Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Temperature: Defining the Meaning of Cold

Desiree has never seen snow or experienced below-freezing temperatures.  Now that winter has found me, we often talk about cold weather and snow during our video calls.  If snow is falling, I press my phone against the nearest window so she can watch it sift down around my house.

During an early-morning call yesterday, I mentioned I had a temperature of -3° Fahrenheit.   “Temperatures like that are hard to fathom sometimes,” I added.  “For one thing, that’s colder than the freezer in my refrigerator.  I think most freezers are set for something near zero degrees Fahrenheit.”  

“That’s cold,” Desiree agreed.  “My sister said she’s getting cold weather, also.”

“Which sister?”

“The one in Bahrain.”

“Cold?”

“They get cold winds from Europe in the winter.”

Associating cold with Bahrain (a mass of land in the Persian Gulf) proved difficult for me.  I was sitting near my computer as we chatted on my phone.  “Let me check the weather forecast in Bahrain,” I suggested.  “I want to see how cold it will be there today.”

A few taps at my keyboard delivered the forecast for Manama, Bahrain, to my computer screen.  The expected high for Manama: 70°.  The expected low: 63°.

“Your sister’s cold day is the temperature inside my house right now,” I told Desiree.

Mitchell Hegman

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