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Keller @ Large: Cold Weather Precautions An Assault On Our Self-Image

BOSTON (CBS) - Man, it's cold outside today.

Thursday was no beach day either.

Apparently, it's only temporary. You can slip back into the shorts and flip-flops by Sunday.

But I want to reinforce the warnings you're hearing all over WBZ-TV and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 today about getting through this safely.

This is no time to make a typically Bostonian show of indifference to the cold by under-dressing for it. Frostbite can occur in minutes, and that is no joke.

It may go without saying that you have to cover any exposed skin, but somehow many people still go out in weather like this without a hat on. Not smart.

You don't lose up to half of your body heat through your head as the old wives tale has it, but you can lose quite a bit, and in this kind of cold, that's not good.

Yes, wearing a hat today means you may wind up having a bad hair day. But ask yourself which is worse – briefly resembling Don King, or potentially losing a toe or finger to frostbite?

Some of you are hearing all the warnings about wearing multiple layers and thinking – gee, I will be a puddle of sweat after riding the T into work packed in like a sardine with all the other over-swaddled commuters.

Trust me on this, everyone is in the same boat today. We will all have the weekend to forget how we all smelled at work on Friday.

Even though we fancy ourselves a hardy breed, the truth is all these precautions are kind of an assault on our self-image.

But there's one way you can still live up to your regional identity during this cold snap – by drinking ice coffee, of course.

Make mine extra skim with one Sweet 'n' Low.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

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