Outsiders wouldn't be surprised to hear Minnesotans exclaim, "Man, is it brutal outside." But they almost certainly would be flummoxed about the timing: the dead (air) of summer, not the subzero temps of winter.
A recent 10-day hot-'n'-muggy spell produced more haranguing hereabouts than any January in recent memory. And the complaints surely will return this weekend amid expected above-average highs.
When it comes to weather that turns us into weenies, it is the heat. And the humidity.
And it's all in our heads.
"It's really psychological," said Mark Blegen, an associate professor in St. Catherine University's Exercise and Sport Science Department. "When we talk to people from somewhere else, they inevitably say, 'Oh, it's so cold there.' And we say, 'Yeah, it's cold, but I can handle it.' We love to say that.
"But in the middle of January, how much time do we really spend outside? When it's 30-below, we don't sit outside in a snowbank in our shorts."
No, we bundle up, adjusting our clothing to the climes. That's not always an option as the dewpoint exceeds 70.
"A good Minnesotan in the summer can only take off so many clothes," Blegen said.
