Minnesota Principal Goes Viral With Sub-Zero Temperature Videos

— -- A Minnesota principal laughs at frigid winters and his goofy videos have a lot of people laughing with him.

Nathan Ziegler, 37, first began filming cold weather science experiments near his Minneapolis home eight years ago.

“I was just getting started on YouTube and had done some of these different experiments when I was in high school,” Ziegler told ABC News today. “I thought it’d be fun to do them again and see if people would like them.”

Like them they did. Ziegler’s YouTube videos, showing him doing everything from blowing frozen bubbles to pounding a nail with a frozen banana, have garnered over 1 million views over the years.

This year’s addition to his “Minnesota Cold” series features Ziegler jumping on a frozen trampoline and has already garnered nearly 500,000 views.

“My favorite of all time though is probably the frozen towel sled,” Ziegler said of his video from 1999. “I took a towel and put some paint cans at the end to give it some curve and froze the towel with water and took it to a hill near our house and sled with it.”

Ziegler, a former science teacher who is now the principal of Hope Academy in inner-city Minneapolis, says he gets inspiration for the videos from his students and people who comment on his videos, in addition to coming up with new ideas on his own.

Ziegler’s frozen antics are also supported by his family – wife, Tennille, 11-year-old son Zech and 8-year-old daughter Eleison - for the most part.

“Tennille really doesn’t like to go outside so now I do most of the filming with a tripod because she doesn’t like the cold,” Ziegler said. “I got her to help with the one about your hair freezing though.”

Ziegler was born and raised in Minnesota and is not just a fan of the cold weather when the YouTube cameras are on.

He also rides his bike the 1.5 miles from his home to Hope Academy every day, no matter what the weather brings. This morning, the temperature, according to Ziegler, was negative 1 degree in Minneapolis.

“It’s going to be cold, so rather than staying cooped up inside it’s fun to find ways to embrace the cold and get outside and do some fun stuff,” Ziegler said.