I really cannot understand the fanfare of “warm weather” places like Texas, Florida, Arizona, Hawaii, and the Gulf Coast. I feel like society has a tendency to idolize warm weather destinations like those.
Even living in the northern, more continential parts of North America, I still feel like local meterologists have a pro-summer season bias.
In the late winter and spring local meteroligists would countdown the milestones to the “first day of spring”, and the start of “baseball season”. It’s as if they are biased against mild or cold temperatures. They also make things like “putting on a light jacket” seem like a “chore”. I feel like they tend to phrase it as “Don’t forget that light jacket if you’re going out tonight because the temperatures will drop tonight”. Meterologists also seem to idolize beach and pool weather for some reason, as if it’s something that is a “good lifestyle” somehow.
T-shirt and shorts weather is terrible. I hate it not being cold enough to wear long sleeved clothing. If it is too hot to wear school uniform or business clothing, then it is too hot, period. I cringe at schools and businesses that previously banned shorts that decided allow it as part of the “uniform” because it got so hot outside. Cold weather is just so much better. People just suck at putting on proper clothes when it gets cold. Unlike when it is cold, when it is hot, one can’t just take off clothing within social norms as it gets hotter outside.
A lifestyle in a hot weather place seems like it would just be an awful way to live. Places that shutdown from 2pm to 5pm because it is too hot to do anything outside, wasting hours of daylight and delaying dinner after sunset waiting for the temperature to drop. Or having to get up at 5am to go outside for exercise before the temperature climbs to 32°C (90°F) by 10am. The idea that it is so hot and humid outside that people would need to take showers plus a change in clothing upon arriving at work in the office. It would seem so cumbersome and a terrible way to live in a terrible climate; whereas with winter one can just take off layers as needed. I don’t understand society’s obsession with beach and pool weather and wanting to go to the pool or beach. What is so good about the pool or the beach such that people idolize them so much?
I hate how ugly window AC units are, both from the inside and outside. They are eyesores to look at and can ruin the urban streetscape as well. They are large, bulky, take up space, and are uncomfortably loud. Come late May or early to mid June, it sucks having to guess how many comfortable days are left before the AC units need to go in.
The fact that air conditioning allows people to live and build major cities in otherwise miserable parts of the world is just a symbol of mankind’s arrogance. ACs allows big oil to keep working class citizens forever hooked and dependent on the power grid to not die in the summer heat. Oh man, just wait for the heat index to reach 42°C (107°F) and wait for a blackout power outage to strike. Lots of people are in for a rude awakening as they find out of the consequences of depending on their ACs and living in such awfully hot climates. Unlike the summer heat, at least with winter there’s clothes and blankets to put on to stay warm, as well as the fact that buildings trap heat better than radiating heat to cool off.
It’s crazy to me how people tend to say “Canadians have a brutal climate”, or “The weather in England and Ireland is awful and it sucks”, in stark contrast to the idolization of Florida, Hawaii, Texas, and Arizona as places famed for their “warm” temperatures and “mild” climate. On the one hand, Florida and Texas have a heat index of 40-43°C (104-110°F) in the summer. On the other hand; Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton, and London England; each have summer daily maximums around 22-26°C (72-79°F); and it is hard for the temperature to reach 32°C (90°F).
Is it really worth living in an area where the heat index is 40-45°C (104-113°F) months on end, just because people can’t stand a temperature of 3°C (38°F) in winter? Man, people are literal vampires if they rather take a heat index of 42°C (107°F) in the summer; over a 3°C (38°F) winter temperature. The snow is perhaps a gift and reward for those who choose to live in an area with mild summers around 22-28°C (72-82°F), over a more brutal hot and humid climate.
Man, imagine a world without air conditioning. It would be so much better. Perhaps if AC never existed, people would not be living in terrible hot and humid climates. People would not be so harsh to look down on Canadian winters if instead, people had to treat summer heat a lot more seriously. It’s crazy how people (or local meterologists) look down on even a temperature of 12-17°C (54-63°F); in stark contrast to the obsession and idolization with the beach, the pool, and wearing T-shirts and shorts.
100% agree, summer sucks
you can still do things in winter, you don’t have to be trapped inside
as an AZ resident and past MN resident, I miss snow so much
Well, as others said people lived in hot climats from ancient times, but remember that even after that the summer was the season of getting food - crops were grown only in spring/summer with the peak in mid summer and then fall of until freezing of winter comes around.
I really like summer for that too, it’s berries, fruits and stuff, nature blooms in full force.
That being said, I think that all seasons are good and have there own perks. My main gripe is that I think the season should match itself - if it’s summer it should be sunny and warm, if it’s winter it should be snowy and cold etc etc
I just want to pop in and mention air conditioning is far more energy efficient than heating. Heating turns one energy unit into heat, while air conditioning uses one energy unit to transfer a couple units of energy worth of heat from inside to outside. AC efficiencies vary ofc, but the only way to heat more efficiently is by using a heat pump to transfer heat from outside to in (Air conditioning is also a heat pump). Which, is the same efficiency as AC. Heat pumps are fuckin cool
My brain which was forced to wake up every 3 hours to be sure my infra didn’t freeze at -32C last night disagrees with you.
Fuck winter.
I love rainy and cold weather, but it’s a little obvious now that autumn and winter are bad months for me, while I thrive in spring and summer. I wish it was the other way around because I expect autumn and winter with such joy. In addition to the weather, I love the festivities around death and darkness, the winter reunions, and I have important birthdays in those months. But almost every year I spend these holidays/celebrations with some apathy. My writing slows down. I sleep more, eat more, but it’s nowhere as enjoyable as in spring and summer. So I can imagine that some people feel energized in the all-year-round hot places. Silly, but even if my body is healthy, I do not like spring and summer. I hate the clothing, I hate sunburns, I hate to feel thirsty… But at least I get the energy to hate and rant about it and not just shrug. It feels better. I should be thankful for the light and warmth, and I’m trying to like these seasons a little bit more.
Schizopost
“I hate hot weather. I hate that other people are allowed to live in hot places. I also hate air conditioning, which makes the temperature more bearable in whatever clothing you choose. I also hate that people in schools or businesses are allowed to wear shorter clothing that makes hot weather more tolerable and would cut down on the need for air conditioning.”
Like, do you want to be too hot, or don’t you? Complaining about the weather while actively refusing to do even the simplest action of putting on cooler clothing and at the same time eschewing your only other options of AC or swimming. This is the bed you’ve made. When hot weather rolls around, the least you could do is lie in it quietly without casting shade at other people, who have no control over the weather. They’re simply doing what’s necessary to not be too hot, the same way you need to do what’s necessary to not be too cold in frigid weather with heaters and extra layers of winter clothing. Since before humans even existed, our hominin ancestors have had to adapt to extreme temperatures using technology and know-how. That’s just how it is, whether it’s hot or cold weather. To get mad at others for your failure to adapt seems silly.
But that’s just my opinion.
Humans evolved in the tropics. You’re just weird. It’s OK to be weird but you have kind of a strange superiority complex about it.
If you don’t even reach the 30s you’re fucking cold. Brr Canada sounds horrible.
I still don’t think most homes in Aus have A/C, we survive just fine.
Where I am in Canada we definitely hit over 30C in the summer all the time. Plus we have high humidity. It’s terrible.
One thing Australians got going for them is that all 5 major Australian cities all have colder summer averages than any American sunbelt city. Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide all have average summer heat index maximums below 31°C (87°F).
NYC has the same average summer heat index 31°C (87°F), and dew point as Brisbane, so Brisbane is not any more hot or humid than NYC in the summer. But that means a large swath of the eastern US south of the 40th parallel are all hotter and more humid than much of QLD and NSW. Perth has the same average summer heat index as Chicago and Minneapolis at 29°C (85°F), and those 2 American cities are the furthest north and closest to the Canadian border. Sydney and Adelaide have average summer heat indices colder than Boston (27°C / 81°F vs 28°C / 83°F), which the latter is the northeasternmost major city in the US closest to New Brunswick. Melbourne (26°C / 78°F) has colder summer averages than Ottawa, Toronto, or Winnipeg (27°C / 80°F).
NYC had an entire article about how it reached 40 degrees one day a few years ago saying it was the first time since the '50s.
Sydney hit 50 degrees a few years ago, we hit 40 every year in every city.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-sydney-suburbs-that-hit-50c-last-summer-20201002-p561by.html
Summer averages don’t tell the full story.
Yeah Perth, Melbourne, and Adelaide can get quite hot, but usually in those instances it’s hot desert air that typically causes the dew point to drop drastically. That means the heat index in some instances is lower than the air temperature. See here for an example where the air temp climbed to 41°C / 106°F, but the heat index is only 38°C / 101°F.
Here in Boston the heat index typically hits 38°C / 100°F every summer, and in recent years it’s happened multiple times. but that’s usually due to the humidity that typically prevents the air temperature from climbing above 36°C / 96°F. There was a day last summer in Boston where the heat index was 38°C / 101°F, but the air temp was only 32°C / 89°F, because the dew point that day sat at 24°C / 75°F for the entire day. We’ve had 40°C / 104°F heat indices every other summer and have topped at 42°C / 107°F last summer.
There is also the case of overnight lows that are also a lot higher than in the major Australian cities save Brisbane. Since the dew point is lower in most Australian cities even if it gets hot, Australian cities tend to have cooler nights than those in the US. Here in Boston when we get days with heat indices approaching 38°C / 100°F, the overnight heat index tends to hover no lower than 23°C / 74°F. Boston had an overnight heat index of 31°C / 88°F following the day it hit 42°C / 107°F. I’m not aware of any of the 5 major Australian cities with that high of a nighttime low, but I would imagine the situation in the rest of the U.S. further south to be much worse than what Boston had to endure that day.
Here to show support for winter. Even living in an area with regular winters and uncomfortable touristy summers, it still seems like the majority of locals hate the cold. It’s a bit infuriating.
A big chunk of the world’s population lives near the equator and has a tropical climate, and people have been living there way before airconditioning was invented.
Now THAT’S an unpopular opinion.
Nono, let them think it’s great. More real estate in practical areas for me. Let them suffer.
Those sound like the words of someone who plays the trombone.
No AC in homes here in the UK… cause the weather is dank. We do get some sun but we can go pretty much the whole of the winter with seeing none and it’s depressing. So yeah idolising the sun is common here. The first time getting the sun on your back feels amazing. We’re currently getting good weather this week but it’s starting off at -2 and warming up to around 10 Celsius. That’s nice weather for us this time of year.
Roll on summer because the past two have been really shit.
I do agree with you that summer is overrated. I don’t hate it per se, but feel it not up to the hype. There are things I dread about the summer. The bugs (particularly ticks with their lyme disease which seem to be everywhere now), the allergies, the heat waves with their oppressive humidity and crappy air quality, the anxiety-inducing state of my yard, and in general, just becoming a sweaty mess after performing even the most minor of errands.
It’s not all bad though. I appreciate the longer daylight hours, the improved fresh produce, the better motor control when not having to wear heavy clothing, and not slipping all over the place on the ice.
I guess I feel every season has its pros and cons, yet somehow summer in popular culture enjoys this vaunted reputation above all the others which may be undeserved?
An unpopular opinion I actually agree with! Part of the issue in my opinion is that houses are no longer made in ways that are designed for their environments. In the past, houses in warm areas would use large balconies or awnings to shelter the windows from the sun, which is where the greatest share of heat would come from. Also, high ceilings and transom windows would allow hot air to dissipate. Courtyards would serve a similar function. All of these provided natural ways for homes to cool without having to use ACs.
Now that ACs are prevalent, house design has deteriorated to what’s cheapest to build, without regard to climate. This leads to higher AC usage to cool energy inefficient homes, all while pumping heat into the atmosphere that makes the temperature worse.
I believe ACs should only be used as a last resort. We should design our homes based on where they are, so that ACs are unnecessary except during the worst of heat waves. There are plenty of other ways to stay cool that don’t involve ACs, so let’s exhaust those before we turn down the thermostats.
