Ok so I fiddled around with STAN. One second it was cold enough to freeze salt water. On an edge it was hot enough to turn Ice to Steam instantaneously and melt the salt in salt water. Supposed to happen?
Indeed. LIFE particles use heat to display in heat mode the difference between newly created and older particles. When a Life particle is created it has the highest possible temperature, and on every frame that temp lowers until it hits absolute zero.
This is basically meant to add a bit of coolness to heat view, but you can abuse it for other things if you want too. Try messing with Heat mode by switching it off if you want particles to ignore LIFE heat.