QotD: Cold
Posted December 7th, 2003 @ 08:22pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: How cold is "cold"?
My Answer: I'm from PA, land of the sideways-falling snow ("lake effect"). We know what a "wind chill" is, and as such, anything over 0°F is considered "chilly" at worst.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
Posted 07 Dec 2003 at 8:42pm #
I'm in Arizona. Anything below 60 degrees fahrenheit is cold. 🙂 I'm not kidding.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 1:29am #
Bah, what type of Arizonian are you? 60 degrees? Try anything below 80 is cold here. =)
I think "cold" doesn't completely depend on temperature. If it's dry air like when I go skiing in the rockies, I'd say about 0 degrees. The nice crisp air usually feels good until then. If it's wet out and raining, I usually start getting cold at like 50-55 degrees.
A better question is what's "hot". I know I can win that one after WWDC and seeing what wimps most people are. =)
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 1:39am #
I miss lake effect storms! All these Californians walking around with scarves when it's 50 make me sick.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 2:13am #
Arizona...
My brother and I shovel snow in our t-shirts in early spring. Autumn always feels a lot colder than spring (matter of perspective). I also agree with the dry/wet thing. I much prefer I 25 degree snow over a 45 degree rain... rain soaks you to the bone and makes you shiver.
Really *cold* is defined as riding your bike down a steep hill in anything below zero (fahrenheit) before windchill.
Oh yeah, and I happen to be from AZ (go Flagstaff).
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 10:21am #
Northern Iowa here. It's not cold until your moustache and nose-hairs start freezing. Somewhere around -10 F. The really sad thing was I moved back from Colorado two years ago and for the life of me couldn't deal with all the damned white-stuff that refused to melt until March.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 12:43pm #
Anything under 68 (20 celcius) is chilly for sure. Under 60 it's cold. Under 50 it's down jackets, gloves, and such. Under 30 is news.
As for what is hot? Not too much to me, but I notice people complaining after it gets above 90. Sometimes it will top 100. At these times if I'm stuck standing outside, and I'm being impatient then I'll feel the heat. Let me run around though, and I'll be fine.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 4:44pm #
I just moved from CA last December, and am working in MN right now. As soon as the temperature dropped consistently below 40F, I had the scarf and gloves on. I wanted them when it ducked below 50F, but I didn't want to get beaten up.
If I'm outside and it's below 60F, I'm not too happy.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 9:52pm #
What part of PA? If you're getting lake effect snow, you must be near Erie.
I'm from Philly. 20F and below is cold enough to say "it's cold outside" without feeling wimpy about it.
Posted 08 Dec 2003 at 11:16pm #
Feh. Minus 30 is cold, everyone agrees. That's -30°C (about -22°F). -10°C (14°F) is cold at the beginning of Winter, but it's t-shirt weather at the end. Today was -8°C (about 18°F) which up here is coat-over-a-tshirt weather. Mind you, I think Canada is a little colder than Arizona 😉