Why Fight Old Man Winter?/ Where Do You Refuse to live?
 

Today, it was a sunny sixty-five degree day (Eighteen Celsius). Gorgeous. Yet, the newscasters tell me that all is not well in the world. Shit-tons of snow burying innocent people. Deadly ice storms – however beautiful they may be – fuck up the countryside and the cityscape. No power. Snow plows. Fuck. Fucking cold.

And all I had to do last week was fore go sandals and use a jacket.

Indulge an ignorant Floridian; To my friends who battle the cold, cold winters: why? Why put up with the hassle and discomfort of putting up with old man winter?

People tell me about needing hammer and chisel being just as much as car keys in order to get to work. I can barely imagine having to carve through ice just to open my car door. The chains. The salt. The ice. Damn.

In north Florida (born and raised), it freezes a couple times during the winter, but at the very worst, I may have to clear some frost off my windshield and drip the water faucet just in case the pipes may burst (which is unheard of). You may say that a moderate winter is fine, but a hot, southern summer is unbearable; I say that air conditioning is only a few steps away. Just do outdoor work late in the day or early morning. (which I’m not a fan of anyways : ) )

What winter mess have you had to suffer through in the past? Have you moved from the south to the north or vice versa and what brought you there?

Edit: Also consider discussing this correlating question: where do you refuse to live because of the climate and conditions?

I love cold weather, especially snowscapes. I find storms to be one of the most peaceful and relaxing settings available in nature, depending on the intensity. If I lived in a place like hurricane alley it wouldn't be for long. So in the case of weather extremes, I'm unsure of why people would set up permanent residence in an area where flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, or anything of the like are commonplace. Its fine to visit those places, or live there intermittently. Settling there does pose a reasonable question.


I'm sure Charlatan could give you an insightful explanation.
The Sahara; anything over 100 degrees, no thanks. A tundra sounds nice.

It was a toasty 12c here this time last week.

Its now -2 with a foot high snow drift, and lots of my foot prints.

I like the winter :)

I'm something of a semi-muscular man furnace of a fat guy so while I can always put a coat on to stop wind (Massachusetts cold < Cold tolerance in T-Shirt) cooling off in hot weather is terrible. Besides! Snow is pretty!

Kansas City has horrendous weather. An average year winter will hit as low as about -5 degrees Farenheit (-21 degrees C), while there will be weeks of summer with temps above 100 (38 degrees C). Also, we have days where the temperature will rise or fall over 30 degrees in one day. Oh, and did I mention the tornadoes?

I stay because it's home and most of my friends are here.

Having lived most of my life in Toronto we get both extremes, 30 to 35 Celsius in the summer (worse with the nasty humidity) and down as low as -30 C in the winter (worse because of the windchill).

We didn't have the monsoons, earthquakes, tornadoes or anything like that. In fact, in my opinion, the best weather only happens for about 2 to 3 weeks in the Fall and maybe a couple of days around the first snowfall. After that, it's all pretty crap.

I lived there because it was where I was born but later it was because I grew to truly appreciate the place.

That said, I now live in a place that rarely goes below 25C and can get a lot hotter. We are just inching out of the rainy season (good to see the sun again) and it have to note that it was really only for two months which is much (MUCH) shorter than Toronto winters.

I don't think there is anywhere that I wouldn't live for a short while but given my choice I would rather not live somewhere with all this sweat-inducing, mold-growing humidity. As they say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. A desert with its dry air and cold nights would be welcome compared to this.

Born and raised in Erie, PA. We get temps here that can range from 90+ to -15~ easily. (Note these are temps that will last for more than just a day or two...) We jokingly say we have 8 seasons or more here.

A small geography lesson: Erie is located right under Lake Erie! :O We get similar winter winds that places like Buffalo, NY that can cause some serious lake-effect snow storms. But we also get amazing cool breezes in the hot summer time.

Its fun to have a little variety in your weather. Typically it does not start to snow here till mid-December and has lasted through late-March/early-April. After that it does not get *hot* till late June. Temps start to fall around Sept and slowly get colder and colder till winter starts again.

Where I am , we easily get 200~ inches of snow a year. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Snow is a beautiful thing, how one can hate it I cannot fathom. Unless you are being forced to live in this city against your will, you have little reason to complain. You know the drill, you should be prepared for it. Do not own a rear-wheel drive vehicle unless you have a back-up winter vehicle. Leave your self A TON of extra traveling time, and learn alternate routes.

Another great part about having the full spectrum of climates is that no matter where you move to later in life, you know 100% you are prepared for it.

I my self am thinking of moving either the Arizona area or somewhere south,but not too south. Not because I hate it, I'd just like a better job. :)

I used to believe that until I went to Palm Springs for a confernce in August - it was so hot walking down the streets the stores all have misters on their awnings but you never get wet the water just evaporates when it hits you... 120 degrees is just too hot...

while this chicago winter has been a little chilly - I'm kind of enjoying it... gets the blood going and wakes you up - and i'm learning to appreciate the concept of dressing like a 4 year old going out to play in snow - ear muffs, wool cap, mittens, and scarf... fashion be damned :D I wil lbe hating the hazy hot and humids this summer though.

I do like me some seasons :D

I love winter because it means a few things... that Christmas is coming and I can have a classic white Christmas. And that hockey is going to start. I love the snow, I love the cold. I know being from Florida you're use to warmer weather, well... I'm from Canada and I'm use to this weather. It's not that bad when you get use to it and most people who live here are able to bear it eight months out of the year.

This is my first winter in a location that actually has a winter, Denver CO. I was born and raised in Southern California where we had 3 summers and a rainy season. Anyway, this winter here in Denver is apparently the most amount of snow they have received in like 25 years. We are already over the season's average, and it will continue snowing through March and into april.

That being said, it really wasn't ALL that bad. I wanted to get a bad winter under my belt, and that sure has happened. The rest should be gravy. Snow & ice is all still a novelty to me, so I don't mind. And the cold is actually refreshing, just dress for it. Besides, I think it will make the Summer BBQ's that much more enjoyable.

Well...

A.) I like having 4 seasons, and winter just happens to be one of them.

B.) I grew up with it. Snow, cold and ice are just a fact of life to be dealt with.

C.) I am one of those weirdos that prefers it cooler rather than warmer. I detest high heat and humidity.

D.) If absolutely nothing else, it helps one to appreciate the balmier weather a little more.

i think florida does have 4 seasons:
hot,rain(hurricane), bugs,tourist :D

I'll take cold over the above :D

the worst part about the january - may stretch - is there's no long weekends until memorial day -- there really needs to be a long weekend scheduled in there somehow

I can't stand hot weather. If it's cold, I can always put on another layer, or throw over another blanket to warm up. If it's hot, I can be running around naked and still not escape from sweating (I can't sleep when I sweat).

I grew up in mountain town Colorado. When three feet of snow falls in 24 hours it's just another day, and no, work is not cancelled, schools will not be closed, and everyone will bundle up and go about their day (or call in sick and go skiing instead). When I lived on the front range, and it snowed, I would stay away from the main plowed roads, because that's where all the people who can't drive in snow go. I'd take the backroads instead.

I was only days old when I first felt snow fall on my face. When I was about seven we got some really cold and snowy winters for a few years. Now I sound like an old geezer talking about walking to school in -20 °C with snowdrifts as tall as me. I miss that. It never really gets cold or snowy enough to feal real these days.

Heat makes me drowsy and useless. I never get anything worthwile done in the summer, it's too darn hot. When it's cold I can work harder both physically and mentally. I could probably get used to living in a hot clime, but somehow I think the cold gives me a certain edge.

Like others have said I like having 4 seasons. A hot humid summer, a cold chilling winter, and the best seasons are the transitional ones, spring and fall. I lived in Los Angeles and Seattle and could not get used to the small changes from season to season. I think a lot depends on where you grew up and what you are used to.

Living in Colorado, you can ask anyone who lives in Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, and to a lesser extent even Denver and Colorado Springs why they love winter.

It'll be two words:

WINTER SPORTS.

Snowboarding and skiing are something unique to Old Man Winter, and I doubt that you get much of it in Florida. Sure, there's surfing and beach bumming, and although I don't ski or snowboard hardly ever, I prefer falling in snow to baking in the sun all day long.

You need to move at Australia - we have Australia Day in late January, Anzac Day 25th April, then two days for Easter somewhere thereabouts. We do love our public holidays!

Weather here is pretty good though can get rather hot in mid-summer (40+ C), but it never snows and winter is relatively mild (I don't think I've ever seen negative temps.

After spending a few months in syndey (actually outside of sydney in chattswood) a few years back - if i could afford to move there (it's an expensive place to live) I'd move in a heartbeat - though the reverse seasons were strange :D

I grew up in Minnesota.

I do not miss Minnesota winters. Central California was nice. No snow or ice. It would get cool in the winter, but never extremely cold. The very hot summers sucked, but the very little rain and mild winters made up for that.

The fog, though, now that was something else. Yech.

Here in the South, winter has been relatively mild, at least the two I've experienced so far.

Nope, I do not miss the snow, defrosting, scraping ice, slush.

I used to live in Chatswood - about 10 years ago. I moved "further out" because of the cost issue.

When I was growing up, I lived at about a 3500ft elevation in the Applichain Mountains, and we would have nice four to six month winters. The worst storm I was ever in we had so much snow it drifted halfway up the windows! My mom could barely open the back door- it was at least two feet. I LOVE that kind of weather... and I definitely agree that it makes the summer even better when you've just gone through a seriously snowy winter!

I like having four seasons- and having a distinct period within each where you know it's DEFINITELY that season- a stretch of real wintry cold, a strech of summer heat, a stretch of time during spring where it's just starting to get nice out and the flowers are blooming but it's still rainy and blustery, and a stretch where the grass is starting to brown and the leaves are starting to turn. It's what I grew up with, and to me it's what the most ideal living conditions are. :)

Truer words have never been spoken. :)


This is exactly my view on the situation. To me, it's not the actual "I'm too hot" or "I'm too cold" that makes the difference... it's when you are able to return to a comfortable temperature. Warming up from being cold just feels great... but coming in from the heat and humidity and cooling off, you're still sweaty and disgusting.

I grew up in the Midwest, but I lived in Florida for about a year and I hated every minute of it. Christmas just did not seem like Christmas without coldness and snow, and the summers were pretty unbearable to me because I would get exhausted very quickly when outside and, like kurty, I cannot sleep when I am too hot.

One thing that I find interesting is that after I moved back, I seem to be MORE tolerant to cold temperatures than I used to be. I expected I'd be more sensitive to them after getting used to a warmer climate, but now I find that I require less bundling and less blankets to keep me comfortable.

All this talk of cold and snow is making me long for some cold air on my face.

It was funny but the first time I got home sick for Toronto was in the south of France. It was the smell of cooler air. The air here smells tropical (think what a terrarium or a hothouse smells like) and it is rare to get an actual cool breeze (occasionally on an early morning in the rainy season it gets down to 22C and feel cool but it's not the same as a crisp fall day).

I love it here but would just like a little more variation. That said, I knew what I was getting into when I came here and can't really complain.

I really like the temperate weather of the Pacific Northwest. While the weather has been a little wacky this winter, it's nothing too out of the ordinary and makes life more interesting, in my opinion.

I like the days in winter where it rains just enough and is just bright enough to make the sky shimmer like a pearl. I like the days in fall where the sky is deep blue and the air is slightly crisp with the turning of the leaves--you can almost smell football season. I love that moment in March where the weather finally starts to cooperate and sun begins to fall on the daffodils instead of rain. That first week in April--when the showers are interspersed with rain and the cherry blossoms are in bloom--I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I wouldn't trade that invariably windy week in late April that makes the cherry blossoms fall to the ground and drift like pink snow. I might contemplate ridding myself of the overly rainy days in deep winter or the dog days of summer when the temperature brushes the low 100s, but then I would be losing all of the things I like about the perenially rainy Pacific Northwest.

10-15 years ago I would have said that the weather here in S.England was fairly much in a contant(ish) state.
But now I find that effects of global climate changes are starting to have an effect-the weather is to say the least,unpredictable.
Now of course thats just my observations through my eyes/brain,but every year certainly we are seeing more overt weather patterns,both here and around the world.
This is NOT a climate change post btw:)


This from one of Thomas Pynchons' books:-

Its colder than a Witches Tit,
Its colder than a bucket of Penquin shit,
Its colder than the hairs on a Polar Bears arse
Its colder than the frost on a Champagne glass.

Born and raised in Southern Ontario and I'll stay here for as long as I can. The summers get hot enough for me to appreciate the cold weather and the winters get cold enough for me to appreciate the summer.

I do prefer the winter, however. The cold rarely bothers me. I've not had a winter coat in years, as I've found a fall jacket is more than enough for me. Except for that real cold snap we had last week when it was hovering at -35C (with the wind) for a couple nights. Oof.

10 - 12 inches of snow and 20 - 30mph winds :D due in today -and the schools don't close :D gotta love chicago winter :D hearty bunch those kids.. they will be able to tell their grand kids they walked to school in a blizzard :D

I couldn't get to the paper dispenser thingie - it was covered by a snow drift and I almost missed the bus - driver thought i was a snowman :D errr snowwoman :D

Winter is fun :D

Why? Because I'm stupid.

I grew up in Michigan. Very cold
I went to college in Arizona. Very warm and nice.
I got a job in Ohio. Very cold. But the money is good.

The next place I move to will be warm. Although I did get the day off today due to the 9" of snow and ice outside. I couldn't imagine getting 100" like they have in NY.

My car only has 9" of ground clearance. So, I can't go through snow drifts and unplowed roads and parking lots.

I hate winter.