Please do not taunt everyone with threads about how cold it is where you are.

[Aerows]

It is January and I can walk around in shorts and I am not the least bit bothered, and that is on the "cool" days. Please don't discuss how "brutal" the cold has been. Come, let us reason together.

Oops, sorry for the heat stroke.

I'm still reconstructing everything that melted, boiled and generally said "It's too fucking hot" this summer. I was banking on at least getting below 50 (now it looks like 55 is our "woohoo" low) during this winter.

Do not taunt me with your -5F. I know what that is like, and you do not suffer provided you wear coats and head coverings.

[Aerows]

6. No, my friend,

If you are experiencing an actual winter, or hell, a fall, I am envious.

Are you, in January, currently using fans and the air conditioner?

[Aerows]

11. I haven't been frosty in so long

I forget what it feels like to actually know frosty.

[hifiguy]

22. Yep. It's easier to cool off than to heat up

and the heat doesn't render a car as dead as a doornail.

[NutmegYankee]

29. I have the exact opposite view.

I can always add clothes to keep warm. I've laid in bed before I had Central AC on a muggy night. How does one get cooler without AC?

As for cars, they start up fine at -13F. And still warm up at a decent pace. It's actually the heat that kills batteries. Normal battery life in the North is 6 years, 3 in the south.

[laundry_queen]

45. Um, no.

You can always add clothes. Once one is naked and still sweaty, you are doomed without A/C. I'd rather be in a cold climate. I feel for Aerows.

And it's not so hard to deal with cars. Just make sure you have a block heater and plug your car in if it gets to be too cold. It's been -25C the past week and my car has been starting no problem. You just need a little know-how.

[Blue_In_AK]

26. We finally got a little snow,

and I'm overjoyed.

[Aerows]

37. You are so lucky

You have a great climate. I would love to be in AK. For a number of reasons .

[Blue_In_AK]

39. Have you visited?

Come on up, and we'll take you to all the cool places (that we can get to).

[Aerows]

40. I have not - yet - but your lovely state

is on my bucket list, and one that is of the sooner rather than later category.

It would be lovely to meet you, and have some friends up there.

[malaise]

27. I hate winter

I mean I really really hate winter - I'll take the summer heat

[RebelOne]

30. I hate, hate summer.

Winter is my favorite season. I lived in South Florida for a good part of my life. Now I am in North Georgia where there are 4 seasons. You can have the summer heat, I'll take the winter cold.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. How about if I taunt you with my -35 wind chill?

When it's like that, you not only have to wear a warm coat and hat, you have to cover all exposed skin. That wind chill will make your face hurt.

[Aerows]

4. Can you please send that my way?

Because it is still hot as tarnation down here.

[Siwsan]

3. It's a balmy 12 degrees in Flint, tonight

I have no need to go outside and have an abundant supply of firewood, so my fireplace insert is currently keeping me quite toasty. I'm about to make a nice bit of something for dinner, cold weather comfort food, no doubt, and then heat up a big cup of peppermint cocoa that I might just spike with something tasty.

And I have two nice feather comforters to snuggle beneath, when I go to bed, tonight.

Best of all, there is only a thin coating of snow on the ground, and it is still WAY warmer than it was at this time, last year.

[Aerows]

5. Now that sounds just about right.

Using the damn air conditioner in January.

That is NOT right.

[gollygee]

7. You still stuffer in -5F even if you wear a warm coat and head covering

But yeah all extreme weather sucks.

[Aerows]

8. If you aren't using fans

and the air conditioner, I am envious.

[gollygee]

10. I'm using a heater

Still have to change the temperature of the air, and without doing so I wouldn't survive.

[Lochloosa]

12. I feel your pain.

Swatted a mosquito last night.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. And BTW, gas is $1.58 here.

[NutmegYankee]

15. Taunt? I'm loving the warm winter

I have no snow this year.

Last year:

[Aerows]

16. I really need to move northward. n/t

[NutmegYankee]

19. It's all fun until you have to move it out of your driveway...

[Aerows]

20. I think I would rather enjoy that, actually

Okay, I wouldn't, but I could probably put up with it. Every time I've been up North I've gone in the winter and I didn't want to go back.

[NutmegYankee]

28. I actually moved up here from the marshy Southeast.

I understand why you feel the way you do.

[Aerows]

36. Indeed!

LMAO.

I KNOW you do.

I can put more clothes on, but I can't take more off.

[nashville_brook]

17. been in the 60s today. just spiffed up the hot tub b/c it's getting down the 40s tonite!

orlando...gotta love mono-season. but, this year we at least are having el nino rain this winter, which i'm loving.

[SheilaT]

18. And don't taunt others with threads about how

warm it is where you are.

Which is what those in various warm weather places love to do. Frankly, you couldn't pay me to live in any of those states, and I don't think a real winter is at all bad.

[Aerows]

21. I am serious

It has been hot as hell down here, and I had to do yardwork. Please send some cold here.

[SheilaT]

25. Where are you?

I'm in Santa Fe. Locals think they have a hard winter here, but they don't, They all behave as if up until maybe two years ago the climate was identical to, say, San Diego. In the fall, the first time it gets down to 60 degrees, they'll go, OH MY GOD! IT'S SO COLD!

Excuse me? 60 degrees is barely chilly, and it's definitely not OMG! It's so cold! territory.

But I do get quite tired of people in the south who all winter long want to brag about how warm it is, and who strongly imply that anyone who lives where there is a real winter is a fool. Well, I'm happy for all who enjoy where they live, but others are not fools to live where they do. Except what with global warming, it's beginning to look as though living anywhere near a coast might be foolish.

[Aerows]

34. OMG, the temps have dropped 20 degrees in like 3 hours

It's like I went through a weather drive through.

Can I get some cold?

I'll be griping and complaining in about 2 days right along with you. Just to state it, I love snow, I detest the heat.

And I live on a Coast, so no, it wasn't made in fun, it was made in chagrin, cher.

[Aerows]

23. WOOHOO!

The front drifting east finally hit us!

We are cooling down to reasonable winter levels. Sorry to gripe. I was just damn sick of the heat.

[Iggo]

24. Nah, better not.

People's touchy these days.

[hobbit709]

31. There's a reason I no longer live in the frozen wastelands of the north.

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. Me too!

[Aerows]

35. I'll go in your place

because I despise the heat.

[Shrike47]

32. In Western Oregon, the land o' mud, we get excited if we see sunshine, and run outside to dance.

You haven't seen gray for months at a time if you haven't spent a winter here.

[orleans]

38. "It is January and I can walk around in shorts " -- statement useless without picture! lol! n/t

[Aerows]

42. This is DU

Tits or GTFO is not going to fly here.

Or, I don't know, it might.

It might, since the things that have been allowed lately have occurred.

I do hope I get alerted. I do hope someone directly challenges me also that there has not been a deadwind blowing through here.

The only reason I care is because I have met so many gorgeous, wonderful people here.

[hfojvt]

41. i am engaging in a pointless battle with the gas company

Hoping I can thaw out tomorrow.

Coldest two nights of the year and my space heaters are not keeping up. 32 degrees in my basement (which unfortunately for this battle, is mostly above ground - except on the north side, so at least I have that) and only about 51 upstairs. Guess I will leave the water running tonight and hopefully the pipes will not freeze.

Kilroy was here, but he got cold and decided to spend the night on the streets.

[NutmegYankee]

46. What's going on with the gas company?

[hfojvt]

47. just my quixotic battle with the gas company

I don't like the way they rip me off. Winter here is only about four months long. So I don't need gas for about 8 months of the year. The gas company charges me $20 a month anyway. So I have been shutting the gas off every March and turning it back on in late November. Rip off artists that they are - they charge me the $20 a month anyway as a re-connect fee. (and their base fee seems to go up faster than their other fees)

Last winter it seemed like it was only really cold for about two weeks, so it seemed like I could have made it without the gas by just toughing through those weeks. So this year I decided to try it. Had a really awesome December too.

And it was 55 degrees on Thursday.

Now this.

Kitchigami started to freeze last night. I have about 500 gallons of water in my basement. My anchor and line of defense. As I was filling up some of the tubs, I said to myself "You know, some winters, Lake Superior freezes". Lake Superior, otherwise known as the Big Kitchigami. So obviously I am not bullet proof against an ice age, but I am not that far north either.

Sunny day today, but I am having a hard time getting warmer than 50 inside. Which is too cold when it is only 15 outside.

[NutmegYankee]

48. Use a kerosene heater with water-clear 1-K grade kerosene.

A 24,000 btu heater running for several hours will heat the house right up. I keep one as a backup for power outages where I can't get the generator online. They are safe and rated for indoor use as long as you maintain it and shut it down before bed. I used one during an outage in the winter while snow prevented me from getting the generator out and it had the house up to 80F (from 55F) in just 2 hours.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_93043-88644-RMC-95C6B_1z0zq54__?productId=3471481&pl=1

[hfojvt]

49. yeah I saw those at Fleet

they seemed like more trouble than electric though.

[NutmegYankee]

50. The key difference is 4 times the heat (btu) output.

A 15 amp circuit can supply a max of 1800 Watts, which is roughly 6000 btu. Most electric heaters draw 1500 Watts, so about 5500 btus. One kerosene heater puts out 4-5 times that amount of heat.

[CBGLuthier]

43. Bahh, it got to 95 here this weekend. I miss cold weather.

[pinboy3niner]

44. It's so cold...

It's so cold, Mayor Emmanuel is burning effigies of himself to keep warm.

(Adapted from a Mayor Daley joke.)