Is a Cold Climate Or A Hot Climate Easier to Adjust Too? (icy, temperatures)

[taigagirl]

I have lived in extremely cold weather most of my life. In Winnipeg, we can have days of very cold extreme weather and high wind chills, and it is possible to stay warm if you wear appropriate clothing (long underwear, warm boots, socks, mitts, headcover, etc. It goes to say that no one is really thrilled when their tires are frozen wedges or the car barely warms up at -30 to -40. That being said, I would take a cold Prairie winter day, over very hot humid weather. There is only so much you can take off.. I don't mind high heat, but high humidity turns me into a Shezilla!!

[Derek40]

Originally Posted by taigagirl

I have lived in extremely cold weather most of my life. In Winnipeg, we can have days of very cold extreme weather and high wind chills, and it is possible to stay warm if you wear appropriate clothing (long underwear, warm boots, socks, mitts, headcover, etc. It goes to say that no one is really thrilled when their tires are frozen wedges or the car barely warms up at -30 to -40. That being said, I would take a cold Prairie winter day, over very hot humid weather. There is only so much you can take off.. I don't mind high heat, but high humidity turns me into a Shezilla!!

I wholeheartedly agree, even though I have never lived in a genuinely cold climate.
We have friends that have moved to Brisbane, and they have never adjusted - even after several years.
Try doing anything that requires any sort of physical exertion in these places, and you will soon learn why you cannot adjust.

[light_shimmer]

I live in northern MN...cold is pretty normal to me. I've tried living in both southern CA and Texas ( Dallas area) and both were just too dang hot. I was a crab from the moment I arrived til the moment I left. Give me my jeans and hoodie weather anyday.

[tvdxer]

It depends whether you are talking about a persistently hot climate in which air conditioning may not be available, or one where part of the year is hot / humid. The first the continental U.S. lacks.; however, much of the world's population lives in such an environment. I'm speaking of places as diverse as the Yucatan Peninsula, Bangladesh, Indonesia, much of Africa, etc. There daily low temperatures hardly ever get below 70 F, if not 75 F, and daily high temperatures exceed 86 F in all months, and are often in the 90's. In addition, most of these places suffer from high humidity in addition to the heat, and during their "monsoon" or "rainy season", the temperatures fall a little but the humidity increases more than correspondingly. However, places like these are better compared to consistently cold places, e.g. the arctic tundra. I would find such climates on the whole worse than the northern Minnesota climate I currently live in, if not for the relentless heat, than for the monotony.

HOWEVER, if you're comparing somewhere like Florida or Mississippi to Minnesota or North Dakota,
I would take the FL / MS climate any day. Although known for stifling heat and humidity, states like Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, etc. actually have many months out of the year with comfortable temperatures. And, in addition, I'd take the 90 F heat of July in Tampa, FL any day over the 0 F cold of Duluth in February. Maybe I'm just cold-blooded, but I find it more convenient, comfortable, and tolerable to walk outside in shorts in 90 F weather with a sea breeze off the Gulf than to bundle up and face 0 F weather with winds that feel like they are cutting your exposed face. It usually cools down to a semi-comfortable (if not sticky) temperature at night during the southern warm season, making for decent walking weather at night, while here in Duluth, anything between December and March in a normal year, day or night, is unbearable without bundling up, and then even that's questionable. In addition, heating a room to 60 or 70 F above the ambient outside temperature (or even 90 F...-20 F to 70 F, very common in Duluth) results in dry, desert-like air. One thing many moving here don't realize is that in addition to the cold and snow, they can expect about 6 or 7 months of invariably dry skin.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

It depends whether you are talking about a persistently hot climate in which air conditioning may not be available, or one where part of the year is hot / humid. The first the continental U.S. lacks.; however, much of the world's population lives in such an environment. I'm speaking of places as diverse as the Yucatan Peninsula, Bangladesh, Indonesia, much of Africa, etc. There daily low temperatures hardly ever get below 70 F, if not 75 F, and daily high temperatures exceed 86 F in all months, and are often in the 90's. In addition, most of these places suffer from high humidity in addition to the heat, and during their "monsoon" or "rainy season", the temperatures fall a little but the humidity increases more than correspondingly. However, places like these are better compared to consistently cold places, e.g. the arctic tundra. I would find such climates on the whole worse than the northern Minnesota climate I currently live in, if not for the relentless heat, than for the monotony.

HOWEVER, if you're comparing somewhere like Florida or Mississippi to Minnesota or North Dakota,
I would take the FL / MS climate any day. Although known for stifling heat and humidity, states like Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, etc. actually have many months out of the year with comfortable temperatures. And, in addition, I'd take the 90 F heat of July in Tampa, FL any day over the 0 F cold of Duluth in February. Maybe I'm just cold-blooded, but I find it more convenient, comfortable, and tolerable to walk outside in shorts in 90 F weather with a sea breeze off the Gulf than to bundle up and face 0 F weather with winds that feel like they are cutting your exposed face. It usually cools down to a semi-comfortable (if not sticky) temperature at night during the southern warm season, making for decent walking weather at night, while here in Duluth, anything between December and March in a normal year, day or night, is unbearable without bundling up, and then even that's questionable. In addition, heating a room to 60 or 70 F above the ambient outside temperature (or even 90 F...-20 F to 70 F, very common in Duluth) results in dry, desert-like air. One thing many moving here don't realize is that in addition to the cold and snow, they can expect about 6 or 7 months of invariably dry skin.

Both climates have their downfalls and upsides. I can't stand heat and humidity. I'm obviously grateful for A/C during the summer, however I hate having the house closed up for long periods of time during the summer. Same could be said about winter in Minnesota though - months of having the house closed up due to the cold. During the winter, I try to crack open a window for a few minutes just to get some of the stale, germy air out of the house.

I much prefer dealing with cold than heat and humidity. The dry skin and dry air in the house can be problematic, but I would rather deal with that than stepping outside and start sweating after only five minutes.

I will say that the southeast is very pleasant during the winter. I guess that's mother nature's "gift" after dealing with months and months of heat and humidity. But if I had to choose between Mississippi and Minnesota, the latter will win. Maybe I will change my mind when I experience a January day in the upper midwest.

[ADGreen]

Originally Posted by Derek40

I wholeheartedly agree, even though I have never lived in a genuinely cold climate.
We have friends that have moved to Brisbane, and they have never adjusted - even after several years.
Try doing anything that requires any sort of physical exertion in these places, and you will soon learn why you cannot adjust.

I caught up with a good mate last night who lives in Brisbane with his wife and two young kids (he is down here in Sydney for a conference) - we had him around for dinner.

He is originally from Brisbane and regards anything south of the QLD/NSW border as cold (he was wearing a jumper last night and I think it was around 25C (75F) at 9-10pm).

The last time I saw him was when they were living in Townsville back in 2003 - we paid them a visit during December.

My wife and I struggled with Townsville's heat and humidity (I didn't mind it too much, but I needed to shower several times during the day). Amazingly, he does not believe in air conditioning - his Townsville house did not have any and he never uses it in Brisbane (he was shocked to see we had a portable unit for our bedroom in Sydney).

So it shows how we are all different with our heat/humidity tolerances. Personally I like the heat more than my body would care to admit . However I prefer a cool room to sleep in at night (we have our bedroom window open 365 days of the year).

[koyaanisqatsi1]

Originally Posted by Derek40

I wholeheartedly agree, even though I have never lived in a genuinely cold climate.
We have friends that have moved to Brisbane, and they have never adjusted - even after several years.
Try doing anything that requires any sort of physical exertion in these places, and you will soon learn why you cannot adjust.

I, too, have a particular mate who despite having lived in Brisbane since 1974, hates the summer heat/humidity with a passion. He moved here around 6 years ago for work, lived here for 2 years and absolutely relished the much less humid as well as changeable summer weather here. He had to move back up north due to family reasons and today still grates loudly (although he hasn't been as loud this coming summer so far!) about Brisbane's summer weather. He's repeatedly said if it weren't for his family, he'd move back here in a flash.

I went up there on Australia Day weekend, the heat/humidity certainly reminded me why I prefer visiting in the winter as well as not to live there. Could not walk 5 steps without breaking into a waterfall - very uncomfortable indeed - and it was also like walking on eggshells. Waking up to 21-23oC temps. is no easy feat too.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

It depends whether you are talking about a persistently hot climate in which air conditioning may not be available, or one where part of the year is hot / humid. The first the continental U.S. lacks.; however, much of the world's population lives in such an environment. I'm speaking of places as diverse as the Yucatan Peninsula, Bangladesh, Indonesia, much of Africa, etc. There daily low temperatures hardly ever get below 70 F, if not 75 F, and daily high temperatures exceed 86 F in all months, and are often in the 90's. In addition, most of these places suffer from high humidity in addition to the heat, and during their "monsoon" or "rainy season", the temperatures fall a little but the humidity increases more than correspondingly. However, places like these are better compared to consistently cold places, e.g. the arctic tundra. I would find such climates on the whole worse than the northern Minnesota climate I currently live in, if not for the relentless heat, than for the monotony.

HOWEVER, if you're comparing somewhere like Florida or Mississippi to Minnesota or North Dakota,
I would take the FL / MS climate any day. Although known for stifling heat and humidity, states like Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, etc. actually have many months out of the year with comfortable temperatures. And, in addition, I'd take the 90 F heat of July in Tampa, FL any day over the 0 F cold of Duluth in February. Maybe I'm just cold-blooded, but I find it more convenient, comfortable, and tolerable to walk outside in shorts in 90 F weather with a sea breeze off the Gulf than to bundle up and face 0 F weather with winds that feel like they are cutting your exposed face. It usually cools down to a semi-comfortable (if not sticky) temperature at night during the southern warm season, making for decent walking weather at night, while here in Duluth, anything between December and March in a normal year, day or night, is unbearable without bundling up, and then even that's questionable. In addition, heating a room to 60 or 70 F above the ambient outside temperature (or even 90 F...-20 F to 70 F, very common in Duluth) results in dry, desert-like air. One thing many moving here don't realize is that in addition to the cold and snow, they can expect about 6 or 7 months of invariably dry skin.

Yeah I can't imagine in a place that cold. For me personally, a place where you can get drunk, pass out on a park bench and actually DIE from cold on a winter's night is too cold for human habitation, lol.

While yes alot of Americans live in milder cities in the Southern states, all bar some Californians, Floridians and Hawaiians have at least experienced real cold - I'm talking well below zero centigrade, snow.etc. Most Aussies haven't even seen snow!

[nei]

How cold do you have to be die if you pass out drunk? I don't think it needs to be that cold, as drinking chills the body. I think passed out Native Americans used to die in New Mexico. Though, they probably weren't wearing proper clothes.

[snappingfish]

I have read the posts up-to-date on this thread. I wondered if I can get feedback on a 'tighter' set of circumstances? My wife and I are looking at a couple of areas for retirement. Specifically, Redmond, Or, and Surprise, AZ. We were bang-done-solid on our choice of Redmond. We had traveled there, spent a week, and really loved the city. It is clean, and has everything you need. INCLUDING a city of close to 90,000 population about 15-20 minutes away (Bend, Or.). The other place we are focusing on, is a town north of Phoenix by 30 miles or so, named Surprise, AZ. These are two radically different places. We currently live near the top of California, on the coast. There are 3-4 towns along this stretch of coast, Fortuna, Eureka, Arcata and Crescent City. The weather in these coastal towns is do-able, but I find the 'gloom factor' to much to consider staying here forever. It gets a marine layer in that is wet, cold, damp, drizzly feel for a greater part of the year. Very seldom freezes (32F) but still the damp, cold weather that is here a great part of the year is not nice. A lot of folks like this climate, but I'm just not in that group.

So, we started about 6-8 months ago, searching the web for places that would more suit or fancy. At the suggestions of a few friends, we have come to the two places I mentioned. The problem with Redmond, (at least for me) is that I recently received a message from a forum member who sent a link, that showed that, indeed, over 50% of the annual nights in this region were below freezing, and there were a lot of overcast and sun-less days. I studied that info, and came to believe that while this city had great merits, we might do better to look at the other choice, in AZ. As a lot of you probably know, Surprise, (and Phoenix) have a summer that shows a LOT of days over 100(F) and even into the 115-120 range. I just really can't find info on which might be an easier climate to adjust (acclimate) to. I know-you can add clothing in the cold, and you can only get so naked in the heat. But as to actual acclimation-is it easier to get used to high summer heat (the payoff is that about 70% of the year, the temps are in the 40's-70's, and comfortable), or get used to the frozen nights and chilly days in Or (Teens-20's at night, with highs in the 20's-30's for 4-5 months of each year, with the summer days going to the high 70's-95+ in the day, and the 40's at night.). The in-common factors that attract us to these areas, are the humidity, and the total precipitation. Both cities have humidity that runs about 10-20%, and both places have a rather low rainfall average (10-20"). So, the difference to the post I saw here, most talked about heat with HIGH humidity. Low humidity is really quite different, and would play a large part of how the days feel, both in heat and in cold. A low-humidity cold is much less difficult that a damp, wet cold. Same with the heat-much easier to take with a low humidity.

So, that should be enough to get a few opinions, as to the acclimation question, as well as the general overview of living in either place.

thanks in advance for any insight-we really do weigh the responses we get on the forum in our decisions as to where we might look.

AND, finally, if anyone has a suggestion of a place that might be all of the above, with a LOWER summer heat index, and a WARMER winter index, suggest 'em. We are not fully committed to any move as yet, and would certainly check out any viable suggestions.

Thanks