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A brutally cold winter is tougher to endure, personally. Add in shortened days with long darkness, cold winds and ice and snow, and it is pretty miserable.
I give huge props to folks who live in cities like Toronto, Montreal in Canada, and here in the states, folks who live in Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul and Chicago. Brutal winters that I just can't deal with for long durations of time.
I'd easily live in super hot/humid cities like Miami, New Orleans, or Orlando, or a place with super hot dry heat of Phoenix, over the frigid cities, any day of the week.
One minor perk to cities in the Northern climates is, they lack the grime of cities in very hot tropical places.
Frequent rain and snow melt tends to wash dust and accrued filth down into sewers and rivers.
I'll take colder winters any day of the week. It's all about layers, and I do some of my best thinking out on the trails with crisp sun and subzero temperatures with no wind. The brightness of the snow in combination with the lower sun angle is what I like the best, I completely despise the nasty damp rain chilled "winter" that occurs in most of the southern half of the US.
Any heat and humidity is a hard pass for me as I've had the worst experiences with the heat index values of over 120F.
Northern cities that experience true "winter" are for me. I appreciate the distinct change in seasons. There is nothing like raking up crisp aromatic leaves on a sunny October day. Nothing like the first quiet snowfall that blankets the ground and rooftops. Nothing like the rebirth in spring when plants and buds on trees emerge. Nothing like the long, sunny days of summer that provide for endless fun and activities. Experiencing 4 seasons is good for your soul.
As a former 13-year resident of Chicago, I thoroughly dispute the "brutal winter" description applied to it. Sure, point to "averages", but that really disguises the reality that the temps can be quite variable during the winter. Endlessly brutal? No Way. You will experience cold and biting days, you will experience moderately cold days, and you will experience warm and sunny "thaw" days - during the entire season. It is not one long string of dark, cold, snowy days accompanied by an unrelenting arctic blast. For god's sake, people!
You don't have to shovel heat or put heat tires on my car.
Though in the end, this is subjective. I lived in Chicago for a couple of years and while I love the city, I could never go back to live. Anything less than 50 degrees is frigid for me. My perfect weather is Singapore where its hot and humid 365 days a year. But I also know most people don't feel that way and for some they'd rather be cold than hot. That's all good too.
Atlanta has such brutal summers that it's typically in the upper 60s to mid 70s at sunrise in July and August. Yes, there is humidity - but is that really so much worse than blizzards, lake effect snows and subzero wind chills?
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brutal summers or brutal winters?
