With the cold it is all relative

      I know that January is our coldest and snowiest month but doesn't it seem like February is the month when we are coldest and snowiest?  Certainty this year that has been the case.

    I spent a day in Rehoboth Beach this past week and couldn't help but take a picture of the snow on the Boardwalk.  The contrast to what this scene looks like in the Summer was dramatic.
    Yesterday many school systems in our area opened late because of the cold.  That is something I don't remember happening before.  I happened to receive some information from a friend in Minnesota about some of their policies on school closing for cold and couldn't help but realize that our response to cold is relative to what we are used to.  Here is what he sent:

In St. Paul, schools will close if the forecast for 6 a.m. calls for a windchill below minus 40 degrees, or air temperature below minus 25 degrees. School officials will make a decision by 6:30 p.m. the night before cancelling classes.

Minneapolis, the state's third largest school district, has also developed a cold weather policy.
District officials will consider closing schools when the wind chill is minus 35 degrees or below, and more than 6 inches of snow falls in 12 hours or more than 8 inches of snow falls in 24 hours. School officials will try to notify parents by 6 p.m. the night before, or by 5:30 a.m. the morning of the cancellation.

     Now contrast this with what I ran into in Key West a couple of weeks ago when the temperature was 58 degrees. I went to the local coffee shop that I had been frequenting that week and the person opening the store had on a heavy coat and said he was late opening the store because it had taken him longer to get dressed for the cold! Not sure how he would function in Minnesota.