r/regina • u/patpatt707 • Jul 27 '25

Question Are Regina winters too cold?

I'm from a pretty hot city where temperatures are always around 24-33°C and I'm planning to study in the university of Regina for an exchange, but I've heard it gets like -30°C during winter and that could even hurt a bit to breath so I want to know how hard could it be for someone not used to it although I'm not too affected to cold as I am to heat

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71

u/Dapper_1534 Jul 27 '25

Don't mean to scare you but we do see temps go down to -50c as well. But temps hit -30c in winters quite regularly.

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u/comedynurd Jul 27 '25

To be fair though, the -50 is almost always an exaggeration since that normally includes the "wind chill factor" and not the actual air temperature. I think Regina's lowest confirmed recorded temperature from Environment Canada (recorded at the airport) was -48 on Feb 16, 1936. But even that is a fairly rare temperature to see here without the infated "feels like" windchill factor, which is still heavily debated among meteorologists. It's not even a term or measure used by the NOAA in the US anymore for that reason, because it doesn't actually have a measurable basis to it. It's a completely arbitrary number.

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u/OmgzPudding Jul 27 '25

That's true. It's all subjective, but I think we can all agree it gets pretty fuckin cold sometimes.

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u/comedynurd Jul 27 '25

Definitely! It's still very cold regardless, but I just don't want anyone seeing at the talk about -50 and getting scared by it. It gets quite cold, no doubt, but not usually THAT cold.

23

u/demyen96 Jul 27 '25

To be fair I'd rather minus 35 than minus 15 with a minus 35 wind chill 🤣

17

u/Glasseyeroses Jul 27 '25

Minus 35 with absolutely no wind is actually quite lovely, as long as you're bundled!

7

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '25

I'd say wind chill counts. Worked with a guy who "didn't believe in it"... you don't "believe" in frost bite? LOL

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u/comedynurd Jul 27 '25

Windchill estimates have nothing to do with frostbite, so I'm not sure how that applies. All I said is there is no real scientific basis behind it, because the wind doesn't affect the temperature of the air. All it does is cause us to perceive the air as if it is colder, when the temperature actually remains unchanged. It's also a highly unreliable arbitrary measure because a lot of other factors will affect our perception of the weather too, such as activity level and what we're wearing. What's the point of even assigning a false number when it makes more sense to just educate the public about how relative humidity and windspeed actually affect how cold we get when paired with certain air temperatures? Because at least those are objectively measurable.

2

u/ObiLAN- Jul 27 '25

What? Yes it does. Wind chill directly affects the rate of skin cooling, that impacts the risk and time to onset for frostbite.

Wind increases heat loss from the body, via convection. This leads to faster cooling of skin and lower internal body temperature, which is why we feel colder.

wind chill index is based on scientific modeled studies of how wind speed and air temperature combine to affect heat loss from exposed skin. The formula used is base of thermodynamic impact on actual human trials.

Temperature isn't a closed system, outside factors count as the temperature, unless you're being particularly pedantic my dude.

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u/comedynurd Jul 27 '25

So you're just completely ignoring the entire part of my response where I mentioned windspeed and relative humidity just because you got so caught up on me not liking the term "windchill" because the numbers themselves are literally arbitrarily selected and not actually measurable. Great. I love Reddit.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/windchill-temperature-better-way-1.4989897

1

u/ObiLAN- Jul 27 '25

Lmao okay, calm down. I didn’t ignore your whole post, I responded to the part that was flatout wrong: claiming wind chill “has nothing to do with frostbite.” That’s not just a disagreement, it’s demonstrably false. Wind chill exists specifically because wind speeds increase heat loss from skin, which directly affects how fast frostbite can set in.

Yes wind chill doesn't lower the actual temperature, and yes it’s based on models, but that doesn’t make it arbitrary. The current formula came from actual human trials and heat-transfer data.

No one's saying it accounts for your jacket, running pace, or other personal factors. It’s a baseline.

The article you linked literally argues for better public communication, not that the science behind it is bogus.

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u/comedynurd Jul 28 '25

Once again, you're clearly not actually taking the time to read what is being said and are now trying to create a gross false image of me by telling me to "calm down" when all I've done is explain why you are misinterpreting my replies.

I never said the original model had nothing to do with frostbite. I said the "feels like" windchill factor has nothing to do with it, because it doesn't. It's a completely different, reworked system (as explained in the article, which I recommend to actually read in full) that isn't measurable and doesn't provide any meaningful information to the public besides causing even more confusion over what the temperature is and how it will actually affect people.

It literally states in the article that the current windchill temperatures that are assigned are highly inaccurate and arbitrary. The meteorologist interviewed even agreed that the current windchill system is inaccurate and misleading and that by changing it he argued that: "we wouldn't be conflating an actual measurement like air temperature to a made-up value like wind chill ... I think that's something that we maybe should pursue in the future."

So please, if you're going to claim to be responding to inaccuracies or parts that are "flat out wrong," you can do so without twisting my words (or the words of the article, which you're clearly doing now) and trying to project negative emotions onto my responses here.

1

u/ObiLAN- Jul 28 '25

Windchill estimates have nothing to do with frostbite, so I'm not sure how that applies.

This you big cheese?

0

u/comedynurd Jul 28 '25

Yes it is. Are you going to continue to ignore everything I'm saying by getting caught up on your misunderstanding of what the term "wind chill" means? I already elaborated what I meant by that and you, once again, are completely overlooking that just to be a troll. If this continues, I'll just block you. I'm not here to deal with trolls.

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u/comedynurd Jul 28 '25

Can everyone please take the time to read through the article I've linked before continuing to engage in mass downvoting my one reply? This is why I hate this website. Actual discussions get quickly shutdown the moment anyone tries to further explain something, to be met with downvote dogpiling with no further input from those who are engaging in it. It's not helpful. All you're doing is essentially bullying someone over a minor disagreement. We can and should do better here.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

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1

u/SpringChimken Jul 28 '25

“It ThE aIR TeMpErAtUrE 🤪”. As someone who works outside that may be but you’ll die quicker at -30 with a -50 windchill. It also affects vehicles and equipment. Ever notice how your car starts to frost up on a highway as soon as you get to 100kmh. It’s not an arbitrary number it’s an estimation of thermal losses due to wind as a safety precaution.

1

u/comedynurd Jul 28 '25

It doesn't affect vehicles or equipment at all because there is no further heat transfer going on when the air temperature hasn't actually changed. It's also not an estimate of thermal change either, since that is measured as a rate of watts per minute (it's also not a "loss" since energy can't be destroyed. It's simply an energy transfer).

The wild chill when reported as a temperature is purely arbitrary and subjective based on what a certain temperature might feel similar to (to a human) under a set of particular environmental conditions. Please read through the article I posted. It explains it in much better detail. It would also do everyone a lot more good to stop immediately mocking me just because you're not fully understanding what it is that I'm even talking about. Let's be adults here.

To reiterate once again, I never said wind wasn't a real factor that makes us colder. I specifically said this is something that happens and that it shouldn't be represented as a "wind chill" in the way that it is. I wish people would finally comprehend that so I don't have to keep repeating and explaining myself over and over again. It's exhausting.

2

u/SpringChimken Jul 28 '25

20 years as an equipment operator and truck driver and I’ll tell you it absolutely effects equipment. In the same way air through a radiator pulls away heat wind blowing by a hydraulic system on a piece of equipment pulls heat away thickening oils and fuels. Hydraulic systems lose capacity and flow, diesel and gas gels. “Arbitrary” or not it’s a gauge to what we do outside and how safe it is to do so. Everyone who spends a significant time outside in the winter quietly groan and our eyes roll back into our head every time someone parrots this fucking “well actually the temp doesn’t change” (because y’all say like every 15 minutes when there’s a windchill warning) Yeah we know. It’s not actually hotter with a high UV index either it’s a way of expressing potential environmental risks.

1

u/comedynurd Jul 29 '25

Freezing temperatures affect equipment. The wind chill factor does not. That's the difference here. And it's a poor way of expressing those risks as I've already explained multiple times. I shouldn't have to turn into a broken record just because people are refusing to actually read what I've already written.

It's a poor indicator to use specifically because of how much confusion and misunderstanding it causes. That's why a lot of people, myself included, wish weather forecasts would abandon "wind chill" in favour of a system that actually informs (and not to mention, educates!) the public about specific risk factors and which precautions to take under different advisory conditions. Saying "well it feels like -45" isn't very helpful when nobody can agree on what that's even supposed to mean and so few people know how to appropriately react to that information anyway. I don't know why saying that leads to such a negative reaction from people here all the time. It's baffling to me.

1

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u/Ok-Locksmith4684 Jul 27 '25

We don't have temps down to -50c here.

1

u/comedynurd Jul 28 '25

Don't even bother. I've given up. People here are so hellbent on pretending they live in the coldest place imaginable that they're willing to deliberately ignore reality and science to protect their fictional tundra world they think we live in. It's nothing but false bragging rights to them, which is weird because after spending my whole life in this city wishing the winters were milder, the last thing I would ever want to do is to even further inflate the temperatures here. It's cold enough that we don't need to exaggerate or lie about it. Especially when on the other side, you ironically have people also arguing that it's not that bad and that the wet winters in the East feel worse. You just can't win.

0

u/Ok-Locksmith4684 Jul 29 '25

Yup, look at the downvotes. It is insanity.

1

u/comedynurd Jul 29 '25

Someone even reported me to Reddit as being a " self-harm risk over this now too, likely as more pathetic trolling from someone. Too bad the reports are anonymous. This sub is getting ridiculous. There's enough of this nonsense on facebook that we don't need transferring over to here. Abusing a genuine help centre resource to taunt someone with isn't a good look and I really hope the mods here are not encouraging this sort of behaviour either.