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What's amazing to me is that 30 or 40 years ago, winter and cold weather was considered a normal part of the American experience and lifestyle. But today, it's widely considered to be a dreaded, exotic, undue hardship. I can only guess that this change in attitude is because the population in the South and West (warmer climes) has exploded over the last few decades, and we now have many more Americans who (since birth) have known nothing of winter, or even of temperatures that get cooler than 50 degrees.
I suppose this is true, and did not grow up with the "winter" experience...
I wonder how much what you grow up in effects you later in life.
As I said before not ever getting used to the winter temps... It was not like I didn't survive and "tolerate" it...just thought, wow why am I putting up with living in this miserable climate when there are other options.
For cryin' out loud, I'm not scared of the cold. The problem is I don't have much experience DRIVING in snow or ice (or both). Since it fall infrequently down here, there is no chance of really learning the right way and with the lack of snow removal equipment, most roads are snowed up til it melts. A few years ago Arkansas was hit with a major snow covering the state with a foot or more all the way to the Louisiana border. You couldn't find the roads off of the main highways. This was like in February 2000.
Having lived my entire life in the north east, I can take 20 below much better than I can take 90 or more above. You can dress for the cold, but not extreme heat!
I've met southerners that don't mind cold, but they consider 65 cold!
I'm not scared of the heat, but I can't tolerate heat and high humidity. It makes me dizzy and makes me feel like I'm being weighed down by a lead blanket - it just makes me stupid and foggy. I would never be able to survive living in the South, even with air conditioning. So, just as Northerners have a tolerance for cold, Southerners seem to have a tolerance for oppressive heat and humidity.
I'll second what others have said and say that southerners can handle the cold but we just don't like it. I would say the hardest winter of my life was last winter moving up to the DC area in Virginia. I've never been so cold. Some called it a mild winter and I was taken aback. Really it snowed three times! It was below 40 for days if not weeks. So it's all about perspective and I think well...people should respect perspective. If someone is cold when its below 65 so what? Also I think the south does have four seasons. "Winter" for me has nothing to do with snow. To me winter is when it doesn't even reach 65 in the middle of the afternoon. Now that I live "up north" I realize that for some that only describes fall. No one is scared but I will say that this winter I plan to spend a little more money on coats and sweaters so I'm not so cold (I hated sweaters growing up).
It really does depend on what you are used to and even that can change season to season. If it is 90 for a long time in the summer and then one day it's 80, I'm going to say it's only 80. If it's 60 for a spell in the fall and then is 80, I am going to think 80 is pretty durn hot! It also depends ALOT on humidity... 90 and no humidity is much easier to take then 90 with 80% humidity. As is wind chill worse then actual temperature.
One thing I noticed this so-called summer is that there was a lack of "heat index" which we alwasy have in the summer and it truly felt like we had no summer this year.
So its like 55 degrees outside and I must admit, as a southerner, it sucks. Royally.
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