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Extreme Weather: Phoenix And Minneapolis Understand The Struggle

Meet Minneapolis
(Photo courtesy of Meet Minneapolis)
Winter in Minnesota.

Last week’s scorching temperatures made national and international news… the heat wave also meant you probably received texts and phone calls from people wanting to make sure you were OK. And you probably weren't the only one.

“OMG! Are you all staying cool!? How are you doing?” That text message came from a friend in New York City last Wednesday, a day after Phoenix hit 119. My response: “Yeah. It’s summer. We stay inside.”

This got my colleagues and me talking about people who live in cold climates… like Minnesota. Kristen Montag is with Meet Minneapolis, which markets the city as a destination.

"The days that are so cold that they make the news nationally, you definitely hear from the relatives… so we’ll hear from everyone and wanting to make sure you’re OK," Montag said. "Of course, they’ve known us long enough to know winters are not that difficult for us."

Except maybe last December when Minnesota Public Radio reported that temperatures were colder than Mars.

The good news on our end is that temperatures could dip below 110 later this week, according to the National Weather Service.

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.