We seem to be getting a bit of a break today, but these cold snaps have been a bit… well… brutal.
Getting a week of bitter cold weather in January is one thing. You sort of expect it. But in March? Especially after a few really nice days. The sort of days that give you hope that winter may be coming to and end? Those types of cold snaps are hard to take. They’re not unusual. We get them pretty much every year at this time. But we don’t have to like them.
And we won’t even mention Sheila and her brush. You know she’s hiding behind one of those green beers, just waiting to jump out and give us one final wintery whack. That’s pretty much a given.
But having some of the coldest days of the year mixed in amoung some of the nicest (so far)… it’s hard to take.
I have noticed one thing. On those bitterly cold days, people don’t seem to be in such a hurry to take their face masks off. We’ve probably all seen those “the air makes my face hurt” memes. Now we are discovering there is a cure for that. A face mask can feel pretty darn comfortable in freezing temperatures with a howling north wind.
Sure, there is a bit of a condensation problem. Very evident if you wear glasses. I have found myself apologizing to various lamp posts and shopping carts and possibly even people I have bumped into because I can no longer see what’s around me. And this condensation problem could also lead to further face freezing issues. A mask can get damp because of the condensation, which could lead to greater face freezing.
So I have been trying to figure out how to maybe do something like attach a snorkel. It would need a filter on the snorkel to keep the spread of germs down, but a frozen snorkel filter would be preferable to a mask frozen to one’s face. So I think it can work. And it would have the added plus of keeping your glasses from steaming up.
It’s something to work on. We could cut back on spreading respiratory illnesses and keep our faces warm at the same time.
