It is more than just cold. I bundle up, go outside to have a smoke, and can't even finish it, it is so freaking cold. Hands and feet go numb almost immediately.
I worked with a guy who grew up there. His parents made him walk to the store to pick up something. He had to stop to wait for a train to cross. When he got home his toes were frost bitten.
lol. I lived in Nebraska for many years. It got pretty cold. We still had to go to school until it got to 50 below. Then my mom wouldn't make us ride our bikes out there.
I loved it though. I remember taking a shower and getting ready for church. We got to church before the car got all the way warmed up. My hair was frozen on my head. Hard as a rock. Boogers will freeze in your nose, and if you are riding a bike, its so cold your eyes would water. The tears would freeze on your eyelashes.
But, spending time with family when its that cold is different. Its hard to explain. You have a different view on life when you could actually die just going outside. It makes people have a different take on things, a different way of interacting with each other. We were on our way to my grandparents house one winter night. My mom had to go to the bathroom, so we turned off the highway down a country road to find a quiet place to go pee. I thought it would be funny to lock my mom out of the car and started honking the car horn. It was funny, we had a good laugh. We were already trying to turn around and head out when a farmer flagged us down. He asked us if everything was okay and if we had seen anything... He heard the horn honking and had come down the gravel road to render assistance to complete strangers in the freezing cold and blowing snow.
I think a lot of the desert communities are kind of like that during the summer.
