This has been a cold winter and most of us are waiting for some springlike weather. Here in Iowa, avg daily high first of March close to 40f, maybe a few degrees colder. This is warm enough for me to get out and get a decent ride in. I have been riding about 12 mi if weather is above mid 20's, but forecast for next 10 days shows only 3 days above 20. Every other day is forecast to have highs 15 or below with one day having a high of zero.

I've long observed and been frustrated because I think that March should be the beginning of spring, but is often merely the end of winter. The girl's state basketball tournament is a blizzard magnet and at least some snow is forecast for next week.

When I lived in Minneapolis, I enjoyed the fact that winter was cold enough to engage in winter sports. There are many groomed XC ski trails and the bar across the street had broomball leagues. I wasn't surprised that there was interscholastic high school ski racing, but was a bit nonplussed about the girls ice hockey. None the less, winter tended to be about two months longer than I really cared to endure, and I developed OCD about having outer wear calibrated to every 5 degree increment. No frozen fingers for me.

Anyway, I wanted to put the polar vortex weather into some perspective, so I checked historical data for two cities that should test any reasonable tolerance for cold weather: Edmonton, Alberta and Moscow, Russia. The upcoming 10 days will be 5-7 degrees f colder than either city at their coldest.