Today I have been duly informed...

... that Winters here are not so bad.

On the cold:

Well, it turns out that below 0 degrees F, ice no longer surface melts with contact or friction, so it's quite safe to walk and drive around on the ice because you don't slip.

Also, at below -40 degrees, water vapor does not require nucleation sites to freeze, so all of the vapor freezes out of the air and leaves 0% humidity. This means that your body heat does not transfer away from you so quickly. Also that down (which is famously ineffective in wet climates) will keep you quite toasty for a low weight cost.

On the darkness:

Well I suspected this, but had it confirmed. Long twilights (and a blanket of reflective snow!) mean that though the sun is only "up" for 4 hours on the solstice, there is actually more light than most people imagine.

Actually, I had never feared that this would bother me. After all, in the Silicon Valley in Winter, I left for work (or SCU classes) when it was dark, and arrived home after dark again. And in between, I was in an interior office with no natural light. So what's the diff?

Incidentally, today was another bee-yoo-tiful day. I keep taking off my sunglasses and putting them back on, because I cannot believe how clear and blue the sky is! And the big, puffy white clouds that seem to hang around here (at least for the seasons I've experienced here) are just so pretty as to be cartoonish!