Quote:
Originally Posted by cjg5
Forget what the weather service says, what about you?
With heat its difficult for me to pinpoint because there are different factors involved that go into determining it. But for most of my life in Seattle, I've usually been okay up to about 80 degrees, with anything more than that getting to be too much. (Obviously a drier heat is more tolerable for me, and I can be fine well into the 90s F before hot starts to become too hot). Also if nighttime temps are too hot for a comfortable sleep, its definitely a heatwave.
A note of interest though, late last spring and early summer in Seattle, I found temps in the mid to upper 60 degree range to be hot. Strange. (Although the time I spent in Eastern Washington's dry heat I was fine and dandy though 80 and 90 degree weather all summer long! When it got to 100 though, it was starting to get too hot).
A cold snap is a bit easier to define. If its not making water freeze and keeping it frozen all day long, its not a cold snap. Daytime highs must be less than freezing for two or more days before I consider it a true cold snap.
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Not my personal standards, but here in Duluth, if it gets above the lower 80's for a few consecutive days, people will call it a "heat wave". Particularly if the lows are in the 60's or (gasp) 70's.
High temperatures of 85 F and above (270 on record for 1981-2011) are as common as high temperatures of 4F and below (254 on record), or low temperatures of -16F and below (268 on record). 4F happens to be convenient in that it equals about -15C. So a "cold snap" consists of a few days in which the temperature rise does not rise above the low 0's. Usually, lows are in the -10Fs then, although they may dip as far as below -30F, but that's rare.
Examining the 1981-2011 records...
A high temperature of 95F/35C or above (6 instances) is as rare as a high temperature of -18F/-28C or below, or a low temperature of -33F/-36C or below (7 instances).
A high temperature of 90F/32C or above (62 instances) is about as rare as a high temperature of below -4F/-20C (61 instances), or a low of -24F/-31C or below (66 instances).
A high temperature of 80F/27C or above (834 instances) is about as common as a high below 15F/-11C (800 instances) or a low below -4F/-20C (860 instances).
A low temperature of 70F/21C or above (17 instances) is rarer than a low of -30F/-34C or below (21 instances).
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