Forty degrees F. above zero seems colder in the damp fog of San Francisco or London. Twenty below zero is definitely chilling, but doesn’t seem as bad when you’re skiing because you’re wearing many layers of clothing and you’re generating body warmth.
But yesterday in Russia, you could have frozen your piroshki off when temps dipped to minus 29 C (minus 20 F), the lowest since 1978-79, when it was a bone-chilling minus 38 C (minus 36 F).
The reported death toll is close to 40 and forecasters expect the cold wave to continue for at least until early February.