Help me layer for winter

NINA MOINI: Just checking in. How did we all fare through this week's polar vortex? Are you sick of winter yet? Tuesday was the coldest morning in the Twin Cities since Valentine's Day of 2021, with temperatures dipping to 19 degrees below zero at MSP. But parts of northern Minnesota saw even colder temps that felt nearly 52 degrees below zero.

The last two weeks of January are typically the coldest time of year for most of the country, but how do you even attempt to stay warm when it's this cold? As part of our Professional Help series, we're turning to an expert to answer our most pressing winter layering questions. Here's Minnesota Now producer Ellie Roth.

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ELLIE ROTH: As Midwesterners, dressing for winter is our Super Bowl. As kids, we traipse to school in winter boots, snow pants, and floor-length parkas. Long underwear? We've got at least three pairs. I'm convinced jumping into any of the Great Lakes before July is a rite of passage, and permanently alters your temperature tolerance. And yes, the bitter cold wind gusting off the lakes is a bone-rattling chill like none other, as my colleague and recent Minnesota transplant Shandi Burrows learned not too long ago.

SHANDI BURROWS: I'm Shandi Burrows. I was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, and I moved to Minnesota June 2023 to work in the archive department of Minnesota Public Radio.

My first jacket, I-- well, OK, people are going to make fun of me because this isn't really a jacket. I was at Cabela's and I bought a really thick flannel, quote unquote, "jacket." And that served me for my first winter here because it was the, quote unquote, "fake winter of 2024" up here.

This year, I had to not do that because it was not serving me. This is me being very candid. I was walking up Cedar Ave to come to work one day, and it was so cold, and the wind hit me just right that I just wanted to throw up. It was horrible. It made me gasp for air in a way that I've never had to fight to breathe before.

ELLIE ROTH: Shandi isn't the only new Minnesotan learning how to navigate the weather up here, so I decided to reach out to an expert on winter layering for some professional help.

TRENT FLEGEL: My name is Trent Flegel. I'm a retail associate and one of the heads of repair here at Wintergreen Northern Wear in Ely, Minnesota.

ELLIE ROTH: Wintergreen's original owner, Sue Hendrickson-Schurke, sewed most of the clothing and gear for the first unsupported expedition to the North Pole in 1986.

TRENT FLEGEL: She created all of the anoraks, booties, toboggan covers for a polar dog expedition. So a dog expedition to the North Pole that was the first unsupported.

ELLIE ROTH: That crew included her husband, Paul Schurke, Arctic explorer Will Steger, and the first woman to reach the North Pole, Minnesota's own Ann Bancroft.

TRENT FLEGEL: They carried all of their own gear. I believe they began with 42 or 46 dogs, eight people. They had planned to be out for two months, and they lived heavily off of oats and pemmican, which is fat and meat, essentially. And that's what they fed to a lot of their dogs that were a mix of Eskimo and Inuit and part husky. They faced temps from negative 100 degrees with wind chill all the way up to-- I don't know if they broke above zero.

ELLIE ROTH: Sue's jackets kept those Arctic explorers warm and they've been keeping Minnesotans and others warm ever since. The company still hand-sews their colorful anorak jackets right on Ely's main street. So if anyone's an expert on how to dress for freezing temps, it's Trent and the other folks at Wintergreen. Trent says for maximum warmth, you want at least four different layers. First off, a base layer.

TRENT FLEGEL: If you're just going for a walk, it really doesn't matter. It can be cotton, it can be wool, it can be a synthetic. It doesn't matter. If you're hoping to be out for multiple days or do something where you know you're going to potentially sweat, doing a synthetic or Merino is really important because cotton kills. Because once it gets wet, it doesn't dry super well. It'd be like putting a wet rag on yourself, and then walking outside. It's not a good idea.

ELLIE ROTH: Next, you want to put on one or two layers of insulation, usually a lightweight fleece and then a heavier fleece or a down jacket. But Trent says the outermost layer, the wind-breaking layer, should not be overlooked.

TRENT FLEGEL: Usually the biggest piece that I believe is missing from a lot of people's outdoor wardrobe, or their layering system, is a good wind-breaking layer. What a lot of people in Minnesota-- I don't want to say lack, but sometimes don't think about, what we think about when we come to the weather is the wind chill. You could have three, four, or five jackets on, but if none of them are really breaking the wind, it's great that your body's capturing that warm air that it's putting out, but it's just getting all sucked away by the wind.

ELLIE ROTH: For new Minnesotans, what advice do you have for braving the winter? How do you make it bearable?

TRENT FLEGEL: Find a winter activity is probably the first and foremost, whether it's downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, hiking out with your dog in the winter. Find something that you enjoy doing. It makes it a lot more bearable. As well as invest in warm clothing. Starting with quality stuff that can go from activity to activity is really handy. And if you can get things that'll transfer from not only the deep winter but also to the edges of spring and fall, even better. The more you can wear it, the more money you're getting out of it.

ELLIE ROTH: So for Minnesotans old and new, don't forget that layering is key to staying warm this winter. And also, don't forget to make the winter fun. After all, Minnesota is our home. Why not make the most of it? For MPR News, I'm Ellie Roth.

NINA MOINI: Listen to our new series, "Professional Help," every other Thursday here on Minnesota Now. Or if you missed one, you can find the whole collection, lots of expert advice for free there at mprnews.org.