Baby, it's Cold Outside!

A few things to preface this rant:

I live in Utah.
Winters are cold in this part of Utah.
Right now, it is 36 degrees outside, and snowing.
Snow is made of frozen water--little flakes of ice are falling from the sky.
Last week, temperatures at my house (according to my outside thermometer) were less than 10 degrees some nights.

With those things in mind, can someone please tell me why people (especially girls, it seems) don't dress for the weather and then have the nerve to complain about the cold? I see girls wearing jeans, spiky heels, cute lacey tops, and hoodies, trying to navigate parking lots covered with half an inch of ice. Or they're wearing those obnoxious, ubiquitous, cheap knit skirts with high-heeled boots that look neither warm nor non-slip. They might look good, but they also look cold and in peril of breaking an ankle or wrist. Then there are the guys--some of them still wear shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops. In the snow. When it's 20 degrees outside.

Then, with all of that, they complain that they're cold.

Where is the logical disconnect? Which synapses need repair? It snows in Utah. Snow is essentially frozen water. Frozen water is called ice. Ice is cold. When it's snowing, it's cold. When it's cold, you should probably wear a real coat and perhaps some practical shoes, fashion be damned!

Now, I'm not advocating wearing a grandma coat (although they made good coats back then, and you'd probably be pretty warm), moon boots, and an ugly hat, but sometimes, for your own health and safety, you should do what it takes to stay warm and non-frostbitten. My sister's colleague at BYU-Idaho told her about a girl whose ears got frostbitten during the five minute walk from her apartment to her class because she didn't wear a hat and it was below freezing outside. If water is going to freeze, human tissue will also freeze eventually. You can't just thaw your ears like you can a bag of peas--the damage is usually a little more permanent.

Please, for your own sake, invest in a decent coat and some gloves! There are some really cute coats out there that are not only stylish but WARM. I, for one, wish we hadn't given away the bright pink, knee-length, down-filled coat I had 15 years ago, because it was WARM. I hate wearing socks, but I also hate being cold, so I wear them nearly all the time in winter, just waiting for the average temperature to be above 45 for at least a week before I take them off for summer. My hands get cold, so I wear ski gloves. I don't like wearing a hood because it makes my hair staticky, but I hate it when my ears are cold, so I wear a hood. Sure, my coat isn't all Abercrombie cute, but it keeps me warm. I don't care if people look at me funny because I know I'm warmer than they are and will probably only get the flu once all winter.

And, you know, that makes up for looking a little dumpy in my down coat and practical shoes.