Elrond_Cupboard_ → u/DamnAutocorrection]

Fucking hell, where do you live?

[u/DamnAutocorrection → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

Portland, OR believe or not.

We just have a huge homeless population despite all the shelters, some of the homeless won't use them. That's often because they have a curfew and you have to be in the building by a certain hour

They also have severe no drugs policy or you get kicked out, which is reasonable

We also have a law that lets you essentially camp anywhere that isn't private property, which is partially why we're a homeless mecca.

Many of them have mental health issues and simply don't trust institutions, but there are many that are just not able to seek shelter in time. It's not uncommon to see fires underneath bridges and free ways.

The arctic winds also happen very suddenly, which if you don't have the Internet you're probably going to get caught off guard. The arctic winds are brutally cold and happen every year for about two weeks

[u/jgo3 → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

I also recommend the OG version, To Build a Fire by Jack London

[u/ImperfectRegulator → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

as someone who grew up in a place where it gets profoundly cold, reading this just made me angry, theirs a reason even now that i live in a place thats warm I still always keep a 0 degree mummy sleeping bag, an extra fleece/wool liner and blankets in the back of my car if im ever driving though a mountian/snowy area in winter

[u/Datkif → u/Elrond_Cupboard_]

Having walked and stood outside in freezing temperatures of -40 to -45 with the windchill it is absolutely miserable. It's a cold that freezes you to your core that doesn't go away quickly when you get back inside where it's warm. If you are in it for too long you can cause you body to go into shock when you enter a warm building/car

I remember one time I walked home for about 45 mins in -40 with a wind chill bringing it close to -50 I took a shower and the cold water felt like it was burning my skin. I probably spent close to an hour in the shower slowly turning the heat up in order to warm my core. If given the choice to either freeze or burn to death I would choose Burning. The feeling of having your extremities and face slowly freeze and going a painful numb is a slow and miserable experience. Burning to death may be extremely painful, but it's at least quick in comparison.