Temperature Extremes: Hot or Cold?

[PWitty]

I know this is a debate with no resolution, but which do you prefer? I know most people don't like extreme cold (<30) or extreme heat (>90), but unless you have the fortune of living in coastal California you probably have to endure one or the other throughout the year. I prefer heat myself. I know a lot of people don't like sweating, but at least I can still enjoy being outdoors and taking in the sunshine when it's hot out. When it's constantly overcast and cold everyday I just get depressed!

I've been in upstate NY since early August, and the extreme cold/snow this winter got pretty old pretty quick. The first snow was exciting but after that its just been a nuisance. It starts to feel like it's never going to go away! Cold weather/snow is only enjoyable if I'm at a ski resort and am able to put the snow to good use. The summers are gorgeous, 70's/80's and a fair amount of sun, but late fall/winter/early spring has been rough. I think the worst part is just the constantly cloudy skies. There's just something about not having any sunshine that puts a damper on my mood for the day.

So, what do you prefer?

[ctchandler]

PWitty,
Hot! I spent almost two years on Guam and one night it got so cold, I had to turn off my fan and pull my sheet up over me. I think it was about 70 and we didn't have windows, just screens. I loved every minute of the year round warm/hot weather. I always say, I would rather have 90 degrees than 60.
C. T.

[HangryHippo]

Extreme cold. I hate the heat and sweating. It sucks and it's uncomfortable as hell. I'll upstate NY winters any day.

[Roger S]

I prefer the heat.... It's a lot easier to get cooled down than it is to get warmed up.

[gjl]

I prefer the cold if it is not with a horrible wind. I can always put on more clothes and get warm. Once it gets hot all I can do is sweat. When I was younger I didn't seem to mind the heat as much as I do now at my age. This time of year I start dreading the heat and the yard work.

[HangryHippo]

I prefer the cold if it is not with a horrible wind. I can always put on more clothes and get warm. Once it gets hot all I can do is sweat. When I was younger I didn't seem to mind the heat as much as I do now at my age. This time of year I start dreading the heat and the yard work.

Exactly.

[Plutonic Panda]

Hot. I don't mind if it 110 degrees out, at least that is usually consistent. The cold here never really sticks around and it goes from 10 degrees for a few days up to 40 for a week or so and back down and you are never really able to get used it, or once you do, it changes on you, really grinds my gears. I prefer heat though, I like the heat. I like it about 90 or so, and don't mind much if it gets up in the 100's, I just don't like droughts.

[Plutonic Panda]

I prefer the cold if it is not with a horrible wind. I can always put on more clothes and get warm. Once it gets hot all I can do is sweat. When I was younger I didn't seem to mind the heat as much as I do now at my age. This time of year I start dreading the heat and the yard work.

Or stay inside. I do not enjoy wearing a bunch of clothes. Hate it actually, it restricts all of you natural movements when you bundle up enough and just becomes a pain in the ass lol.... for some though, it's nice.

[PWitty]

Or stay inside. I do not enjoy wearing a bunch of clothes. Hate it actually, it restricts all of you natural movements when you bundle up enough and just becomes a pain in the ass lol.... for some though, it's nice.

I agree. I love wearing jeans and jackets/pullovers, but anything past that gets old after awhile. There's no bigger pain than going out somewhere in the middle of winter and either A) not knowing what to do with your coat/gloves/stocking cap when you arrive, or B) freezing your butt off so you don't have to worry about hauling your coat around all night. Heck, a lot of times I end up sweating in the winter anyways because I bundle up TOO much.

[Dennis Heaton]

Being from "coastal California" and as a regular beneficiary of the Senior coffee at McD's...I prefer the heat...mostly because of the swimming pools we have at the apt complex.

[Mel]

Cold. I'm big fat and furry. Plus my electric bill doesn't make me cry like it does in the summer.

[ctchandler]

Plutonic Panda,
That's the way I feel. I don't even wear a coat unless the wind chill is really bad. I won't drive with a bulky coat on but I do keep a heavy coat and gloves hanging in the back in case of emergency or the wind chill factor.
C. T.

Or stay inside. I do not enjoy wearing a bunch of clothes. Hate it actually, it restricts all of you natural movements when you bundle up enough and just becomes a pain in the ass lol.... for some though, it's nice.

[Dennis Heaton]

Plus my electric bill doesn't make me cry like it does in the summer.

Just the opposite here...summer bills are low (in the $30's), and winter bills are high (in the $80's).

[bluedogok]

I prefer the heat.... It's a lot easier to get cooled down than it is to get warmed up.

The opposite for me, when I was playing softball up in Edmond and we had the late game it took forever for me to cool down to go to sleep. After the summer of 2011 we decided to move from Austin Denver because we were so tired of the constant, oppressive heat. Ninety days over 100 with lows near 90 most nights and 50% humidity just because unbearable after 8 of the 9 years that I was there. Thyroid issues probably affects my body thermostat as well because I am almost always hot. Up here with the low humidity the cold doesn't seem as bad unless it gets down into the single digits with some wind.

[RadicalModerate]

I especially like temperatures between about 50 degrees (light jacket weather) and 78 degrees. Anything in there is my "comfort zone". Back when I involved in construction--and later, while teaching it--I realized that most people seem to have about a five degree comfort zone. I used to maintain (and still do) that air conditioning makes people "weak." While I still maintain that contention, I sure likes me a good air conditioner during our sometimes brutal summers. I will also admit that I'm nowhere near as "tough" (temperature-wise) as I used to be when I was between 25 and 40 years old. =)

One of the funniest things a student ever said to me (during the Carpentry and Construction teaching phase of my life), when we had to get out and do some work on a building we were framing, during the winter months, was: "But Mr. C . . . We are a tropical people." (He was of African-American heritage. And a damn clever humorist, too. At least in my book.)

[CCOKC]

I am cold until the temperature reaches 85-90. I can garden all day in the 100 degree heat if I am in the shade.

[RadicalModerate]

I am cold until the temperature reaches 85-90. I can garden all day in the 100 degree heat if I am in the shade.

If Cesar Chavez was still around, he'd probably agree and make it a union demand.
And my hat is off to that gentleman.

(despite the joke that one of my amigos, back in the day, once voiced unexpectedly, in the direction of some representatives of The Pickers of Grapes at a local libationary: "Hey! If you picket it won't heal.")

[blangtang]

Give me cold, but where I grew up snow was measured in feet not inches!

[PennyQuilts]

To my surprise, the older I get, the less the heat bothers me. So long as I can get some shade, I'm good. Hot is uncomfortable but cold HURTS.

And then there's the old, "you don't have to shovel sunshine."

Love a low in the high fifties, high in the mid 80's/90. Two months of highs in the mid nineties beats two months of highs in the upper thirties, in my book. Love the growing season.

[Prunepicker]

To my surprise, the older I get, the less the heat bothers me. So long as
I can get some shade, I'm good. Hot is uncomfortable but cold HURTS...

When I was in grade school (50's and 60's) there were no air conditioners.
The schools were built at right angles and had many, many windows
throughout. Air flow was maximized. The only person that had a fan was
the teacher. One of those beige colored things that stood about 4' high.

Sure, there was the odd kid who got overheated but s/he go to have
those water soaked brown paper towels placed on their forehead and
were allowed to lay down while the rest of us endured the lessons.

Of course, those were the daze of rational thinking. School didn't start
until after Labor Day and we were out by the middle of May. About the
only thing I remember was wanting water after recess, which we were
given plenty.

[betts]

I'll take extreme cold. You can wear enough clothing to stay warm in extreme cold. You can't take enough clothing off to cool off in extreme heat. I despise July and August around here.

[Prunepicker]

I wish the weather in Seattle would move here.

[RadicalModerate]

When I was in grade school (50's and 60's) there were no air conditioners.
The schools were built at right angles and had many, many windows
throughout. Air flow was maximized. The only person that had a fan was
the teacher. One of those beige colored things that stood about 4' high.

Sure, there was the odd kid who got overheated but s/he go to have
those water soaked brown paper towels placed on their forehead and
were allowed to lay down while the rest of us endured the lessons.

Of course, those were the daze of rational thinking. School didn't start
until after Labor Day and we were out by the middle of May. About the
only thing I remember was wanting water after recess, which we were
given plenty.

Yet . . . Isn't it conceivable that if they had had computers and virtual projection viewscreens back then, the excessive temperatures in the primitive classrooms would have rendered the "educational opportunities" inoperative? On top of that, some little scofflaw might have opened a bag of peanuts and caused 70% of the class to either go into peanut induced allergy shock or become autistic. Another 10% would probably have started whining for some Ritalin or whatever. =)

All of which might have interfered, not only with the learning process, but, in addition to that, The Nuclear Holocaust Drills? Remember? The Drills that suggested that getting under your desk, in order to comply with the Cold War Idiocy du Jour would protect you (and, as an ancillary and unintended consequence provide an opportunity to observe, personally, all the various types of chewing gum stuck to the bottom, thereof . . . by the scofflaws of the past . . . that you will have to collect for the teacher . . . on account of chewing gum in class. On a hot day in the cold war . . . =)

"Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" . . . in some ways I hope so . . . =)

[ylouder]

Easy extreme cold. I love an excuse to stay, have a bowl of chili and go to bed early.

[RadicalModerate]

When I was a child of the 50's, (now in my 60's), I wondered what I would have to complain about/compare relative hardships of the past to.
Now I know. I think ylouder nailed it: (paraphrase): Give Thanks For Today and Be Glad In It.

There Are No "Temperature Extremes":
There is Only The Balance that You Create
Between Perception and Reality.
By the Grace of God.