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The same reason you don't like the hot, I'm used to 65 degrees and up, im comfortable in that weather, shorts, t shirts tennis shoes 10 out of 12 months.
I had to chime in on this one. I'm in North Carolina which is the happy middle of the split between those who like the cold and those who like the hot. I admit the state kinda has a nice mix of both but not too much of either one. I work part time at a warehouse which is not airconditioned, but has limited heat. I personally prefer the warmth. Working in an exposed environment I can say that at the end of the day that the COLD is worse for the human body. In the dead of summer sure people complain of being hot, and sticky but as long as there hydrated it's okay, no unneccessary effort, wear whatever you are comfortable in, plus who dosent look good in shades. But the company routinely gives out gloves, hat, hot chocolate etc. for the super cold weather. Not to mention, ears, fingers all get numb once it's in the lower twenties and below, nose runs, hurts to even bent at the knees, all that plus all those layers of clothes, toe and hand warmers, and wasted time dressing, scraping frost/ice of your car, warming your car. Trust the cold is physically more painful and just more work overall.
Also look at the elderly, low income and and worse yet homeless, rarely do the power companies make special pushes during the summer for individuals in that criteria. But when there is a bitter cold snap. There are special shelters, heat subsidies, free heaters etc. (An icestorm is another example of this) But let there be a hurricane in the dead of summer, electricity or not you find some water and ice if available and just tough it out, and please believe, I've been here for both.
Logically speaking the cold is worse. The rest is just open to personal preference.
This is not a monolithic question. Most of the hot climates in the South are at low elevation and latitudes. The High Country in the South is much more Appalachian and has a climate that is more temperate with commonalities more similar to the North.
I had to chime in on this one. I'm in North Carolina which is the happy middle of the split between those who like the cold and those who like the hot. I admit the state kinda has a nice mix of both but not too much of either one. I work part time at a warehouse which is not airconditioned, but has limited heat. I personally prefer the warmth. Working in an exposed environment I can say that at the end of the day that the COLD is worse for the human body.
I too worked in an un-air conditioned warehouse (only full time) and hot weather was considerably harder on my body. During the brief winters I was actually comfortable at work, but from May through September I was constantly battling headaches, nausea, and dehydration. Not to mention all the clothes I ruined by drenching them in sweat for 9+ hours every day for months on end. It was always a truly horrible experience for me, and my only relief was winter. I also commuted to that job by bicycle, and I would also gladly take winter weather for that, too. I honestly don't know how I could have been born in the South and lived there for 32 years while being so poorly suited for that climate. It doesn't seem possible.
Why are people from (insert region here) more prone to sweeping generalizatons? Seriously, everybody I've ever met from ______ believed ______. At least that's what I heard.
I'm a southerner and when I was living in Korea I literally got frostbite. But it's only subzero temperatures I loathe, I am actually planning on moving to a northern (colder) state soon and one reason is the cooler temperatures.
On a side note, I was in New York 2 summers ago working in the hills during the day. The hottest it was while I was there was about 82. I (the Texan) didn't break a sweat, they (the New Yorkers) were passing out.
We get heat, but the South really doesn't get cold very often. Everyone has their definition of "hot" and "cold", but lemme just call "hot" over 90 degrees with humidity (over 95 without), and "cold" under 32 degrees.
It gets "hot" in most Northern cities at least 15-25 times a year during the middle of the day (when people are up, outside, and active). It gets over 85 degrees (what I consider uncomfortably warm) well over 40-50 times a year (even in the colder states like MN, WI, or MI). It also gets uncomfortably hot (heat index over 105) at least 5 times a year in most Northern locales. In the winter, it gets "cold" at least 100 times a year, and under 20 (what I consider to be uncomfortably cold) up to 50+ times a year in some of those same states.
In the South, it gets "hot" well over 100 times a year in most states, and uncomfortably hot (over 105 heat index) at least 20-30 times a year in most places. It only gets "cold" up to 5 times a year for a daytime high (and that's pushing it), and it just about NEVER gets what I consider to be uncomfortably (or dangerously) cold, below 20 degrees for a high. Again, when it's 3 in the morning, most people are not affected by the weather, so I consider daytime temps to be most notable.
So to me, both regions have extremes and both regions see a diversity of temperatures and weather, but the North has more extreme swings in temperature. Furthermore, there is a limit to how hot a place can get for the most part, and generally speaking temps really don't breach 100-105 degrees in most non-desert climates. On the other hand, there seems to be almost no limit to how cold temperatures can get, and I've experienced temps SO FAR below the "cold" threshold that it completely makes that definition or criteria useless! When it's -5 degrees FOR A HIGH TEMP in Minneapolis or Chicago, and -25 for a low, and a fierce 20 mph wind that makes wind chills below -50 degrees, our definition of "cold" changes and it becomes hard to compare "Northern cold" to "Southern (or Average)" cold. In other words, it DOES get about as hot in the North as it does in the South (just not nearly as often), but it NEVER gets as cold in the South as it does in the North.
For this reason, I think Northerners are more hardy and Southerners need to not complain about the "cold" pretty much ever.
I don’t think there’s any reason to describe those from the North as more hardy. I live in the Boston area, and hear plenty of complaints about both heat and cold. Hot weather or cold, it’s a matter of tolerating unpleasant weather because that’s what it happens to be like in the place where you happen to live. It’s a question of what you get used to, not some innately superior tolerance for extremes of weather. I think Sherbet’s earlier observation that Southerners are “afraid” of the cold for the same reason Northerners are “afraid” of the heat pretty well sums it up.
Annie_himself, regarding your observation about the kind of cold you get with high humidity, I agree that this can be uncomfortable. That dank chill really cuts right through you. Those of us up north are not altogether unfamiliar with that discomfort. We get plenty of that kind of weather, only we get it here in March and April instead of January. You make a good point, though, about the fact that even the deep South, except maybe way down deep into Florida, gets some chilly weather, sometimes even truly cold weather. I’ve met people up this way who seem to have the misconception that the entire South is toasty all year—like a guy I used to work with who thought that average highs in Norfolk (that’s Norfolk, VA) were in the 80’s in January. Not quite. You make a good point, that Southerners do know something of what winter is about. And you’re probably right that average winter days in much of the North aren’t much colder than cold spells in much of the South.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnLion512
This last summer I lived through 90 days of 100+ degree weather (not including heat indices...!) so I think you should shut your trap
Either way you 'hardy' folks have no business bragging about it this year, haven't you all been sitting pretty at 70+ degrees since Feb?
Yeah...that's nothing on severe cold, sorry. Suck it up, dixie!
Besides, you can't have it both ways: it can't be "awesome weather" in Texas and "terrible" up North, then to turn around and complain about the heat and how nice it is in the Upper Midwest. Either you like your weather or you don't, but you can't use a recent phenomenon or two to make a point here, just to turn around and say the opposite, depending on the argument.
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But the company routinely gives out gloves, hat, hot chocolate etc. for the super cold weather. Not to mention, ears, fingers all get numb once it's in the lower twenties and below, nose runs, hurts to even bent at the knees, all that plus all those layers of clothes, toe and hand warmers, and wasted time dressing, scraping frost/ice of your car, warming your car. Trust the cold is physically more painful and just more work overall. 
