Winter Sucks

[MiniMoke]

I really liked Costa Rica. 80% of the country is on a 3,000 foot mesa so for most of the country the weather is eternal springtime even though it is the tropics just north of Panama. The locals say, "Its so cold," if it dips below 65 degrees, and they say, "Its so hot," if the temperature goes over 80 degrees.

In the rainy season it rains, but eventually the rain stops and the sun comes out.

Cal

Sounds like Mauritius! Wonderful climate, quite cool in the southern mountains (not too high mountains!) and dry and sunny at the western coast.

Man I miss it!!

 

[Steve M.]

We're in Florida. What is this winter thing that people speak of :}

 

[Takkun]

Only lived in the Puget Sound and New England. Just got back to the latter from the former…
NE winters are too long, but there's real weather. Slightly miserable when you don't drive, and I got there just in time for some of the garbage and pet droppings entombed in the ice to start thawing out.

Here? four months of misty gray. Everyone I know says they love it. I start to lose my will to live (and take pictures) by the end of it.

 

[Paddy C]

Winter is pretty in Ottawa for about a month (roughly first snow fall until say two weeks after Christmas). Then it becomes a disheartening slog. I know it affects my mood.

As I get older I find I need heat and sun. And I'm only 38!

Just got back from a week in Palm Springs. Now that's winter. You just feel so much better in the warmth and sun, being able to out in shorts and a shirt. It's amazing.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Losing power in the winter for 12 days (ice storms) will change ur minds about how great winters are. Do you know what happens to hot water heat radiators that freeze up? Thank god my friend is a plumber and warned me to drain them.

 

[Mackinaw]

.....One bright spot...we bought an electric car (Nissan Leaf for intra city trips) in the fall. It has had its trial by fire, or more correctly trial by ice, and it has worked out extremely well on the coldest days when our gas guzzler wouldn't turn over.

Not to turn this into a discussion on electric cars, but an acquaintance of mine has a Leaf and cold weather is not it’s friend! -30C weather is not kind to batteries. He was stranded once when his charge ran out. In real-cold weather, he now drives his gas-powered car.

Jim B.

 

[f16sunshine]

Not to turn this into a discussion on electric cars, but an acquaintance of mine has a Leaf and cold weather is not it’s friend! -30C weather is not kind to batteries. He was stranded once when his charge ran out. In real-cold weather, he now drives his gas-powered car.

Jim B.

-30C is not kind to anything short of ice cubes 😉

 

[Roger Hicks]

Who do we talk to about getting it fixed? 😉

Dear David,

Quite. I was going to post, "Winter happens. Get over it" but your answer is better.

Also, I accept that mud feels as if it's sucking at your boots, but how does winter itself "suck"?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Bermuda is good. I lived there in the late 60s. Apparently there was a frost once: I think they said it was in 1838. Though I have to admit that I did not join my brother when he went swimming on Christmas day.

Here in central France, it's been mild this year but there've been floods. An acquaintance -- I only ever met him once or twice -- slipped and fell into a mill-stream in the next village. They found his body 2 km away.

R.

 

[daveleo]

. . . .
Also, I accept that mud feels as if it's sucking at your boots, but how does winter itself "suck"?
. . .

How doth Winter suck? Let me count the ways.

Drive wife to work in snow and ice blizzards (I'm retired, she isn't).
Buy, maintain and feed gas to generator.
Wire house for generator.
Pull start cold generator (I am too old to be doing s##t like this) when power goes out.
Find gas during power outages and the %$#ing gas station pumps don't work ! ! 😱
Have snowblower (forget shovels) and clear the driveway in windy 5F temperatures while it's raining ice at 6AM (I am retired, why do I have to do this??).
Do the driveway again after the city plow creates a 5 foot thick wall of compressed snow and ice at the end of your driveway and blocks you in (or out!).
Get on a ladder and chop ice dams on the roof so melting snow stops dripping down the inside walls.

I can't go on . . .

 

[Roger Hicks]

How doth Winter suck? Let me count the ways.

Drive wife to work in snow and ice blizzards (I'm retired, she isn't).
Buy, maintain and feed gas to generator.
Wire house for generator.
Pull start cold generator (I am too old to be doing s##t like this) when power goes out.
Find gas during power outages and the %$#ing gas station pumps don't work ! ! 😱
Have snowblower (forget shovels) and clear the driveway in windy 5F temperatures while it's raining ice at 6AM (I am retired, why do I have to do this??).
Do the driveway again after the city plow creates a 5 foot thick wall of compressed snow and ice at the end of your driveway and blocks you in (or out!).
Get on a ladder and chop ice dams on the roof so melting snow stops dripping down the inside walls.

I can't go on . . .

Dear Dave,

Stop and think about the complete meaninglessness of the word "suck" in this context.Uncomfortable, tiring, dull, all kinds of bad things, yes. But surely you can find a better word than "suck".

Cheers,

R.

 

[Dave Jenkins]

I can't understand why anyone would live in the southern states. Here in southern Indiana, the last two summers have brought us multiple day stretches of 90-95F or hotter temperatures with a few hellish days of 105-106F thrown in for good measure. Not to be outdone, I visited a friend in Nashville (TN) last summer where it was "normal" for them to have temps in the 110-115F range.

To extrapolate that out, Atlanta must be in the 120-130F range during the hottest days of the summer.

I was born in Bedford, Indiana and grew up around there. I well remember that most summers would bring us a week or two of 100-plus degree weather. Your friend was prevaricating a bit, I think, about temperatures in Nashville. Chattanooga is well south of Nashville, and the highest temp I've ever seen around here is about 105 degrees. And that's rare. Summer temperatures usually run about 90--95 degrees. Actually, I live in North Georgia, 25 miles south of Chattanooga, and about 75 miles north of Atlanta. Anyone from this region would laugh at your description of Atlanta summertime temperatures! The hot weather does last longer, to be sure, but the winters are correspondingly shorter.

What we have here in the mid-South are short winters, somewhat longer summers, and loooong, lovely, moderate springs and autumns. For my money, this is easily the most liveable part of the U.S. Personally, I think it's the garden spot of the whole earth.

 

[hepcat]

I really liked Costa Rica. 80% of the country is on a 3,000 foot mesa so for most of the country the weather is eternal springtime even though it is the tropics just north of Panama. The locals say, "Its so cold," if it dips below 65 degrees, and they say, "Its so hot," if the temperature goes over 80 degrees.

In the rainy season it rains, but eventually the rain stops and the sun comes out.

Cal

I lived on Guam for three years in the late '70s. Oh how I pine to return! i love Costa Rica too. I could feel quite at home in San Jose.

Dear David,

Also, I accept that mud feels as if it's sucking at your boots, but how does winter itself "suck"?

Cheers,

R.

Dear Dave,

Stop and think about the complete meaninglessness of the word "suck" in this context.Uncomfortable, tiring, dull, all kinds of bad things, yes. But surely you can find a better word than "suck".

Cheers,

R.

Roger, in this case "Sucks" is a quintessential American slang phrase that encapsulates ALL of those "all kinds of bad things" and is, indeed, the perfect adjective to describe this winter. 😉

 

[rover]

Weather Wimps

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/01/09/scientists-americans-weather-wimps/4396325/

 

[-doomed-]

I don't enjoy the winter. The cold part isn't so bad, but shoveling snow? Awful, even with a snowblower it's still awful to deal with. However, I have taken a few photos that I enjoy of the snow and its awful cousin -- ice.
I can take the summer heat because I don't have to shovel it, though there are times the humidity causes you to sweat instantaneously. I can handle that.

 

[VertovSvilova]

The winter light is best for photography (at least here on the central coast of California.) In the summer it's either too flat or with too much bright sun and contrast. But the winter sun is ideal and the temperature is just right for humans. Plus there's fog forming off the ocean that adds to the quality of light. It's the best time of the year.

 

[Al Patterson]

Summer Sucks

Hot, humid, absolutely no way to get comfortable. Besides, shoveling snow counts as exercise.

I vote for Winter

Yep. Spent 18 months in Georgia. Summer is 90 to 100 degrees. Winter is like 20. Having grown up in New Jersey, Georgia winter beats Georgia summer by a wide margin...

I do miss fall in the Poconos though...

 

[Al Patterson]

Who do we talk to about getting it fixed? 😉

How about Al Gore?

 

[Sid836]

Winter is o.k. for me. If it would be to hate it, that would be of fear of having my lenses damaged due to fungus and shutters jammed due to excessive humidity.

 

[rover]

Groundhog facts

http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/58678.aspx