Photo of the Day: Getting cozy in the snow

by Meg Nesterov on


Most of our favorite travel memories are from summer: school’s out and the days are long, you can hit the beach, sit in a park, or people-watch at a sidewalk cafe. Spring and fall are great shoulder seasons for lower prices and fewer crowds, but winter tends to be underappreciated for travel. Outside of visiting family for holidays, winter travelers generally head to the ski slopes or Caribbean islands to escape the cold. But winter can be a lovely time to travel, whether you are enjoying the museums and bathhouses of Moscow or taking a country walk through the snow in an English village. Today’s Photo of the Day by Flickr user Kumukulanui is from St. Ann’s Well and Cafe above the spa town of Great Malvern, England. The snow outside makes it even more picturesque, inviting you to get cozy inside with a hot cup of tea and savor the long nights of winter.

Add your favorite winter scenes to the Gadling Flickr pool and you might see it in a future Photo of the Day.

Video of the Day: Snow on the beach in Split, Croatia

by Mike Barish on

Extreme cold and snow have gripped parts of Europe in ways that the continent has not experienced in years. The images of people struggling to cope with the elements are chilling (no pun intended). Even in Split, Croatia, a coastal town on the Adriatic Sea, snow has blanketed the beaches as temperatures have plunged nearly 30 degrees below average for this time of year. Seeing people walk along the palm tree-lined shore as snow falls unrelentingly is almost too incongruous to process.

Meet the coldest cities in America

by Jessica Marati on

Feeling chilly? Chances are, if you’re not a resident of the following five cities, you really don’t have it that bad. The Weather Channel recently released a list of the coldest cities in America, according to NOAA National Climatic Data Center average annual temperature data from the last 30 years.

Caribou, Maine, came in fifth on the list. Dubbed the “Most Northeastern City in America”, Caribou’s average annual temperature of 39.7 degrees is partially due to a “polar vortex” over the Hudson Bay, which directs cold air from Canada into northern Maine. It gets more than 9 feet of snow each winter – youch.

Fourth was Jackson, Wyoming, with an average annual temperature of 39.4 degrees. Because of its proximity to Grand Teton, Yellowstone National Park, and Jackson Hole, Jackson is a popular tourist spot, but visitors should pack warm. Since Jackson is surrounded by mountains on three sides, cold air settles into the valley at night, resulting in morning freezes approximately 250 days of the year.
Coming in third on the list was Gunnison, Colorado, located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. With an elevation of 7640 feet and an average annual temperature of 38.1 degrees, visitors can expect freezes almost every day of the year.

International Falls, Minnesota, is the second coldest city in America, with an average annual temperature of 37.8 degrees. An all-time record low of -55 degrees has earned it the nicknames “Frostbite Falls” and “Icebox of the Nation”.

For the most part, researchers limited the list to cities with more than 5,000 people. The one exception was the number one spot, which went to Barrow, Alaska, located 5 degrees north of the Arctic Circle. With an average temperature of — get this — 11.7 degrees, Barrow is in a league of its own when it comes to cold. In fact, from late November to mid January, the sun does not even rise over the horizon. Brr.

[via weather.com, Flickr image via Bob Johnston]

Gadling Gear Review: Winter hat and gloves

by Pam Mandel on

Seattle was recently choked by the kind of snowstorm that we’re not supposed to get. It was followed by an ice storm, something I’ve never had the joy and/or terror to experience. It was also great gear testing weather. I unpacked my snow gear and the big parka, the long underwear, and wrapped my hands and head in SmartWool’s “Snowflake Pop” knits.

I like hats with earflaps because well, they keep your ears warm. Even though I’ve rabbited on much too much about how I love SmartWool, I didn’t believe that the hat would not be itchy and that it would not keep the wind off. I was wrong, it’s super soft and my ears did not itch. It totally gave me hat hair, but whatever, pretty much every one in my city has hat hair right now. As for warmth, it was a frigid 28 degrees F and I was pelted with freezing rain and I was certainly warm enough. Caveat — I was wearing the hood to my parka to keep from getting too wet. I’ve been wearing this littlle hat regularly since the temperatures dropped. I only have one wish for it — the braids on the ends of the earflaps are a little short. Sometimes, you want to tie those things up so your ears aren’t covered. When I turn the earflaps up, they stick out and I look like Yoda. Not a good look.

The matching knitted gloves make for a cute set, but they’re not as weatherproof as I needed them to be. They got damp on the finger tips while I was taking pictures of the ice and my hands got cold. The wind bit through as well, the knit isn’t tight enough to really keep the weather out. The following day I wore them with a pair of glove liners (mine are from Icebreaker and no, you can’t work an iPhone in them) and that made all the difference. If I wanted to stay warm, I had to keep stuffing my hands in my pockets. The gloves are good for cold but not wet — blustery day at the bus stop? Okay. Rain and sleet and snow? Not so much so.

SmartWool’s Snowflake Pop hat is $45.00, the gloves are $35.00. They come in a couple of different colors — a cranberry, a turquoise, and black. There are (ooooh!) matching socks, too, if you have to go all crazy with your winter accessories and need to match them all the way down to what’s inside your boots. In short, good stuff for cold; you’ll need more if you’re going to be in wet weather.

SkyMall Monday: Rechargeable Heated Slippers

by Mike Barish on

What do you wear to stay warm? A hat? Some mittens? Perhaps a pair of boots? You’re a fool. When temperatures plunge below freezing, you can’t rely on down and wool to keep you from dying of hypothermia. And body heat alone won’t suffice when you’re lost in the wilderness. If you’re going to keep frostbite at bay you need to bring your own heat to the party. This week, SkyMall Monday looks at the latest in feet-warming technology with this gem from SkyMall: Rechargeable Heated Slippers.Did you see that video? These slippers literally light snow on fire! They’re like the Back to the Future DeLorean of rechargeable heated slippers. And despite most people defining slippers as footwear that you enjoy indoors – where you presumably would have access to a radiator or fireplace to keep warm – these slippers are also for outdoor use. And they’re fashionable because they look like you made them from your sleeping bag and a car tire.

Think that a good pair of boots with some wool socks will keep your feet plenty warm? Believe that the best heated accessories necessitate nuclear reactors? Well, while you’re losing feeling in your toes we’ll be reading the product description:

The Volt heated indoor/outdoor slippers provide you with hours of soothing warmth for numb toes and cold, tired feet. Designed with a built-in thermostat control that automatically regulates heat temperature for optimal comfort.

Enjoy between 110 to 135 degrees of pulsing heat for up to 6+ hours per charge.

Much like we all have our own sleep number, we also have personal optimal foot temperatures. My feet are happiest at around 118 degrees. Anything hotter than that and it starts to resemble a French cheese shop down there.

Gear up properly for winter lest you lose some digits to the elements. Leave your Freaky Freezies at home and graduate to a new level of warmth with these Rechargeable Heated Slippers.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.