Novosibirsk in January has an average low temperature of -21C/-6F: https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Novosibirsk Winnipeg is about the same: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg#Climate In fact, 'Temperatures do occasionally drop below −40.0 °C (−40 °F) but this has become quite rare in the last few decades and has in fact not occurred since February 2007.'

Which suggests that -40 with windchill is a relatively uncommon condition.

A half-hour walk in 20F weather is perfectly comfortable with decent clothing (an insulated jacket, wool socks, long johns under one's pants, a scarf), and that's about as cold as it gets in most of the inhabited world.

On the other hand, a walk in California can be pretty uncomfortable due to the beating sun & high-speed traffic situation in many areas.

> Which suggests that -40 with windchill is a relatively uncommon condition

-40 is uncommon, but "-40 with windchill" can mean something different. In Canada it's common to report the temperature along with a lower number that takes wind chill into account. Thus a weather reporter might say, "-25 (Celsius), -40 with wind chill", meaning it's windy enough that if you go out walking it'll feel like -40 and the creativity won't exactly flow.

This became standard about a generation ago. I believe they started doing it to alert people to the risk of frostbite. But every time I hear it I can't help thinking that previous generations of Canadians would look down their possibly frostbitten noses at us for weakness.

Minnesotan Fitbit users average 8675 daily steps in summer (64F) and 7486 in winter (16F), only 14% less. I infer that people in cold climates acclimate and dress for the weather, although walking indoors could partially explain it.

https://blog.fitbit.com/50-states-no-excuses-see-which-state...

8,700 daily steps is a lot...it implies a conscious effort to exercise, so I wouldn't expect a significant drop with the weather.

You would be surprised. On a day that I don't get to the gym, I average around 9000 and I spend most of my day working at a desk or moving between meetings (i.e. I don't consider myself very active).

Out of curiosity, do you move your hands a lot when talking? A coworker uses his Fitbit daily, but has mentioned that it falsely reads his arm movements when he talks (which he does a lot of hand waving and other movements).

I worked a physical job, stocking books and filling book orders for a summer while in college[1]. I used a pedometer and rarely went much above 10k steps (for the 8 hour shift anyway). That's walking basically for 8 hours straight (with stops to place or grab a book).

[1] - not my only physical job, but the one I walked the most, and the only one I ever had a pedometer on.

> I worked a physical job, stocking books and filling book orders for a summer while in college[1]. I used a pedometer and rarely went much above 10k steps (for the 8 hour shift anyway). That's walking basically for 8 hours straight (with stops to place or grab a book).

Despite how it might subjectively seem, its not anything even approximately like walking 8 hours straight if you don't get over 10k steps; a fairly average walking pace is ~80 steps per minute, for 8 hours that works out to 38,400 steps.

It's hardly noteworthy to move that much a day.

> 8,700 daily steps is a lot...it implies a conscious effort to exercise

Well, yeah, you'd kind of expect that with active Fitbit users.

> so I wouldn't expect a significant drop with the weather.

I would, though I'd expect it to be less than you'd see from more casual people. Conscious effort doesn't completely negate the effects of convenient opportunities vs. adverse conditions.

Walking outdoors helps my creativity in winter in Minnesota. I think walking in a place with more varied seasons may help creativity even more than walking in a place where the scenery and foliage always look much the same. I enjoy seeing the seasonal changes here.

From New Hampshire and I like to go for hour+ walks all year round, and deep winter walks are my favorite by far.

"No such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." (Swedish saying I was told)

People who want to be outside have good boots and down-filled parkas.

I also find icy cold wintertime walks to be incredibly satisfying–especially during a snow storm. The hush of freshly fallen snow is magical. All of the people and cars have retreated inside, it's just you and the snow crunching underfoot, the cold air stinging your cheeks, sounds around muffled by the snow. Absolutely my favorite time to walk and think.

How often do you really get -40 plus significant wind chill anywhere in the world. Even your traditional 'cold' cities rarely see temperatures below -25C (-13F).

I'd venture that anything down, say -10C (15F), assuming moderate wind, doesn't cause much real problem for walking.

If you want the least pleasant weather for walking I'd say half a degree above freezing and pouring rain wins every time.

Because you can only walk outdoors, right?