OT: Heat vs Cold

[storrsroars]

I struggle with either extreme so I guess I'd take the one that doesn't include any jazz music. Or country music for that matter. I can tolerate poor weather better than poor music.

You're Kevin from the GEICO ad?

 

[Peacefrog]

You're Kevin from the GEICO ad?

You got me

 

[August_West]

The "feels like" temperature here in NYC is 108 degrees right now. I haven't been this hot since Viva Las Vegas.

There is no more miserable place on earth than nyc in this weekends weather conditions. It always just FEELS even hotter than that. A long time ago I lived in an AveB / Tompkins square tenement without AC. Few had AC , pushes everyone to the streets and people get crazy. Was just talking about it with someone this weekend

 

[Lefty2one]

I don't know how people survive NYC summers. I'd rather be in Alabama than NYC in July/August. I still have to commute in for work a few times a year and I try like hell to schedule those trips for the non-summer months.

 

[Hoophound]

New York is still generally comfortable in the summer. The people comparing NYC to any place south of the VA border in summer are dramatizing. In NY there are sunny days in the 70’s in the summer. Alabama won’t see anything below 87 or 88. Two and three day heat waves don’t count when comparing a place to the summer climate of Orlando, Atlanta or Birmingham. Entirely different animals.

 

[Lefty2one]

New York is still generally comfortable in the summer. The people comparing NYC to any place south of the VA border in summer are dramatizing. In NY there are sunny days in the 70’s in the summer. Alabama won’t see anything below 87 or 88. Two and three day heat waves don’t count when comparing a place to the summer climate of Orlando, Atlanta or Birmingham. Entirely different animals.

The difference is you aren't in a concrete jungle in the south. You have countryside and burbs and trees to help dissipate the heat. In NYC, you've got giant buildings holding the heat, a lack of trees, blacktops absorbing the heat, and millions of AC units adding a ton of hot air into the air. You aren't walking all over the place and taking the subway to get to and from work. Assuming you're comfortably middle class in the south, you're walking out of your air conditioned home to get in your air conditioned car to drive to your air conditioned office. Taking Metro North to the Shuttle to the 123 and walking five blocks in August and I'm looking like Sean Miller. It's a special kind of hell.

 

[FatElvis]

The difference is you aren't in a concrete jungle in the south. You have countryside and burbs and trees to help dissipate the heat. In NYC, you've got giant buildings holding the heat, a lack of trees, blacktops absorbing the heat, and millions of AC units adding a ton of hot air into the air. You aren't walking all over the place and taking the subway to get to and from work. Assuming you're comfortably middle class in the south, you're walking out of your air conditioned home to get in your air conditioned car to drive to your air conditioned office. Taking Metro North to the Shuttle to the 123 and walking five blocks in August and I'm looking like Sean Miller. It's a special kind of hell.

Exactly right. While it's true the average temperature in NYC is in the mid 80s in July, it's the frying pan effect that makes it miserable. When the concrete jungle gets cooked all day it feels hottest around 5ish, before the sun starts hiding behind buildings and offers some relief in the form of shadows. It may not be quite as hot as the cities Hoophound mentioned, but the stinky hot air this different animal breathes is nasty in its own way.

 

[pepband99]

I'll take heat over cold any day, and so would most right thinking people.

There is a reason why people have been going south to escape New England winters for 50+ years.

...there is also a reason most of the dumb people move to Florida. "Right thinking?"

 

[Chin Diesel]

The difference is you aren't in a concrete jungle in the south. You have countryside and burbs and trees to help dissipate the heat. In NYC, you've got giant buildings holding the heat, a lack of trees, blacktops absorbing the heat, and millions of AC units adding a ton of hot air into the air. You aren't walking all over the place and taking the subway to get to and from work. Assuming you're comfortably middle class in the south, you're walking out of your air conditioned home to get in your air conditioned car to drive to your air conditioned office. Taking Metro North to the Shuttle to the 123 and walking five blocks in August and I'm looking like Sean Miller. It's a special kind of hell.

Another thing is down south mass transportation is much less prevalent and poplulation is less dense than up north, so you tend to be in an air conditioned private vehicle as you go between stops.

The whole sweating while walking several blocks through a metropolis just to get on a Subway or bus isn't reality for most.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Already cooling, but compared with many massively hotter, more humid, larger and more populated cities and subway-dependent metro areas, the City’s a pleasant day at the beach.

 

[uconnfan68]

I was at San Diego from Aug-Oct 1993 right before it closed.

Temps ranged from 75-80 every day with night time lows between 60-70. Rained a total of 10 minutes. We slept on top of our sheets on our racks with Windows open.

I know... I lived there from Aug75-Jul79. First year was 360 sunny days, 4 days of light mist, 1 day of rain. Thought I was in heaven. Except for that earthquake the first week.

 

[Hoophound]

It does absolutely suck to be overheated in the city. I’ve lived there and done it. However, it isn’t all summer. The heat in the south is constant and everyday all summer qualifies as a “dangerous heat wave” by northern standards. Everyday, for 4-5 months, with no breaks whatsoever.

 

[Excalibur]

...there is also a reason most of the dumb people move to Florida. "Right thinking?"

I'm not talking about moving, I'm talking about "wintering". How many people go north for the winter? There's a reason for that. It's that winter sucks.

 

[Towney007]

Cold. I absolutely hate hot weather. Mom's Canadian, so the heat aversion runs deep with me. Give me 55 and rainy and it's ideal weather.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Heat.

There's nothing I like about the cold.

It was pretty freaking hot today, but I could still go outside and sit on the deck at the end of the day.

There's no sitting on the deck when it's cold.

This is my answer as well. Plus, my experience is that you adapt to the heat and your body adjusts. I adapt to the cold as well, it's why damp late November days seem so cold, but by January the same day feels warm. And those first high 40's days in April you golf in shorts.

But fortunately there is nowhere people really live that is just one extreme or the other. I like Cape Cod weather, not too hot rarely too cold.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If you want to see extremes in a short period, I was in Denver in early April. It was 85 the day we got there and a blizzard the day we left 5 days later.

I drove through Arizona. About 78 degrees, drove up through Flagstaff, snowing like crazy, drove down, back to 78 degrees. Took about 30-40 minutes total.

 

[Lefty2one]

I drove through Arizona. About 78 degrees, drove up through Flagstaff, snowing like crazy, drove down, back to 78 degrees. Took about 30-40 minutes total.

Had a similar experience in the 90s. Went from the desert to Flagstaff into a blizzard and some of the biggest hail I've ever seen. I was young and clueless at the time and though it never snowed anywhere in Arizona.

 

[SoFla Steve]

I moved to south Florida 20+ years ago for job reasons . . . there weren't any jobs in CT. I miss my family, friends, autumn foliage and going to every UConn home game, but not much else (especially a state income tax).

I have just a 5 min walk to the beach so I get a sea breeze most days. I never tire of looking at the bright blue ocean and swaying palms. If I ever leave SoFla, it will be because it's gotten noisy and crowded over the last two decades, not because of the weather.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I drove through Arizona. About 78 degrees, drove up through Flagstaff, snowing like crazy, drove down, back to 78 degrees. Took about 30-40 minutes total.

My in-laws recently moved to Fountain Hills, Arizona. First visited in July '18 and the 115 degree weather was awful in the day, but tolerable from 7 PM-9 AM. The same trip, we drove up to Flagstaff to go to the Grand Canyon and hung out in the town for three days, and I was shocked how moderate the weather is there. 80 and dry, absolutely gorgeous.

After that visit, we politely told my in-laws that we are only visiting in the winter unless for emergencies. Over last Christmas break, I quickly learned that spending 10 days in the Phoenix area in late December/Early January is a great respite from the darkness of CT and it helped me tolerate winter better once we arrived back.

My niece is entering her junior year of high school and is starting to get D1 schools pursuing her for soccer. She wants to play out east, but if she stays local, Northern Arizona would be her top choice and it would be so much fun visiting her out in Flagstaff and possibly get some winter snowboarding done out there too. So far, Flagstaff is my favorite town I've visited in Arizona, but I'm excited to see Tucson for the first time in December.

 

[huskyrob1]

Some context first:

Caramoor in Katonah, NY is one of my favorite music venues. It's a gorgeous old property a rich white guy owned and now its grounds host concerts throughout the year. Its June Roots festival and their July Jazz festival are annual treks for me and I've seen about a dozen other shows there too.

This year, their Roots festival was amazing: beautiful weather in the mid 70s, plenty of shade, had a grand time. Today, I have tickets to the Jazz festival with my wife and a few friends.

However, I'm a complete crotchety baby when it comes to heat. It's forecasted to be upper 90s, humid, it sucks, I pretty much don't want to go anymore, I'm that bad.

Contrapositively, I can deal with the cold. For example, my only visit to Chicago was in February, it was 6 degrees, I had no problem and had a great trip. I even find very cold days calming and relaxing. You can always put on more layers to stay warm.

If you had a choice, would you rather live every day for the rest of your life in extreme cold (like single digits) or extreme humid heat (100+)?

That's a tough call, but I think Robert Frost said it best.......

"Some say the world will end in fire"
"some say in ice"
"from what I've tasted of desire"
"I hold with those who favor fire"
"but ice is also nice, and would suffice"

 

[huskyrob1]

The only time I was more miserable than I was when I was last in Phoenix (June 2017 -- daytime high of 118, still over 100 after 10:00) was when I was in Deli and Aurangabad in late May. 115 does not compare to 90 in the northeast, sorry.

It was 114 in France just a few weeks ago.

https://m.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/dangerous-extreme-heat-wave-tightens-grip-on-france-spain-and-other-parts-of-western-europe/70008660

 

[Purple Stein]

Further evidence that France sucks.

 

[DALTX]

Heat. Without the humidity.

 

[sledog]

cold. Can always get another down jacket

 

[Chin Diesel]

My in-laws recently moved to Fountain Hills, Arizona. First visited in July '18 and the 115 degree weather was awful in the day, but tolerable from 7 PM-9 AM. The same trip, we drove up to Flagstaff to go to the Grand Canyon and hung out in the town for three days, and I was shocked how moderate the weather is there. 80 and dry, absolutely gorgeous.

After that visit, we politely told my in-laws that we are only visiting in the winter unless for emergencies. Over last Christmas break, I quickly learned that spending 10 days in the Phoenix area in late December/Early January is a great respite from the darkness of CT and it helped me tolerate winter better once we arrived back.

My niece is entering her junior year of high school and is starting to get D1 schools pursuing her for soccer. She wants to play out east, but if she stays local, Northern Arizona would be her top choice and it would be so much fun visiting her out in Flagstaff and possibly get some winter snowboarding done out there too. So far, Flagstaff is my favorite town I've visited in Arizona, but I'm excited to see Tucson for the first time in December.

My in-laws live in Phoenix. Four or five years ago we went there for Christmas and went up to Flagstaff to see some Christmas displays. Spent a night there. Temps were about 15 degrees and plenty of snow

 

[tomtom80]

I find if it’s hot, a beer gets me through. If it’s cold, a beer makes it manageable. Guess I prefer beer

 

[HooperScooper]

cold. Can always get another down jacket

And if it's hot you can go from your air conditioned house, to your air conditioned car to your air conditioned office/store/etc. Maybe spending no more than 1 minute outside.