How to dress for Winter? (2015, safety, money)

[Voyageur]

Originally Posted by Govie

Seriously, the natives (IMO) tend to dress really out of season here from my experience. In late winter you will see people wearing short sleeve shirts with no coats, sometimes shorts, and so forth. It's really weird, but it's Minnesota. That's why I always get a kick out of watching ball games on the west coast and seeing people in San Fran wearing big coats when it's in the 40s and 50s. Thin skinned out there they are.

About 45F (both autumn and spring) is the cutoff for shorts, personally. When it's that warm, unless work or the social occasion calls for long pants, I'm in shorts! I lose the short sleeves sooner (ie, at a higher temperature) but I find a sweatshirt and shorts when the temperature is around 50F to be just about the epitome of comfortable...

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by robind

The Minneapolis area sounds like a great place to live. It keeps running tops on our our list of places to move to! So I think we'll be there soon.

I know it gets cold there. I'm trying to prepare myself for that.

Let's say going to work on a Janaury day to an office and a 5 minute walk from the car to inside. How do you dress?

Coat, gloves seems obvious. Is it soooo cold everone wears a hat?

What kind of coat is popular? What's a good coat for the winter?

I keep laughing that I'll buy something scientists would take on a Polar trek.

Thanks!

It's pretty easy to stay warm with today's technology.

My tips: -

Don't cheap out. Like many things, you get what you pay for. Don't go to Target and get a cheapy coat or gloves or even a scarf. The more money you spend, the better you'll feel. Last winter I went out and coughed up an arm and a leg for a NorthFace fleece and coat. Well worth the $$$!!. I never once felt "Bloated" or like a "snowman" or uncomfortable. That can be the most annoying part of the winter- having to function in cumbersome clothes.

Get a scarf. Even if you are a male, scarfs are an excellent way to prevent you from becoming sick and it's one of the best ways to trap your heat in. Much of our heat escapes out our neck area, so then you're now cold and wearing a jacket. You might as well just lose the jacket then. A decent scarf will keep you 10x warmer than without one.

Get decent gloves. Like I said before, don't cheap out. Buy gloves (mittens are warmer, but harder to do things with)..Find gloves that don't get in the way of your hands functioning as normal. Get 'Choppers' or big time mittens if you'll be doing anytype of shoveling, work, or play outside. A nice decent pair of gloves for work and for gripping that steering wheel.

Footwear. We're going to see 3-5 stories in the Star Trib this winter of people falling hard and hurting themselves. It's not worth tip-toeing over snowbanks and ice patches. Cough up some money and get some shoes with grips. You don't necessarily need sorel Boots for everyday stuff, just a decent warm pair of shoes.

This is a popular look:



http://americancivilwar.com/amazon/Store/Clothes/columbia_women_jacket.jpg (broken link)

[QuantumIguana]

Dressed for the weather depends on what you're used to. It's the visitor, not the native who is dressed oddly. January in Miami: locals are wearing sweaters, visitors are in T-shirts. January in Minnesota: locals are wearing a sweater, visitors are wearing parkas.

A lot of who don't spend a lot of time outside, driving from one heated garage to another don't dress really warmly. It's a very, very good idea to keep some warmer clothes in the car, just in case something unexpected happens. Could be an accident, or you just had to be out of your car longer than expected.

Winters can be bad here, but they really as bad as they are made out, it's not as if people are sipping pina coladas when you cross the border into Wisconsin. It's a little bit colder than other northern tier states, but not a lot.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Dressed for the weather depends on what you're used to. It's the visitor, not the native who is dressed oddly. January in Miami: locals are wearing sweaters, visitors are in T-shirts. January in Minnesota: locals are wearing a sweater, visitors are wearing parkas.

A lot of who don't spend a lot of time outside, driving from one heated garage to another don't dress really warmly. It's a very, very good idea to keep some warmer clothes in the car, just in case something unexpected happens. Could be an accident, or you just had to be out of your car longer than expected.

Winters can be bad here, but they really as bad as they are made out, it's not as if people are sipping pina coladas when you cross the border into Wisconsin. It's a little bit colder than other northern tier states, but not a lot.

Exactly. I will often see people from Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit scoff at how cold Minneapolis is.. It's minimal. The way i put it: There aint' too much of a difference between 10 and -10. It's all cold as heck

[Cleaver]

Long underwear is key. Feels weird at first but it will make all the difference. Full out underarmor to cover your arms and legs does wonders.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Cleaver

Long underwear is key. Feels weird at first but it will make all the difference. Full out underarmor to cover your arms and legs does wonders.

Oh wow, another major 'I Agree' Here. It does feel weird having 'tights' on under everything but, wow, go buy some UnderArmor and you'll never feel that cold 'bite'

[Kamsack]

Originally Posted by Govie

Seriously, the natives (IMO) tend to dress really out of season here from my experience. In late winter you will see people wearing short sleeve shirts with no coats, sometimes shorts, and so forth. It's really weird, but it's Minnesota. That's why I always get a kick out of watching ball games on the west coast and seeing people in San Fran wearing big coats when it's in the 40s and 50s. Thin skinned out there they are.

I agree with the short sleeves, shorts, etc. Now I am way more cold tolerant than most...but once the sun angle gets quite a bit higher say early March. If it is 20 outside and not much wind and full sun....it can feel quite warm. I have many a times gone to workout with just shorts and a t-shirt on and no coat in that weather.... You become accustomed very quickly so that by early March what would feel very cold in November feels quite the opposite come March.

I get a kick out of watching the Weather Channel talk about wind chills to 20 in Atlanta or somewhere down south in the winter....only thinking that we would throw a barbeque if it was 20 degrees in northwest Minnesota in January

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by robind

The Minneapolis area sounds like a great place to live. It keeps running tops on our our list of places to move to! So I think we'll be there soon.

I know it gets cold there. I'm trying to prepare myself for that.

Let's say going to work on a Janaury day to an office and a 5 minute walk from the car to inside. How do you dress?

When I was single, and lived in an apartment with an underground heated parking garage, I wore a trench coat. It had a winter liner which was okay, and I also had a pair of Thinsulate gloves that I'd wear in the evenings (the steering wheel gets cold!), but I never wore a hat or boots.

Same when I was married and had a detached garage. It's cold, but it's not like I was spending that much time in it.

However, I did keep an old down coat and warm hat/gloves in the trunk along with some other emergency stuff. Even in the Twin Cities, a car could break down...

[Sarimn00]

I usually wear my Columbia jacket and gloves during the winter when I can just dress casual. When I am going into the office, I wear a wool coat.
I don't usually wear hats unless it is below zero and I am going to be outside for a while, same goes for long underwear. Being that I live in Western Minnesota, not the TC area, I also have an emergency kit in my car and an old jacket, blanket, snowpants, boots, hats, gloves, and scarves in case I break down or get stuck in the middle of nowhere which is always a possibility for me. Before my fellow Minnesotans laugh, this is my reality:


If it is 40 degrees in January, it usually feels pretty warm to a lot of us, and you will see many walking around with no coat or just something light.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Sarimn00

I usually wear my Columbia jacket and gloves during the winter when I can just dress casual. When I am going into the office, I wear a wool coat.
I don't usually wear hats unless it is below zero and I am going to be outside for a while, same goes for long underwear. Being that I live in Western Minnesota, not the TC area, I also have an emergency kit in my car and an old jacket, blanket, snowpants, boots, hats, gloves, and scarves in case I break down or get stuck in the middle of nowhere which is always a possibility for me. Before my fellow Minnesotans laugh, this is my reality:


If it is 40 degrees in January, it usually feels pretty warm to a lot of us, and you will see many walking around with no coat or just something light.

ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY LIKE TODAY, WHY,OH WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US!!?!?! LOL