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in the February 10, 1978 blizzard. I also grew up in NYC apartments where landlords didn't give heat in the winters, specially when the boilers broke. My Mom turned on the oven. I even went to sleep in my coat under blankets sometimes. When I was an adult and owned my own home, we had our kitchen rennovated and the back of our house torn down in February. We all slept down stairs and kept the fireplace going all night. There are ways to compensate for the cold.
What do you do for the heat without AC? Walk around stark naked? Stay under a cold shower ALL DAY?
You'd be surprised how many people in the south live without AC. Are you referring to central air??? You can easily get a AC unit. Those things work great.
How do people deal with cold climates without heat? I can comment on that since I almost froze to death in the Wash DC area during the Blizzard of '77. That was the final straw that impelled me to leave.
Besides: many '4 season' places routinely have heat indices 100F+ during their summers. Again: Wash DC is an example of such.
Washington, DC is not a cold climate. It is humid subtropical, in the same climate zone as the rest of the South and most of Florida. If you want cold, go to Alaska.
Washington, DC is not a cold climate. It is humid subtropical, in the same climate zone as the rest of the South and most of Florida. If you want cold, go to Alaska.
Washington, DC is not a cold climate. It is humid subtropical, in the same climate zone as the rest of the South and most of Florida. If you want cold, go to Alaska.
Since this seems to be the never ending battle of what is cold and what is not cold here is the definition.
a. Having a low temperature.
b. Having a temperature lower than normal body temperature.
c. Feeling no warmth; uncomfortably chilled.
If the person that said DC was cold thought DC was cold then it was cold to them.
With 3 months with average highs in the low to mid 40's and lows between 27 and 32 to me and many many other people that is a cold climate.
Are there colder climates? Of course
Because there are colder climates does that mean DC is a warm climate? Absolutely not.
And being designated the same broad climate zone as Florida and much of the south does not mean it is warm all the time, hell it gets cold in Florida.
Here is a map that will be more beneficial than the broad climate zones map.
This map is for plant hardiness which will give a much better indication if areas have similar climates. For example temperature, precipitation, freezes.
definitely a good map to tell which areas can and do get cold often ^. For example I'm in a 10A zone on the California coast which is the same as Naples, FL for instance, but parallel to Washington DC... It just doesn't get cold here. The same reason Europe can be so high up but be in similar zones.
Since this seems to be the never ending battle of what is cold and what is not cold here is the definition.
a. Having a low temperature.
b. Having a temperature lower than normal body temperature.
c. Feeling no warmth; uncomfortably chilled.
If the person that said DC was cold thought DC was cold then it was cold to them.
With 3 months with average highs in the low to mid 40's and lows between 27 and 32 to me and many many other people that is a cold climate.
Are there colder climates? Of course
Because there are colder climates does that mean DC is a warm climate? Absolutely not.
And being designated the same broad climate zone as Florida and much of the south does not mean it is warm all the time, hell it gets cold in Florida.
As old (and as sometimes juvenile) as this seasonal vs no-seasonal change….warm vs cold…North vs South debate is…and what most people prefer there is a mean scientific answer, or at least a range. According to many climate studies…most people (greater than 75%) prefer a location that has annual mean temperatures of 51 to 65 F with a modest seasonal change.
Koppen first discovered this narrow range back in the late 1890’s in researching climate classifications. In Koppen’s research - he found that 10 C (50 F) was generally the lower limit of human comfort for most… and that most resorts (outside of mountain areas) began their active resort season when the monthly mean temperature was over 50 F and ended their season when the monthly mean fell below 50 F. He also noted that population patterns tended to curve away from locations that had an annual mean temperature of less than 50 F.
At the opposite end…by the mid 1950’s…climatologists noted that a modest segment of the population found conditions in any location where the monthly mean temperature was over 65 F too warm. This was also broadened to include locations where the annual mean was greater than 65 F. In fact, even today, NOAA (National Weather Service) still uses 65 F as the 0 base for cooling degree days. Research showed that locations where the annual mean temp was 66 F or over (such locations, would of course have a mild winter and less seasonal change), the lure of the warmth of winter was not enough of a draw to combat the heat of summer. Again, this was for the majority of people(75 %). Places like Miami or Rio obviously have a annual mean temp above 66F and plenty of people wind their climates quite nice.
As time went on… climatologists used the monthly and annual range of 50 F to 65 F as the warm and cold boundaries that most humans would find comfortable. Not surprisingly, most of the most well developed countries and populated regions on earth fall into this zone…including most of Asia ( central China southward, most of Japan, South Korea)…much of the Mediterranean, southern/central Europe, populated parts of southern Australia…etc.
Below is a map of annual mean daily temperatures just to show you where zone falls in the USA mainland (above 50 below 65 F). As you can see…the zones that fall outside this range are the extremes in the USA:
In the “Northern Zones 4 and 5” – meaning the annual mean daily temperature is less than 50 F (which includes a large part of the Western States, Intermountain West, the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northern NY and New England)… most people might find too cold.
In the “Southern Zones 1” and southern parts of Zone 2” – meaning the annual mean daily average temp of over 65 F (which includes the deep subtropical Southeast/Gulf States, the deserts of Arizona, and extreme southwestern New Mexico)… most people might find too hot.
The “Middle Zones 3 and northern Zone 2” – meaning the annual mean daily average temp is above 50 F and below 66 F (which includes the Pacific Coast states from Washington south through most of California to the Mexican border…in the Atlantic Coast States from Long Island, NY/southern Connecticut, south to southern South Carolina…in the Lower Midwest below the Lakes in Ohio, Illinois…etc., south to the upper interior South (North AL/GA), then west to North Texas through parts of the southwest (Northern NM, AZ …etc)… most people would consider the middle ground.
This is not to say those in Zones 1/southern 2….and Zones 4 and 5 have a bad climate…only what the middle range of what most people prefer and “where” this middle range is located on the US mainland. In the middle Zones of the USA (3 and northern Zone 2)…while there is seasonal change, it seems its slower and less quick than in the far northern zones…but stronger than in the far southern zones where change seasonal change is at a minimum.
Again this concept certainly has its flaws, as it cannot take into account precipitation, seasonal winds, averaging, climate type…etc. However, it is still a good baseline as to where some might find it “too hot” and others might find it “too cold”.
Washington DC…is located almost right smack in the middle of these zones….
Thought some would find it interesting….
Last edited by wavehunter007; 10-31-2009 at 07:49 AM..
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
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Originally Posted by lilred0005
I can only speak about growing up in South Florida but I assume the same could be said for Southern California and Texas, you miss out on a lot of things when you grow up in an area with no seasons. I am a Florida native, and if I hadn't travelled quite a bit, I'd never of seen snow, and many natives I know still haven't seen snow. I had no idea snow was so wet. I have never seen the flowers and plants rejuvinate in the Spring, nor have I seen a tree's leaves change colors in the Fall. I have never smelled the smoky smell of leaves burning in the Fall or a field of wildflowers in the Spring. Until I travelled, I had never seen an Oak or Maple tree, or felt what real grass feels like, not the crab grass we have down here. I would have never seen an icicle and have never seen ice on trees. I was mystified the first time I saw a lake frozen over. These may seem like every day mundane things to most people, and some would argue that not all these things, like ice, are positive but I personally feel that you miss out on a lot of wonderful things in nature when you grow up without seasons. Does anybody agree?
YES! I'm a native Texan who mostly lived in Houston and just moved to the Boston area. I'm experiencing this right now! I'm finding the weather here fascinating and such a delight. It CHANGES, for one thing! But not on an almost daily basis, with the heat and rains and cold, like back home. There are these things called *~seasons~* here so the weather stays fairly consistent for a longer period of time. I arrived in the summer and delighted that it was so cool and the trees everywhere so green. Then the leaves changed colors and started dropping off and we had to break out the rake! Fun times. Soon they'll be gone altogether. Like another poster mentioned, there is now a clear-shot where we can see pretty far down the street where before we were hidden behind trees and couldn't see a thing. We even got a little snow earlier in the month, a preview of what's to come. People make fun of me that I sound like a little kid when I talk about the weather, but honestly, that Mother Nature changes in this way is so new and exciting! Reading about a thing, seeing it on TV, and experiencing it are two different things!
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