How did you experience the polar cold wave that just hit the United States?
Last week, we went down to -30°C. It happens occasionally. The difference is that, this time, the icy windy episode played extra time, lasting at least five days. Schools have closed. Denver (Colorado) is sunnier than Boston (Massachusetts), where we still lived a few months ago. There is less risk that the pipes will burst under the effect of freezing. On the other hand, we are in the Rockies, at 1,600 meters above sea level. The main thing is to protect children well when they go out for fresh air. Superimpose the layers of clothing, of course, and above all, cover their hands, ears, nose and mouth. You should know that below zero degrees Fanrenheit (-18 ° C), frostbite occurs in less than a minute to the extremities. The polar cold also makes you cough a lot and causes burns.
Has the activity stalled?
No, Americans are used to the vagaries of the weather and extreme temperatures. Those who can have teleworked. At home, behind the frosted windows, we turned on the heating and simmered the meals for a long time to gain a few degrees in the kitchen! Starting the car to go shopping was also more complicated. But people are foresighted. They keep a half-full reserve to cover any eventuality!
With the proliferation of extreme phenomena, don’t you sometimes have the impression that reality is catching up with fiction and the worst catastrophic scenarios?
Last summer, Colorado was scorching hot, over 45°C. In recent days, he faced the arctic cold due to the polar vortex. If they are not new, these deviations worthy of the film “The Day After” are obviously more frequent than before. However, I have the feeling that these climatic disturbances are more of a concern to the expatriate community who did not grow up in the United States than to the native Americans, who are all in all quite fatalistic.
