Why I Hate Colder Climates

[Keim]

I don't even want to step outside if it's under 40. Anything under 60 is uncomfortable to me.

Depends on the humidity. A dry 20 can feel quite nice. A humid 40 can be uncomfortable.

 

[haha]

Those beach boys and girls sure did not spend the time in the water except for late August/September.

I swam year around at Venice Beach. In January I wore a regular latex swim hat. It takes getting used to, but talk about invigorating!

Depends on the humidity. A dry 20 can feel quite nice. A humid 40 can be uncomfortable.

So true. One reason why Western Washington can feel so much colder than it really is.

 

[Nords]

The biggest problem is the drive to get there and the prices.

I recommend the tunnel from Long Beach. Better fill the gas tank before you enter the toll gates, however...

 

[JakeBrake]

It's Friday night. So, in only two more days we will have a new episode of "ice Road Truckers" on the History channel.

 

[Walt34]

I don't even want to step outside if it's under 40. Anything under 60 is uncomfortable to me.

I'm in your camp. This is a guy who doesn't come out of long sleeves until the temperature hits 80 F.

But anything can be taken to extremes. After about 11:00 or so today I plan on staying inside.

 

[Marita40]

OT, but what a disappointment that History Channel is. Swamp People, American Pickers, Ice Road Truckers. Where the &*%^ is the actual history? Ok, they did air a full day of the American Revolution on July 4, but that was an exception.

 

[Danmar]

Depends on the humidity. A dry 20 can feel quite nice. A humid 40 can be uncomfortable.

Agree. That's what makes Arizona quite tolerable up to about 105F

 

[Purron]

OT, but what a disappointment that History Channel is. Swamp People, American Pickers, Ice Road Truckers. Where the &*%^ is the actual history? Ok, they did air a full day of the American Revolution on July 4, but that was an exception.

Yeah, same thing happened to MTV. Remember when they played actual music videos ??

 

[Zathras]

I very much enjoy living in Minnesota. Sure, there are things I complain about, but overall, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
One of my biggest complaints was needing to stand outside in a blizzard to fuel up the car on occasion. I drive an EV now so I never need to do that with one of our cars and only very rarely with our other. Life is good!

 

[kcowan]

Agree. That's what makes Arizona quite tolerable up to about 105F

I get really sweaty at anything above 90. Of cours,e I only know that because my skin gets salty and I get dehydrated.

 

[Indigo Mule]

I cannot imagine living with oppressive humidity or frozen winter landscapes. I'm San Francisco Bay Area born and bred, and I didn't even know what humidity was until I stepped off the plane in Tokyo in summer at age 28. Japan is where I also experienced living in extreme cold--there were three or four inches of snow on the ground for several weeks at a time! How were you supposed to get anywhere?!

I survived the cold by wearing two layers of long underwear (one silk, one wool/poly blend), sweatshirt, and a leather jacket with motorcycle gloves and earmuffs. My fellow students from Europe laughed at my Michelin man appearance and complete inexperience with cold and snow. (And I returned the laughter when they freaked out over the occasional tremblors that shook the buildings.)

I wonder, though, if you have to be brought up in extreme cold weather to remain there in maturity, or if people transplant as adults and cheerfully adapt. I have no plans to move elsewhere when I retire, but given my narrow climate preferences, I think I would be limited to a thin band along the Pacific coast, from Monterey up to Seattle.

Bottom line, I don't ever want to live somewhere that lack of climate control (heating or air conditioning) would mean death.

 

[FIREd]

I lived the first 23 years of my life in the colder climate of the Alps, then the next 15 years in the hot and humid climate of the Southeast US. It didn't take long to adapt. I am now probably getting spoiled with the Bay Area climate. In the wise words of unclemick:

Where you are at is where you are at. Growing up, school, working and retirement. I still view climate as a challenge to be met versus picking a climate.

 

[Marita40]

I also experienced living in extreme cold--there were three or four inches of snow on the ground for several weeks at a time!
HA HA HA HA HA HA. To a Minnesotan that is pretty funny.

 

[Marita40]

Sorry. I tried to "wrap" the above quote to show it came from someone else's e-mail, but it did not work. Can someone tell me how to do this?

 

[REWahoo]

Sorry. I tried to "wrap" the above quote to show it came from someone else's e-mail, but it did not work. Can someone tell me how to do this?

The easiest way to do it is hit the "Quote" button on the post you wish to quote, then if you don't want to quote the entire post, delete what you want to remove. Be sure to leave the [ QUOTE] at the beginning of the post and [ /QUOTE] at the end (without the space after the first [... )

 

[grasshopper]

Agree. That's what makes Arizona quite tolerable up to about 105F

And in Arizona where I live down to 20 at night and 50-60 by day Dec-March.

 

[freebird5825]

We experience the Lake Ontario version of
Lake-effect snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A mild winter versus a humdinger. Need I say more?

 

[unclemick]

Today I helped someone recently moved from Minnesota put together patio furniture.

St. Joseph hit 103 breaking the old 101 - 1989.

heh heh heh - never volunteer?? Water, lemonade and A/C breaks. Proud to be a wuss.

 

[Redbugdave]

I'm good to about 95 degrees...in the southeast. Above that it gets too hot to do much.

Winters in the southeast are wonderful. In SC we have the seasons and the autumn leaves are great. And we don't get any real snow. That's great! Up north, you drop a tool in the snow and won't see it until spring. And the poor dead that need to get buried up north...

 

[kyounge1956]

Depends on the humidity. A dry 20 can feel quite nice. A humid 40 can be uncomfortable.

So true. One reason why Western Washington can feel so much colder than it really is.

So true. My fourth year of college I went to the University of Bath, located in the southwest part of the UK, with a cool maritime-influenced climate somewhat similar to Western Washington's. One of the other students had come there from Ontario, Canada, but said she felt colder in Bath, due to the dampness. But I prefer damp and chilly to triple digits (no matter how dry it is) any day of the week!

 

[kombat]

For me, a big part of it is the lack of sunlight. The days are so short in the dead of winter. It's dark when I leave to go to w*rok, it's dark when I come home... it's depressing. Add to the fact that you're virtually trapped indoors all the time as its so punishingly cold outside, and I long for the day when I never have to live through another miserable winter.

 

[steelyman]

For me, a big part of it is the lack of sunlight. The days are so short in the dead of winter. It's dark when I leave to go to w*rok, it's dark when I come home... it's depressing. Add to the fact that you're virtually trapped indoors all the time as its so punishingly cold outside, and I long for the day when I never have to live through another miserable winter.

One item some people find helpful are light boxes that can be used during the winter. You can find some nice compact models (e.g. Philips) on Amazon.

 

[freebird5825]

For me, a big part of it is the lack of sunlight. The days are so short in the dead of winter. It's dark when I leave to go to w*rok, it's dark when I come home... it's depressing. Add to the fact that you're virtually trapped indoors all the time as its so punishingly cold outside, and I long for the day when I never have to live through another miserable winter.

Did we w*rk in the same place?

I hung a huge watercolor picture of an open hayfield with autumn colors in my cubicle. I referred to it as my "window". I w*rked in a windowless building, with the only light being available at the doors. It was weird to go through a day and not see any natural light except during lunch. No matter how much snow was piled on my car, I went out for lunch daily.
I also saved and framed some pictures from scenic calendars, mostly waterfalls and shore scenes. It really helped to have something nice to look at in an environment that was otherwise devoid of beauty or color.
Now that I'm FIREd, I go outside to shovel snow or throw snowballs for my dogs on any day without severe wind chill. If stuck indoors, I do projects to keep my mind off the nasty weather outside.
I invested in some grow lights and a shelf unit so I can grow green things indoors during the winter. I keep geraniums going for some flowers. I move them to my dining room table and living room when they bloom.
It all helps.

 

[yabking]

For me, a big part of it is the lack of sunlight. The days are so short in the dead of winter. It's dark when I leave to go to w*rok, it's dark when I come home... it's depressing. Add to the fact that you're virtually trapped indoors all the time as its so punishingly cold outside, and I long for the day when I never have to live through another miserable winter.

I'm surprised that more people haven't mentioned this. For us, DW especially, it is not so much the show or ice or cold, but the short winter days that come with colder climates. For some people, DW is one of them, this can be nearly debilitating.

Starting in late October her mood gets more and more somber. By early December she is literally counting the days until the winter solstice (Dec. 21). Once the days begin to get longer there is still about a 2 month lag before she starts to feel like herself again. So, 4-5 months of the year can be pretty rough for her -- seems to be getting worse as we get older.

The light box helps some but we mostly end up taking all our vacation during that period to sunny places, spreading it out from early December to late February.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

It is not just light and short days. We lived in Calgary Alberta Canada for many years and enjoyed over 300 days of sunshine annually. Some short sunny days and a lot of long ones. I never remember complaining about overcast gloomy days as the majority were not like that. While this is good when living in a place because one HAS to (For work Etc. or whatever reason one HAS to be some place for an extended period) as opposed to because one WANTS to be there. (BTW that makes a big difference)

What I do remember is the COLD (And I mean Bitter COLD) for long periods of time Chinnooks or no Chinnooks. That is monotonous and tedious in itself. Good for ICE fishing perhaps but that wears thin after a while (No Pun intended). So we left for warmer climes, leaving family, as the benefits far outweighed the negatives (for us).

NOW what we are struggling with is deciding on a final retirement location. Luckily we agree on the requirements. We live in FLA which is pretty much sunny most of the time, but suffer with the opposite, tedious heat, humidity and bugs in the summer which is long. The Winters are a dream though. So the big question I think is one has to choose their poison. Maybe we really never find the perfect place being a compromize between climate, cost of living and crowds or whatever one's own personal likes and dislikes are. We are never happy .

The current train of thought is Vancouver Island in the Nanaimo region. But from what I heard it is gloomy in the winter. Still researching but will really need to go for a while and rent perhaps.

So the search goes on.