CAPE POND ICE IN THE BOSTON GLOBE TODAY!

You know it’s freezing outside when the icehouse — kept at a constant 28 degrees — feels warm.

Inside the venerable ice-making plant, it’s so cold you can see your breath, and stalactites grow off the ceiling. But during the recent extended cold snap, Scott Memhard, president of Cape Pond Ice Company, retreated to the historic building on the Gloucester waterfront to keep warm.

With sub-zero weather, Memhard found his workplace unusually comfortable, even as he had to deal with flooding after the Jan. 4 storm. Tidal water wreaked havoc with the machinery, but after three decades in the ice business, Memhard kept a cool head. Ice is his life — bagged ice, block ice, dry ice, crushed ice, and sculpture ice.