In the Chicago forecast for this week, I read that: "The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 35 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes." Frostbite in 10 minutes?!? As a native of Southern California, I find this incomprehensible. Do shops and restaurants stay open? Do people actually go out, take the bus to work? Do trash collectors, taxi drivers, etc still make their rounds?
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Yeah and if you can’t make it to work because of the weather then you have to use vacation time
Yes. The world continues to operate in weather conditions that are somewhat worse than normal for the climate of the area in this season. People are prepared for it.
Yes, to all of the above. There is nothing preventing you from going to work. You dress in more layers.
Most stay open, yeah.
Especially in a place like Chicago where the infrastructure is in place to deal with it.
I’ve been in Chicago in blizzards like that, people will still mostly be doing normal business.
Most do. We’re mostly used to this kind of thing. This cold is a little unusual, but we know how to bundle up.
Yeah
People take precautions and some things close, but for the most part life continues on. I live in Minneapolis. It’s winter. It happens every year.
I work at a bank in Texas and the CEO will personally come and pick up enough people to open where there is ice on the roads.
Edit: That’s usually in 28 degrees days. We don’t get the negative Fahrenheit craziness.
some do, some don’t. around here, local shops are more likely to close for storms, particularly those without any claim to being useful in a storm like hardware stores or grocery stores. big boxes and corporate chains tend to be less likely to close as the decision isn’t being made locally.
Depends on the area.
Some states wouldn’t blink at 10 inches of snow.
In KY, we’re looking at calling up the Guard.
Most do. Occasionally you will see non for profits or schools close.
Yes. It’s normal weather for these regions. The frostbite stat is for exposed skin. If you dress in weather appropriate clothing you are totally fine.
In Chicago? Yes. They stay open. We have the infrastructure to deal with that kind of cold. Life continues as normal. People just spend more time indoors and switch to the big boy coat this time of year.
Now the snowstorm about to hit northern Texas? Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if stuff shuts down because of that. They’re not equipped for this
Do you still go to
Work in the burning hellscape of southern California?
When it is 80 or 90 degrees? Or some other temperature completely hostile to human life?
People get used to accounting for weather like this. If it gets too cold for kids to be outside waiting for the buses they’ll probably institute a remote learning day (post-lockdown reality woo). If you can get away without going outside, you probably will stay home. But anything that opens to the public is probably going to still be open unless it’s whiteout blizzard conditions and the roads are totally impassable and/or public transportation shuts down.
I biked to work in -28F windchill on Monday. *shrug* Tradeoff for not having earth quakes and sharks I guess.
The only time things would shut down is if it were that cold *and* it was also blizzard (white-out blowing snow) conditions. Regular snow wouldn’t stop it though. Even then, many places still stay open.
Some do, some don’t.
Some will do a modification of their usually operation, some just close down for the day.
It varies from business to business.
Waffle House does. In fact severe storms are rated by whether or not the local Waffle Houses are open.
We don’t really have that so yes
Yeah bro, it’s not like we are going to walk to work, the time you spend in the open air is only a minute at most, and you have clothes for that, jobs that work outdoors like construction don’t do much in the winter anyways
When I worked at a cafe where snow happens but only a few times a year, we could call out (Cafe was usually less busy) but we wouldn’t get paid.
At a previous office job, we would work unless the office was closed /late start or we felt unsafe to come in but had to use pto. The office was not closed in the two winters I was with the company.
Current job is wfh in a colder climate that gets more snow but not a huge amount so work unless there’s a power or internet outage due to the weather then use pto.
Some do, some don’t. Depends on how well prepared the city is and how common the weather actually is. Chicago typically deals with freezing winds and lake effect snow, and most of the population will drive on like nothing is different. Meanwhile, Atlanta gets a cold snap that drops temperatures below freezing for a couple of days and it shuts down the entire city.
As for this, 35 below zero will likely cause most everything to shut down in Chicago, those are polar-level temperatures.
Waffle House does, at least.
Yes, absolutely. You just dress warmly for the time you’re outside. It’s still warm indoors.
If the weather actually happening (beyond cold) is dangerous, shops might close early so people can get home safely, or open late while people dig out of driveways/drive slower than usual to work. It just depends. Most places will try to stay open and it’s up to the individual judgement of employees based on their route and vehicle as to whether they can get there/need to leave early.
I have a 2-wheel-drive car and while it does pretty well all things considered, I tend to have less of a risk threshold than someone with a 4-wheel drive. That being said, I went out to get pizza on Christmas this year while it was actively snowing and there were around 2-3 inches of slushy snow on the roads, and while I took it very slow and one time I kind of slid sideways, it was mostly fine. (Almost nobody was on the roads. I absolutely would not have done this at 5PM on a normal weekday.)
You jsut have really big coats to store at the booth at the restaurant or your desk chair
Yeah, you just minimize time outside. Heat the car up for ~10 min. before you go anywhere, shuffle from the warm car to the warm building, back to the car, back home. No biggie
Sometimes.
It depends a lot on the nature of the business, the location, and who is in charge. For reference, I’m in New Hampshire and we largely do not have public transit.
When I worked at Barnes and Noble, they would try to stay open as a ‘sanctuary’, though they seem to be doing that less nowadays
Previously, I worked at an independent furniture store whose staff was almost entirely on commission, and the manager had lived in Chicago and Alaska. We never, ever closed, since he would go in after he berated the rest of us for calling out due to unsafe travel conditions – we all had 30ish minute commutes or longer. There were never customers on these days.
It does seem like stores and businesses are getting better about not making their workers travel in unsafe conditions vs the early 2000s where it felt like noplace ever closed.
I mean, yeah, stuff doesn’t stop because of not really abnormal weather for a region. Life goes on if it’s hot and humid in Florida or raining in Seattle too. Maybe you think about a different day to get groceries, certainly you don’t go out ice skating or sledding, but you go to work. Even if it’s actively snowing most workplaces are open, hence the popularity of AWD vehicles. A lot of bus stops have glass to block the wind and some even have infrared heaters.
Here in Montana it’s pretty much business as usual whatever the weather does. Schools might be delayed or canceled if the buses can’t get through, but most businesses try to stay open.
When I had a government contractor job in Virginia, it wasn’t like this. The whole government would seemingly shut down over just the threat of snow or ice.
Unless a pipe bursts or something yeah
Buildings have heat, if for some reason it breaks then they would usually close.
You can compare it to extreme heat in the southwest. People will spend more time inside than usual.
Chicago has cold winters. This weekend will be unusually cold for a lot of the northern US but it doesn’t fundamentally change much.
Generally yes if it’s just for cold temperatures. If the heat is out or something then you won’t be able to stay open but just cold you’re unlikely to close for that. But people will bundle up and stay outside for as short a time as possible.
For extreme winter weather in terms of snow you do cancel as you can’t drive safely at a certain point and you just won’t be able to make it in. If you can work from home you’ll do that. If not they’ll close for the day. Some places will pay people when they do that others won’t. Generally businesses want to stay open if it’s possible to do so, which can be problematic as if they are pushing it and you have a longer drive home you can have a tough time.
I’m very lucky in that mine will sometimes close for extreme weather, mostly the kind of snow that would make it dangerous or impossible to get there. Cold out? Bundle up and gripe to your coworkers about how much winter sucks.
Yeah. Chicago is built different when it comes to the cold. For most people its just another Friday. The main people that will be affected will likely be students and school district employees
Usually unless it’s outdoor operations. Schools may be canceled though. Source: Minnesotan
Sure, people drive everywhere and as long as you’re well covered, you’ll be fine in the 30 seconds it takes to get from a parking lot to indoors. It’s why people in our areas often keep emergency jackets/blankets in our cars the same way some people in Arizona would keep umbrellas, sunscreen and bottled water.
Yes, more or less business as usual. Where i live, they will delay or cancel school so the kids arent standing out there getting frostbite while they wait for the school bus, and i assume a lot of jobs outside might be suspended, but most businesses will carry on.
So, if you working in manufacturing or something like that, most plants don’t shut down due to winter. Police officers and fire fighters and utility workers will still have to work outside if the job requires it. Contractors aren’t going to tell everyone to stay home with pay. Most often there isn’t a ton of outside work scheduled for this time of year but that doesn’t mean a guy won’t have to bundle up if the service work they are doing requires it
Do you think towing companies or ambulance workers are off becuase of cold weather?
Now that being said, some people might opt to work from home(if possible) or if you are doing outside sales, you might stay in the office and make phone calls
but to think most restaurants and retail stores will close because it is cold? I guess those of us who live in this kind of climate realize cold weather can stink but my thurdsay and friday won’t be much different than any other during WINTER
you may see schools cancelled but when we were young, while I didn’t have to walk a mile to school up hill both ways we were just expected to bundle up. If you have a good coat and a hate and gloves and a scarf it won’t be awful though I’m not sure younger people buy long underwear and many don’t have anything other than sweatpants(when did kids quit wearing jeans?)
Northern MN here. Yes. Sometimes bars/restaurants will close down earlier in the evening, but everything else operates as normal. Everywhere is noticeably less busy than when it’s warmer, but most people still go out and about their usual business. Around -25° air temp is when we start dealing with frozen pipes, cars won’t start, ect. It’s totally acceptable to call in to work if you’re having an issue like that, but people generally don’t skip work just because it’s cold.
You say “extreme winter weather”, then you just talk about it being cold.
If you’re Jussie Smollett, you’ll find it’s the perfect time to go get some Subway.