I ask because it seems I am a penguin in a sea of tropical birds. I come from the Great White North (okay, Plattsburgh, NY, but it’s still pretty cold in the winter), and I’m rarely if ever bothered by the cold. I leave my heat off during the winter and rejoice that I no longer have to pay the summer A/C bill. If it’s above zero, I go out out in a t-shirt and jeans without even thinking about a jacket. Actually, the last time I can remember being troublesomely cold was last winter, when I was walking down the frozen Saranac River (yeah, ingenious, I know), and fell through the ice up to my torso. That was quite the annoying walk home; I kept falling down every ten steps. But anyway, back to the point.
Maybe it’s because I now live in the south (or at least the pseudo-south), but it seems like most people around here start shivering the moment it drops below 50º F…and that’s just the average person. Those who bill themselves as “getting cold easily” will proclaim hypothermia at 55º. Even during the spring, when it’s a pleasant 70º on a fairly steady basis, they’re always freezing in the mornings and at night. It’s so common that I cannot help but wonder if I’m the one that’s completely bizarre. But hey, I’m not complaining…if it is a “special power”, it’s a good one to have.
So, fellow Dopers…how easily do you get cold? Are you a member of the “always freezing” camp? What’s your average comfortable temperature? Are you likely to be cold at least once during any given day? Inquiring minds, frozen and otherwise, want to know.
– Roland, sitting comfortably in boxers in his 41º apartment
O.k., I’'l bite. I am a Southerner, but I like it cold. I only wear a coat if I have to spend much time outside. My ideal day would be about 55-60 Deg. F and partly cloudy.
I live in the DC area, which has a moderate climate, but I noticed that some folks here don down parkas if the temp drops below 70. Might be cultural, but ack! I’d swelter if I wore a down coat in anything above freezing!
Southerner from Alabama here. I definitely get cold easily. Below 50F feels cold to me. Above 50F is fine if one is engaged in physical activity. I can’t imagine sitting in boxers at 41F. That would be cruel and unusual punishment. On the flip side, hot is when the temperature gets above 90F. I’m looking forward to responses from Northerners.
I’m from the North - I don’t get cold easily. When everyone else here is throwing on their winter jackets, I’m still wearing a knit sweater, the kind one throws on during a chilly spring/fall night - bit of a chill in the air, that’s all. My husband puts on longjohns while I look for my lightest T-shirt so that the fleece pullover he insists I wear when he takes me out doesn’t overheat me.
Looking at the thermometre, it reads 40 degrees Farenheit - I have no heat on, and just wearing my hubby’s cotton boxers and my old tank top, and my hair pulled back into a high ponytail, specifically so my long hair doesn’t make my neck and shoulders too warm (I’m a real diva in the mornings, me).
I prefer cold over hot, too. Winters certainly aren’t hot here in Seattle, but my Og, there’s rarely any snow! That, to me, is warm.
I’ve changed from a polar bear to a heat-seeker.
Grew up in NorCal, Long Island, and have lived in Colorado for many many years.
Winter never used to faze me all that much. And in Denver it can be below zero one day and T-shirt weather the ; I have always just gone with the flow.
In the past couple years (just turned 50) the cold has really started getting to me.
If it is below 45 degrees I bundle up. Heating is pricey so I bundle up in the house as well.
My temperature runs about 100 degrees normally, so I’m often hot, and it takes a bit to make me feel uncomfortably cold. That being said - I HATE being cold and I hate cold weather.
85 degrees, hot, and sunny is my ideal kind of weather.
I’m a transplanted Southerner and I get cold very easily. If the a/c at work is set at 72, that’s too cold and I have to wear a jacket. If I go to places that insist on running their a/c’s at 65, I wish I had a winter coat or a blanket. 80 is just about right for me. I seem to be a little more heat tolerant than my fellow Floridians though. I haven’t had working a/c in my home or car for years so I am used to it as long as I don’t give myself heat stroke by exerting myself during the hottest part of the day. But when it’s really cold (under 60 for me) I bundle myself up and practically hibernate.
That’s how I am (and I’m orginally from Florida too!). I run my space heater at work all day, even during the summer. I’m comfortable from about 80 to the mid 90’s. Above that I sweat a little (never killed anyone), below that I need winter clothes. I don’t have air in my car either and rarely use it at home.
I was born and raised in Nevada, so I’m the most comfortable around dry heat. Dry heat rarely happens here in Kansas City, so I’m always either too cold or too hot (from the humidity).
My parents grew up in the Mid-West, so they’re comfortable when I’m either freezing or sweating to death. And since I don’t pay the heating bill, I’m often freezing in the house.
Well, I’m a Chicagoan - and I hate, hate, hate the cold. I get cold easily and pretty much dread winter. All things being equal though, I hate the hot just as much. I shouldn’t say “hot” - I hate the “humid hot”. When it’s just plain old “hot” I’m ok. My ideal temperature is around 82, no humidity.
And yes, I am colder than many of my friends - and warmer, too. I wear sandals until it snows, but indoors I like it to be a balmy 70 degrees before I am truly comfortable.
I don’t get cold too easily, but easier than some, mostly due to being small. I prefer being cold to being hot. That said, when it was freezing here about a month ago, I could not get warm enough, but that had less to do with me being too sensitive than with it just being bleeding cold (although my roommates were less bothered by it than I was).
When I went to university last year, I really pittied students who had come from warmer climates. One of my friends was always bundled up at this point in the year, I can only imagine how cold he must have found it when winter actually set in.
I’m an always-freezing-indoors person. I’m a Northerner (Upstate NY), and I love the winter and outdoor activities. I certainly don’t put on a winter coat until it’s well below freezing. But when I’m sitting in front of the computer at work, I’m always cold. I keep a sweater at work and wear it much of the time. Why the heck do they have to keep the A/C at 72 in the summer?? It’s just a contradiction how I can love the winter weather outside but freeze when it’s 40 degrees warmer inside.
I tend to be comfortable-to-warm. Like An Arky, I only wear a coat if I’m going to be spending a significant amount of time outside (and if I’m driving to the place where I will be spending time outside, the coat stays on the seat next to me until I arrive; I hate wearing anything bulky while driving). There has to be snow on the ground (or ice on my windshield) for me to don gloves.
My two best friends are “cold” people, but their 3-year-old son is a little furnace. Has been since he was born. One of the reasons they like having me around is that I can sometimes help keep them from overdressing him.
One thing I’ve been noticing lately is that my feet are very cold at night. If my feet are cold, I can’t sleep. So I’ve been wearing two pairs of socks to bed, and last night I added a second blanket to the bedding. But then sometimes I’ll wake up a little sweaty, which I hate. I need to have a personal bubble that is always the same temperature.
I used to think that I was resistant to cold because of my “natural padding,” but then I met my officemate: she is bigger than me and is always freezing. She runs the space heater under her desk all of the time, on its highest setting, but I have only had to ask her to turn it down a few times in the past three years. It works for us: I prefer to wear short sleeves or thin material, and on days when she’s out of the office I’ll notice that it starts to get a bit chilly in here. So she gets the concentrated heat where she wants it, and I get the benefit of a room temp that is usually in the low 70s.
I don’t experience the extremes that you do, but I’m often more comfortable outside than inside, too. I get colder faster in air conditioning than outside (unless the wind is blowing, in which case all bets are off and I’ll be at the bar thankyouverymuch). Same with the heat (and same exception for the humidity ).
I’m always cold. I’m not going to be happy unless it is in the mid eighties- something we rarely see in SC. If it gets hotter than that, I’m okay until it gets above a hundred. But if it gets below seventy-five, I’m pulling out my sweaters and the big wool jackets come out around sixty-five. I hate being cold, and I am cold all the time.
I work outside so am never really bothered by weather unless it’s extremes. During the coldest parts of winter is when I really start feeling it. Hot parts of summer bother me more. You can always put on more but can’t take more off.
Thanks for the giggle. In these here parts, it is generally agreed that the Great White North doesn’t start until north of the 60th parallel…just as an FYI. Strictly speaking, none a youse so far are Northerners.
Can I mercilessly mock you southern hothouse flowers now?
