What's worse: Living in a place that has brutal summers or brutal winters? (power lines, tax)
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Nope, I'd still say The Dalles over the Pendleton/Hermiston area. I spent a couple of weeks a few times each summer traveling through those areas ( I used to do long-distance courier work too up to just a year and half ago traveling through the Gorge even as far east as Baker City ) and yes, even as hot as Pendleton can get, The Dalles will be a few degrees warmer.
Occasionally, if you watch The Weather Channel in the summer time, The Dalles will top the list for extreme highs about as often as Yuma, AZ does, and is considered the "hotbox" of the NW region. The average daily high during peak summer months for Pendleton is like 100 ( similar to Medford ) but The Dalles is closer to 105, I don't know if it is because it is smack in the middle of the Gorge or what, but it doesn't help that area is so flammable anyway ( 3 times I got to sit on I-84 for a few hours because of wild fires crossing the interstate and along the hillside in The Dalles and surrounding areas like Biggs, Mosier, etc, . ) I'd be curious to find out what the record high for The Dalles is. I asked one woman that I worked with that lived in The Dalles, and she said it is because of a large cannery they have downtown, the heat that thing generates seems to increase the heat in that area; particularly downtown.
I agree w/ your assessment regarding clothing though--its far easier to warm up than it is to cool off
Nope, I'd still say Hermiston/Umatilla area over The Dalles. Shoot, I lived in both places for quite a few years, and I'd say both places can get hot, but I think the former had more hot days.
Record high in The Dalles was 111, Umatilla's is 117, Hermiston is 113, Pendleton's was 119 in 1898. Also, according to weather.com, Hermiston's average highs are a little warmer and lows a little colder than The Dalles.
If you can't tell, I'm a real weather nerd...
The following is a little article about heat/heat waves in Oregon...The Dalles isn't mentioned at all...which isn't saying it doesn't get hot there.
At least in the brutal summers you can still enjoy outdoor activities and do stuff like this: Chill Sunday - May 26, 2008 @ Metropolitan pool on Vimeo, and other things like going to the beach, and you still see a lot of people out doors in brutal summers like in FL playing sports, attending events, etc..
where as in the brutal winters your pretty much stuck inside, unless your shoveling snow, or driving hours away on icy road to go on a ski trip.
I manage to do just fine on my runs in 6 degree wind chill temps (and believe it or not, get overheated)! What about football games, ice skating, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, etc? Ski resorts aren't packed to the hilt because it's warm out! LOL
That is based on ones perception. True, you can't do picnics or go waterskiing, but if you live in a cold climate, you will find things to do.
One thing I notice though: those that live in warmer climates, or I should say hot climates only find things to do when it is warm outside, but those that live in cold climates can find things to do that can be done during both warm and cold weather, so that would almost basically mean that those that live in cold climates can adapt to activities that take place regardless of the temperatures easier than those who live in warmer climates.
For instance, those who live in the south or southern CA in the valleys would say you can do everything in the warm temps but when it is cold outside, all you can do is ski, snowboard and like you mentioned--shoveling snow or driving somewhere on an icy road.
Those that live in colder climates would say you can do all of that, plus you can still hunt ( a very popular activity ), fish--even ice-fishing, you can still rock climb as long as you use a plan as to the route you'd take--the list is endless, but those that live in warmer climates don't consider a lot of these just because they never participate in them like those who live in cold climates.
Believe me, if you live long enough in a cold climate, you will find things to do, and find ways of doing them ( thinking outside the box ) either on your own or with friends who have lived there longer than you.
yes that is true. But I still think if you made a list of outdoor activities you can do in brutal winters and you made a lost of outdoor activities you can do in brutal summers, I think the summer list would be much longer.
For the elderly, I would think winters are worse. Why else would so many retire in warm states like Florida and Arizona. And if they don't move there, they usually have a winter home there.
For me personally, I would say winters are worse. Snow may be beautiful (except in the city), but you can do a lot more in heat. Plus, the heat has never made me sick.
In Chicago, a brutal winter means you have to invest in decent warming gear that will make the typical day tolerable. There will also be about 4 days in the year where it's REALLY cold, as in: painful to be outside for long at all.
In Phoenix, from what I understand, brutal summers mean several weeks where it is painful to be outside for long.
Nope, I'd still say Hermiston/Umatilla area over The Dalles. Shoot, I lived in both places for quite a few years, and I'd say both places can get hot, but I think the former had more hot days.
Record high in The Dalles was 111, Umatilla's is 117, Hermiston is 113, Pendleton's was 119 in 1898. Also, according to weather.com, Hermiston's average highs are a little warmer and lows a little colder than The Dalles.
If you can't tell, I'm a real weather nerd...
The following is a little article about heat/heat waves in Oregon...The Dalles isn't mentioned at all...which isn't saying it doesn't get hot there.
Like you, I am a weather nerd too. Odd, from that same ocs oregonstate webpage, if you check for the daily mean highs for both The Dalles and Pendleton, figuring in from June-Sept ( the warmest months in this area ) The Dalles mean high temp is 69.8F while Pendleton is 68.35. Not much, but there is a difference. However, when you go to:
in comparing The Dalles with Hermiston, it says that The Dalles is 4 degrees warmer. There isn't much a difference between the two and it is far easier to find info on Pendleton than The Dalles, probably because Pendleton is twice the size.
What I can't find is the yearly average that each location has 100F or higher degree days.
I was self-employed the entire time with the courier work, but I used to drive for PCS, City-Sprint, Senvoy and Anatech throughout the two years. I had to drive twice daily ( Mon-Fri ) to The Dalles and about once/twice a month to the Pendleton/Hermiston area. However, I've driven through eastern OR quite often visiting friends and travelling back to WY.
yes that is true. But I still think if you made a list of outdoor activities you can do in brutal winters and you made a lost of outdoor activities you can do in brutal summers, I think the summer list would be much longer.
No, that is precisely what I've been saying throughout this thread. I'm not saying you're wrong, but its all relative to where you grew up or where you're living.
If you lived in a cold climate--and I am referring to one of the northern states, not an area like Kansas or Missouri, etc. you'll see what I'm saying.
I'm sure someone from CA, TX or FL would have a list that they could create that would be 30 or 40 items long, and someone from MI, MN, ND or WY would also have a list of 30 or 40 items long, but remember not all, but most of what you can do when it is warm outside, as long as things aren't entirely frozen over, you can do them in the winter time too.
When you live in an area long enough, you'll discover things to do to compensate for the weather; regardless of it being very hot or very cold.
The notion that those in the southern or warmer states think that those in the northern or colder states of being stuck in their home all day waiting for the temp to raise above freezing is simply not true. People find ways to have a life--it might not be what others would consider "fun", but they'll find something to stay active and have something in common with others.
The only direct negative I could think of with dealing with the wintertime besides white-out conditions if there is a blizzard, are the complications it can create for the elderly.
Arthritis is made much worse by the cold, and the elderly slipping and breaking bones on slippery sidewalks are a hazard, but at the same time, they are also pulled out of scorching hot buildings dead because the heat wave knocked their power out ( though rare I must say, but it does happen ) but arthritis would be inevitably worse. If someone has arthritis, living in a cold location is one of the worst things they can do as it'll only make it worse.
I would take Brutal summers over brutal winters anyday.
It makes perfect sense that I am in Orlando. The summers do not bother me one iota; I actually enjoy them. The winters get way too cold, this winter has been extreme and it is still far too cold right now.
I'll agree with skylar0201 about cold not really keeping people inside in cold climates. You're not going to linger, or work on your tan, but there's a lot of outdoor activites.
The only thing I really didn't like about cold, cold weather is when it got so cold things started breaking or not running and you'd have to, at times, take off gloves or mittens to work on things sometimes. But, what's a little frostbite?
So, I look at it this way, I can lose a little piece of the top of my ear to frostbite (I have) or nearly die from heat stroke. (I have done that, too.) I'd rather work outside in 20 and snow than outside at 95 with 95% humidity and risk little pieces of my anatomy than my life.
Just my opinion.
Don't get me wrong, I'm old enough that I'm not a big fan of either extreme...if it were up to me, it'd be about 70 everyday, I'd never break a sweat or have to shovel snow!
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