Freezing cold temperatures gripped much of the United States this past week. The polar vortex brought some temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero. Of course, along with the sub-zero temperatures comes people doing all kinds of ice cold tricks.
There was this frozen hair.
“Is Iowa really THAT cold?” https://t.co/htxSZzy2QB— Taylor Scallon (@Taylor Scallon) 1548897012.0
And this spaghetti sculpture.
How cold is it in Chicago at the moment....? https://t.co/U3wJnHZwFY— Charles Croucher (@Charles Croucher) 1548895004.0
But everyone's favorite trick was the make boiling water turn to instant snow trick.
Out here making the most of the polar vortex. #GlobalWarmingChallenge https://t.co/hg2F8YMHXb— js,c (@js,c) 1548876482.0
The premise is to throw a pot of boiling water into the air. This will only work if the water is as close to scalding hot as possible and the temperature outside it at least 25 degrees below zero. If those conditions are met, the boiling water that is thrown in the air will come back down as snow.
Unfortunately, this trick didn't exactly work out for Chris Kieger.
Steamy goodnessyoutu.be
While much of the water immediately evaporated, some still-boiling water dribbled all over his thigh.
The video was captioned...
"The air was cold, my calf was scalding."
And he wasn't the only one.
Who knew that at -45 Celsius the boiling water/snow confetti trick actually fails!! Timmins, ON Winter problems h… https://t.co/4ZP218GJt0— MarkKinsman@KiSS (@MarkKinsman@KiSS) 1515209187.0
Just poured boiling water on myself while trying to throw it into the air to make snow. #FAIL #OUCH by the way, it worked on the second try— Scott Geurin (@Scott Geurin) 1297351888.0
Nevertheless, some still got away with it.
We survived the #polarvortex last week! Laura used the opportunity to try the #boilingwaterchallenge, where throwin… https://t.co/W3VIyTzvZv— Blue Magnet Interactive (@Blue Magnet Interactive) 1549318661.0
My family did that #boilingwaterchallenge in this #PolarVortex https://t.co/D8cf24lej1— ✧ Miss Witch ✧ (@✧ Miss Witch ✧) 1548948829.0
Boiling water challenge is not as spectacular if you refuse to actually go outside with an actual pot of boiling wa… https://t.co/DY1rF3BqUs— lin classon (@lin classon) 1548980482.0
If you're going to attempt this risky trick, at the very least don't stand downwind.