How Hercules visited North America

It is not unusual to experience coldness in winter, it happens almost everywhere, excluding a couple of places like southern Spain ;). But this year we arrived home just on time to be part of a historic moment. In the northeastern part of the country temperatures reached historical records. It not only was very cold, but also very windy, and it all went combined with constant snow... We had almost 30 cm! It was crazy days. Luckily the worse is over, we are still having cold temperatures, but I don't think we will see -24 degC in a long time. There is of course amazing images, but the most incredible for me was the frozen Niagara Falls.

I sought the explanation of this phenomenon, and it is so interesting that I want to share it with you all. According to the experts, this storm is a cold front that moved southward the north pole as a result of a sudden stratospheric warming, that is, when polar stratospheric temperatures increase very suddenly. When this happens, the high altitude winds change direction and flow westward instead of its normal eastward direction. The westward winds progress down to the atmosphere, giving westward winds to the surfaces and decreasing the temperature significantly.

In the chart, you can see that the minimum temperatures reached scary negative numbers (-40 degC coincides with -40 F). There were places in the US and Canada who reached temperatures lower than the north pole. On top of the cold, the wind made it feel 10 degrees colder.

The repercussions of the storm have been well documented though the media: cancelled flights, people were asked to save electricity to prevent power outage, roads covered with snow, fuel freezing, and several deaths were attributed to the coldness. It was recommended to stay at home if possible.

And, for this matter, i was also curious on how do we feel cold and hot, what is the process in or body? Is it something physical, or some chemical reaction? Asking my good friend Google, I found out a possible explanations discovered recently. Studies made in the University of California come to the conclusion that a few proteins, called ion channels, allow our skin to distinguish temperatures, from hot to cold. For this, there is a variety of transient receptor potential (TRP), that defines every temperature. According to this, there are receptors on the surface of the nerve cells that enables the body to feel the different temperatures. You can read more about this interesting study here. It is somehow similar to how we taste (if I understand correctly). In any case, I just found it cool.

Well, after a masterclass on coldness and its effect on humans, I'll let you guys go outside and enjoy the weather, no matter if it is cold, there is always a moment when it feels right for it to be cold (at least for a couple of seconds), that way we realize that this doesn't last, and eventually spring will knock on our doors :)

Thanks for reading,

Lita & Andres