I went to college in Potsdam, NY. We know it gets cold there but one day the Super Bowl was being played. So, we decided to walk across the river bridge to go downtown to watch the game. It was a beautiful day and I wore a light jacket for the long walk. When we got downtown the clock thermometer said it was minus 24 degrees out!
In the winter of 1970-71, Marge and I were living in married student housing in Potsdam. On one Friday, we got 36 inches of snow. The next Friday we got another 36 inches and since it is so cold the snow doesn't melt. We looked out our window and all you could see in the parking lot was car antennas sticking out of the snow! In the winter of 1971-72, we were living in an apartment outside Potsdam. We got up one morning and our car woudn't start. We had to disconnect the car battery and defrost it as it got down to 52 below zero!
In the winter of 1978, we were living in Carver, MA which was a 45 minute drive to work. I was the shift manager for the night shift and we had a joint management meeting for both shifts on Monday. The forecast was for 2-5 inches of snow and as I left for work there was snow flurries. As I was arriving for work, there was a traffic jam of cars leaving early so we decided to have the meeting anyway. The main highway, Rte 128 was now shut down as it was a parking lot of stranded vehicles. We couldnt leave so we ended up spending the night. We got like 36 inches of snow and on Tuesday afternoon, I finally left for home which took 3 hours. At home we only had 3 inches but Boston was shut down for the rest of the week.
In the summer of 1989, we were now in Topeka and I was the owner of a pool and spa store. One afternoon, we were delivering a spa on the east side of town. When we finished, we got in the car but the radio would not work. On the way back to the store, the radio came on and said a tornado had touched down. It touched down one block from my store and one block from our first home. I got to the store and called Marge to let her know everything was okay. She did not even know that we had a tornado!