Well, for what it’s worth, she still seems to be affected by gravity. And light, for that matter, since she doesn’t turn invisible when she phases.
And, also, in the animated X-Men: Evolution series, they had Kitty wearing a little breathing apparatus at one point, when they needed her to phase through an unknown thickness of rock and sand to an underground chamber. So, for short phasings, I’d guess she just holds her breath. (AND she was able to maintain radio contact while phased…A portable transmitter that worked while phased, AND embedded in rock…gotta buy stock in that company.)
I haven’t actually ever seen her do this in a comic book, but I remember reading on the SDMB that phasing through Wolverine had some very unpleasant side effects for Kitty. Apparently adamantium isn’t good for you even in an immaterial form.
The one time I remember was at Wolverine’s and Viper’s Marriage? Sabretooth had just received his adamantium and Wolverine was still missing his. Sabretooth was about to deliver the death blow to Viper; Kitty phased Viper, but realized she was hurt/stiff where Sabretooth’s adamantium claws had phased through her and was physically ill AND unable to phase.
Sabretooth deduced that it was because of Adamantium’s density.
Just now I right clicked and chose open in new tab, and it worked fine. It is a picture of Kitty shivering in the cold, after having dunked into a river. She had just been shocked by meeting a chibi-fied version of the x-men, who she believe dead. and was so shocked that she lost concentration and phased thought the wallk of the train she was traveling, into the river. She could probabley become insubstancel enought that she would not get the water to stick to her, but either she does’t have that fine a controll, or she would start to sink beneath the gorund if she did it. The scene took place in the 80s.
Clearly, Kitty has some sort of instinctive ability to vary the degree of phase-out of her various parts. She often phases almost her entire body, but must leave a thin layer of the soles of her boots solid enough to push against the floor or even the air. Her phased form is visible because ordinary light reflects from her, but high-powered lasers go right through her.
She has said in the past that passing through large solid objects is like swimming it water to her. So she does still interact somewhat with the matter she’s passing through, though that may also be her instincts keeping her phase-out from going total, which would make it harder to move about inside things.
Anyway, to answer the OP, I think she is quite aware of heat and cold while phased, but can adjust her phasing to keep the elements from doing her damage. I’m not sure if this is under her conscious control.
That’s weird. I’ll have to check that out. Certainly Wolverine has phased through her a number of times without ill effect, such as in the last issue of the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini-series where Wolverine stabs Ogun through Kitty.
It is. When Kitty first joined the X-men she wound up phasing through Wolverine. I think it was in a danger room session but I’m not sure. It is the density of the adamantium though. She can do it, but it really funks her up.