Disclosure: I don't commute, I just like to read you guys here. I wish I could commute, but that doesn't surpass the fact that I want to live in out in the country.
Ok, said that because I will mention cars, LOL. I don't have an outside thermometer in my car, but I've been hearing what everyone else is seeing. It hasn't been very many days, but everyone is stating below -20°. Wednesday, one of the guys who drives from the same area I do said it was -32° through the one section along our commute.
I can't recall temps from when I was a kid. The coldest was in 1993 when we had a period of sustained -20 to -24°.
The thing with official records and such is, it is only in specific places where the official temps are taken from. Wednesday, the low temp was -17° at the airport because that is where the news gets the temps from for this area. 20 minutes away, my coworker has a phone picture of that -32°. In the work parking lot, which is 10 minutes away from the "official" temp, everyone was stating -27°.
So, is it the coldest it's ever been in my lifetime? Officially I don't know. It is the coldest in the general area that I've been living taking into account a 30 mile radius though because I prior to Wednesday, the coldest I have ever felt in the day to day function of my life was -24 and Wednesday I experienced -32.
What is strange is, I went out to my car this morning and it was 29° above freezing. That's still cold! Yet, I didn't feel the need to start and warm up my car, I didn't put on a jacket, just went with the flannel shirt I wear in the fall and spring, and I had the window down a half inch or so driving in to work today. Just a month ago, I would have been bundled up at 27° like I was going on an adventure at the north pole. Funny how your perception of the temperatures change depending if you are coming from a spell of high temps or a spell of low temps.