Why do I hate winter?

[William Yanda]

Why? Mostly because there are so many 4 letter words associated wit it: cold, snow, wind, etc. Also there is the fact of shorter days.
But to date, the aggravation has not been enough to overcome inertia and seek warmer climes. One can always put on more clothes but there is a limit to how many you can remove. The current NY tax situation, with legislators enacting retroactive taxes may change that.

[Lloyd Smale]

What I really, really hate, is a "mild" winter. We get a lot of those up here now.

You get weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of miserable weather; just above freezing, cold, wet, miserable, and dreary days. We're in the middle of such a spell now.

It's the kind of weather that causes suicides and domestic disputes to spike.

Attachment 273367

yup its been that way here too. One wet snow that was hard to blow. Usually by this time we have at least a couple feet.

[Lloyd Smale]

Winter is my niece's most busy season. She lives/practices in the New England area (orthopedic surgeon). All sorts of patients hobble in with injuries from slipping on icy sidewalks, skiing, auto accidents. Yeah, she loves those NE winters.

I know alot of people up here that will even wait till winter for elective surgerys because if there going to sit around healing theyd rather not waste the summer

[Lloyd Smale]

HUSH! When you talk like that they want to invade....again. HUSH!

There's hurricanes and snakes and gators down here. Lots of illegal aliens too. Save yourselves from certain death. Stay where you are.

yup and when summer comes and its a 100 degrees and the air is a haze of humidity and its a perfect 75 degrees up here id say you picked the wrong place to live. Its why we get invaded by the southern tourists every summer. You can always add clothes to keep warm but the only escape from the brutal head is inside with air conditioning. I can put on a snowmobile suit go fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, show shoeing, rabbit hunting all in perfect comfort. Matter of fact for most of those a snowmobile suit is actually to warm. 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Well you cant go naked and that would probably be even worse anyway. You cant hardly walk a block let alone have fun doing anything but staying submerged in a lake or swiming pool outside. NOPE Id take 10f over a 100f any day of the year. Spent 8 years in that heat when i was younger and have no desire to even visit it again. If i had to it SURE wouldnt be in the summer.

[mattw]

yup and when summer comes and its a 100 degrees and the air is a haze of humidity and its a perfect 75 degrees up here id say you picked the wrong place to live. Its why we get invaded by the southern tourists every summer. You can always add clothes to keep warm but the only escape from the brutal head is inside with air conditioning. I can put on a snowmobile suit go fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, show shoeing, rabbit hunting all in perfect comfort. Matter of fact for most of those a snowmobile suit is actually to warm. 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Well you cant go naked and that would probably be even worse anyway. You cant hardly walk a block let alone have fun doing anything but staying submerged in a lake or swiming pool outside. NOPE Id take 10f over a 100f any day of the year. Spent 8 years in that heat when i was younger and have no desire to even visit it again. If i had to it SURE wouldnt be in the summer.

Oh man... I will take IL's full summer heat and humidity over winter. I could love fall, except it is followed by short, cold, nasty days for 5 months.

[dtknowles]

I have never been on ocean beach and been so hot that it was uncomfortable as long as you have shade and of course you can always take a dip in the ocean to cool off if you get too hot. Working outside in the south in the summer is a different case. The heat can be deadly, we have heat deaths every year, sometimes they are high school football players in practice.

Just for giggles I checked the temperture records for few places I lived.

Bangor, Me. record high 104 deg. F record low -32 deg. F low to high is 136 deg. F

Daytona Beach, FL. record high 102 deg. F record low 15 deg. F low to high 87 deg. F

Santa Barbara, CA. record high 106 deg. F record low 25 deg. F low to high 81 deg. F

New Orleans, LA. record high 100 deg. F record low 21 deg. F low to high 79 deg. F

Judging by extremes New Orleans wins but I actually like the central Florida Atlantic coast the best, oh, and no state income tax.

Tim

[Gewehr-Guy]

That last post got me curious about South Dakota extreme temp swings.

Faith SD, low of --67 and high 115, temp swing of 182 Deg.

Gann Valley, low of --59 and high 120 , swing of 179Deg.

I've experienced temps of -45 to 114 in the last 30 years. I'm sure there are other states even worse for temp swings.

[fastdadio]

I'm a commercial HVAC guy. With that came years of rooftop equipment work in the dead of winter. It's a good trade and people gotta have heat, which is why I got into it. With the years came wisdom and I finally secured a job in a powerhouse maintaining the big boilers and chillers. So, no more outside work for me. Can't snow ski any more cause my knees are shot. But, I still like to hike and hunt out in the woods and proper clothing makes it enjoyable. The best thing about winter though, is that my garbage doesn't stink and my beer stays cold.....

[gbrown]

Here in SETX, we get summer time Temps to 105 (haven't in about 8 years) to 98 (usual). Feels like 105. Ok. Been there, done that a thousand times. Go out, edge, mow, take breaks, take your time. Easy-peasy. Come in, cool down, good to go. Nothing to it. Spent my time in cold weather, I'll pass. All I can say.

[Idaho45guy]

Oh man... I will take IL's full summer heat and humidity over winter. I could love fall, except it is followed by short, cold, nasty days for 5 months.

I lived in Iowa for a few years and found it absolutely miserable. Over 100 degrees with high humidity made it miserable in the summer, and -60 wind chill made it miserable in the winter. I remember one winter there, they set a new record for number of days in a row where it did not get above zero. Was like a month or more of below zero weather.

Then, when spring comes, you get giant hail stones and tornados. Just an awful place to live.

[.429&H110]

SWMBO took a vote:
No more winter!
Alaska is pleasant compared to New Hampshire.
Middle of NH boss fired the plow driver, said yor it. So snowy nights I looped around the campus and one night an ice event pulled down the pine trees and wires around me. I backed out of the sparking mess, road was closed bigtime. I kept a route around the mess open, as the ice storm froze, turned to snow. I don't work there anymore. Plowing snow is fun for about ten minutes. Makes for a long night. Snow is one thing, an ice storm is another. Do the kids know how to make tire chains? My dad taught me, make a ladder of tire chain to fit with a chain breaker. Wash the tire chains in bucket of water with diesel floating on top to get the salt off, hang them to dry for next time. I don't exactly hate winter, but I hate tire chains.

[Petander]

If I really hated winter I would be living somewhere else. I have lived in NYC and Rio De Janeiro,for different climates and cultures.

I'm concentrating on nice winter things I can do, not what I can't do. It's a state of mind,needs some adjusting.

My heart condition doesn't love winter but I try not to care. Things like shooting are great because nobody else shoots in winter so I have a practically private range at our hunting club cottage, a five minute drive. How cool is that these days when many ranges get closed... plus I can be sure about virus distancing.

I think I got the one mile private road plown three times last winter.

The berm is @ 75 meters,there's a bullet trap on the left,too.



Life could be much worse- or no life at all.

[10x]

I am only 55, but when I was a kid and into my university years we farmed a small family farm and I learned my hatred for winter and all things that came with it. We had cattle and chickens, keeping them alive thru winter was my job. I was also responsible for keeping drives open, this meant time on a cabless diesel tractor with a heat houser, bucket and blade. Sometimes it was cold enough to gel the fuel and that meant dragging the salamander to the tractor and applying lots of heat, while being cold.

Keeping the livestock tank thawed was a huge pain with a kerosene drip heater. I found this article and it about summed it up. Our tank heater was the same design, but older and very cantankerous. Many times the wind would suck the flame out and leave way to much fuel in the bottom ring, it had to be burned out when that happened. Each morning around 6 I would either get it lit or add fuel and add water and each evening it was the same routine. Drip rate and chimney damper had to be set for the current conditions, the damper would prevent the flame from being sucked out by wind and drip rate made up for the outside temperature.

This article really summed up the frustration with the tank heater and is pretty will written.

I grew up in the sub arctic, eastern slopes of the Rockies in the 1950s and 1960s.
Winter temperatures dropped to -55F and on one occasion alcohol that was left in an unheated vehicle froze.
1968 - 1969 we had 3 months when it was never warmer than -35F.
The grease on front wheel bearings would get stiff enough where the front wheels would slide on the ice.
I carried water for livestock and any that splashed on my pants froze on the surface, the fabric never got wet. I had to carry water 3 times a day.
Getting a vehicle to start was usually a challenge and when we got electricity it was a disaster when we forgot to plug in the block heater on the pickup.
Wood heat was a mixed blessing, at -35F combustion air would cool the house except for the room the wood stove was in.
I do recall spilling water on the floor and having it freeze before i had a chance to wipe it up.
1967-68-69 I spend trapping with my friend Lorne, School work and checking traps in the dark. Sunset was at 4:20 , Sunrise at 09:15. Daylight was 4 hours of dusk and 2 hours of light.
I loved winter, I loved trapping, and shooting squirrels, skinning, and stretching them for sale,
55 years later the cold simply hurts, and snow has become a barrier.

[GregLaROCHE]

I love winter when it is cold and dry. I hate when temperatures hover around freezing.

[.429&H110]

I worked with a clan of Upers at UAF. They said they moved to Alaska for the nice weather.

[robg]

wet and just above freezing is the worst.dry cold is ok .

[.429&H110]

-20 is a warm Spring day.
-40 in the dark hurts my fingers, the .44 shoots itself black.
Sourdoughs taught this poor cheechako to run Royal Purple in the power steering and 5 speed transmission. Before and after was dramatic. The Tacoma power steering pump was howling and we lost first gear until the Royal Purple swap. One afternoon at work engine oil froze enough that it would not turn over even with pan and block heaters. Really a good thing it didn't start. Dragged it into a warm place, ran Mobil1 with no problem ever since. Only ran Royal Purple 2 stroke oil in the sled, much cleaner burning stuff. We don't have these challenges here in the Sonoran Desert. Going to wear a sweater to church, this morning it's 50. Brrr.

[LynC2]

Having to work in the winter outside certainly can suck when it's dark and the wind is howling. That said, in my younger years I thrived on hunting in some weather that I would now rate as miserable. Now days I enjoy looking out at the pristine white landscape with a cup of coffee until I have to shove off the driveway before it becomes a skating rink!

[MT Gianni]

I may have the best situation of winter I have ever been in. We get most of our moisture in April-June, its a rare year to shovel snow more than 4 or 5 times. The 25+ MPH winds push it off when we do get some snow. No one in our end of the County has a snowmobile, you would have to haul it somewhere to sled. Ranchers use 4 wheelers or Razors all year here.I have been ice fishing 3 times so far so life is good.

[GregLaROCHE]

+10 to -10 was always my favorite temperatures to be outdoors.
It’s raining tonight (Christmas Eve) it’s supposed to cool down and I hope to awake to a white Christmas.
Merry Christmas everyone !