I could be a weather-person.

This post is merely to notify you that it is -30 in Edmonton today. With the wind chill, it "feels like" (this is a real weather thing and not something I am making up) -46. (That's -50 for you fahrenheit people.) Also, there is a wind chill warning.

I talked to my parents on the phone last night. They like to feel involved in my life, so when I told them there was a blizzard, my dad looked up the Edmonton traffic cam website. It was pretty hilarious. My word alone that it was very cold and snowy and windy didn't impress anyone, but with the addition of the traffic cameras into the equation, suddenly I was getting a lot of sympathy. "People are sliding all over the place!" my dad said. "One guy is cross-country skiing on Walterdale Hill!"

Like all Edmontonians, I possess the ability to layer. Usually, no matter how cold it gets, if you put on enough clothes you will be fine. But -46 is past the layering point. It's almost past the going outside point. I did my whole layering routine before I left the house this morning, and other than not wearing a hat (MAJOR OVERSIGHT), I did everything I could. But your toes get cold inside your boots. Your thumbs get cold inside your mittens (I am not kidding. I was wearing wool mittens lined with fleece and my thumbs were cold). Your forehead gets cold under your hood. Your legs get cold, from the top of your leg-warmers to the bottom of your coat. I was wearing 2 t-shirts, a jersey hoodie lined with fleece, a down vest, and a gore-tex shell. I could feel the place where my t-shirt sleeves ended, because MY ARMS WERE COLDER. Under those circumstances, all you can do is huddle together and wait for it to be over.

(PS. Out of the last 10 facebook updates from my Alberta-based friends, 8 are about the weather. Mine says, "Jocelyn is surrounded by coolish polar winter.")