In the middle of our jarring cold snap — with temperatures consistently dropping to single digits — it can be difficult to keep in mind just how much worse it could be.

A glance at the national weather map shows plenty of towns and cities, particularly those in the upper Midwest, that are gripped by sub-zero temperatures. So we reached out to residents in several for advice and musings on coping with the savage cold.

Duluth, Minn. High: 4 degrees; low: minus 12 degrees; windchill between minus 20 and minus 30 degrees.

Duluth native Rob Hedburg, 26, said Thursday that for him, “It’s just been a matter of trying to limit your time outside.’’ Duluth was at 70 straight hours of subzero temperatures until Wednesday night.

“Today, it finally did get above zero with the warmer weather — and I’ll use that term loosely.’’ said Hedburg, an administrative assistant at Visit Duluth. He makes sure to dress in layers and leave as little skin unprotected as possible.

Hedburg did manage to see one silver lining to the cold weather.

“One upside is that there isn’t snowfall, so the roads are generally clear and easy to drive on, but sometimes you’re willing to put up with the snow if it doesn’t mean freezing,’’ Hedburg said.

But amid the pain, behold some beauty: The “sea smoke’’ rising off the relatively warm water of Lake Superior during the cold spell is attracting photographers and other spectators to the frigid shoreline, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The phenomenon is caused when relatively warm air close to the water meets the colder air above.

Aberdeen, S.D. High: 4 degrees; low: minus 18 degrees; windchill as low as minus 30 degrees.

Rita Moe, 37, who has lived in Aberdeen for 18 years, said she keeps a cold weather kit in her car in case it stalls or breaks down.

“I always have jumper cables and now you can get small batteries . . . that you can use to jump a car with . . . and obviously you can’t have water in your vehicle because it freezes,’’ said Moe, the finance and visitors relations manager at Visit Aberdeen.

Moe said she did manage to find a bright side to this brutal winter in Aberdeen, home of Northern State University and Presentation College.

“This too shall pass, and warm weather will come back,’’ she said. “The cold killed all the bugs and the spiders so . . . we kind of tell ourselves at least there isn’t junk flying around in the air.’’

Grand Forks, N.D. High: minus 7 degrees; low: minus 25 degrees; windchill as low as minus 44 degrees.

John Bernstrom, a public information officer for Fairbanks, said his go-to piece of cold weather advice: Always keep your car warm. Every morning, he makes sure to let his car warm up before he heads to work.

“It’s when your vehicle stalls out or something — that’s when it becomes a real issue,’’ Bernstrom said. “Because when it’s cold, it’s tough to operate outside.’’

On Thursday, Bernstrom said this winter felt even colder than usual.

“It’s the nicest day we’ve had here temperature-wise in probably a week and I’m looking at the thermometer and it’s 3 above,’’ Bernstrom said about Grand Forks, home of the University of North Dakota. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s cold for us, too, but it all becomes relative after a certain amount of time.’’

Sophia Eppolito can be reached at sophia.eppolito@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @SophiaEppolito.