HAH! That's a wee matter of preference - I've spent winters in Baltimore and in Kalamazoo MI, and I'm firmly of the opinion that single digits are not appropriate for man nor beast - not for overnight lows, let alone for highs!  And negative numbers? Sorry, does not compute.  I have relatives in Minneapolis, and in northern Iowa, and they wouldn't live anywhere else.  In my worldview, though, if you need to put on shoes to go outside and tend the barbeque grill mid-winter, you need to follow the birdies and head South! :-)  

And those cold start mornings? Still remember 'back in the day' when we had a '68 tin top bus we built into a camper. Built a 1641 cc motor for it (a couple actually, one before I discovered the joys of case-savers). In the summers I routinely ran 60W Valvoline racing oil because of the high oil temps when in stop and go traffic in 118F weather. Ran 40W in the "winter".  Went up to Rocky Mountain NP the end of August one year when it was in the triple digits all through AZ and then it got close to zero the first night in RMNP.  Next morning I had a "dead battery".  Uh-huh. Tried to push start it and it wouldn't budge. Checked the oil and, yep, that 60W made honey look like water. That AFTERnoon, when the oil melted, had to run down to the nearest town for an oil change (yeah, I know, you all-weather people think of these things, but...). Moral of the story; stay out of freezing temps!

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Keith Hughes
'86 Westy GenV (Marvin)

--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 12/25/17, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@NBNet.nb.ca> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Happy Holidays
 To: "Keith Hughes" <keithahughes@YAHOO.COM>
 Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
 Date: Monday, December 25, 2017, 12:19 PM
 
 Keith:
 
 0F (-17C) is not a bad daytime high for winter
 ;-)  It’s those overnights and mornings at -30F to -20F
 that make the morning run challenging and the diesel
 uncooperative. 
 
 > On 25-Dec-2017, at
 15:06, Keith Hughes <keithahughes@YAHOO.COM>
 wrote:
 > 
 > Merry
 Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from sunny (well, kinda
 cloudy today) Phoenix AZ, where snow doesn't spit, drop,
 fall, or blow :-) 
 > Only 70F here today,
 but hey, if it's Christmas, it's...shorts and
 flip-flops!
 > 
 > I
 feel for all you folks in COLD country, especially the
 wrenchers. Don't know how you do it!  New project has
 me traveling back and forth to Minneapolis once or twice a
 month. Brrrrrr. Get on the plane here at 70F, get off there
 at 0F - that's some major temperature shock.
 > 
 > To all of you
 vanagoneering over the holidays, drive safe!
 > 
 > Keith Hughes
 > '86 Westy GenV (Marvin)
 > 
 >
 ------------------------------
 > 
 > Date:    Sun, 24 Dec 2017
 > 21:33:56 -0600
 >
 From:    Mbob1950 <mbob1950@GMAIL.COM>
 > Subject: Re: Happy Holidays
 > 
 > Happy Holidays from
 Tennessee with some
 > spitting
 snow.=20
 > 
 > 
 > Bob
 > 
 > http://idiopath2017.wordpress.com
 > 
 >