We’ve been suffering through quite the little heatwave up here in Montreal. 35 degrees with the humidex was NOT listed in the Big Book of Quebec Weather, at least not when I read it. (Nor, for that matter, was that bit about wearing cutoffs in November the other year.)
What gets me is whe the weathermen say things like “unseasonably warm”. As if this is really going to help tourism or make the weather more pleasant.
What about having your power lines crushed by incredible amounts of ice? Don’t imagine that was in there either. You guys get all the interesting weather.
So my roommate last year would always fucking complain about how fucking cold it is. “Oooh, oooh,” she’d whine. “I’m so cold–it’s not fair!” It’s Minnesota! It’s January! There’s a foot and a half of snow on the ground! WE’RE ALL FUCKING COLD!!! You’re not gonna get any sympathy because you’re cold. I’m fucking cold, too, and I know for a fact if I complained about it one tenth as much as you did, I’d get all sorts of “Stupid Southern Girl–what you doing in the north?” comments. So shut the hell up, Stupid New Hampshire Girl!
We are not all like that. The smart ones among us have woodstoves and lay by a cord or three in early fall.
Having said that - I do not believe I will ever become acclimated to the unique combination of heat and humidity that seems to be prevalent here below the Mason-Dixon line. It’s never been consistently as bad as the one day back in '94 when we had 100-degree weather and 100% humidity, but still the sweat rolls off me like it never did back home up North.
I don’t watch the TV news all that much - I get my weather from the Washington Post Metro section, so I don’t know what the meteorologists act like when the weather starts getting extreme.
And I know it’s gonna get evil every summer - but heck if that’s gonna prevent me from voicing my discomfort every once in a while. So there 
They way people go on here in western PA, you’d think we where all in danger of bursting into flame. It’s been in the high 80’s to low 90’s here, warm but by no means “insufferable”. (that’s what the radio called it)
Okay, I work in a 200 year old building, on the 4th floor, with no AC. But we’re office workers for chrissake, we sit and type on computers all day. And we have all the fans in the world. It’s not that hot, get over it people! It’s called “summer”, later on it’ll get cold and we call that “winter”. Welcome to the temparate zone. sheesh
Oh boy, a topic I can talk about. 
“but it’s a dry heat!” So’s an Oven, dipshit. Things still bake in an oven. I mean, I can quote an average Mississippi day.
They don’t mention the humidity, because everyone knows that it’ll be nailed at 100% at night, and if you’re lucky lower during the day. But it’s still fun to step outside first thing in the morning and feel the heat hit in you in the face like a blast furnace.
Oh, and humidity does make a difference. I was in New Mexico one summer, and the temp was 114deg F with about 4% humidity. Felt great. At home, a week later. it was 98 with 95% humidity. Awful.
As for the age old question of which is more uncomfortable: extreme heat and humidity or extreme cold and wind chill, all I have to say is this:
You can always put more clothes on; you can only take so many clothes off.
'Nuff said. Heat sucks.
Hmmm, that narrows down where “Chicagoish” (per your profile) you live. No, I’m not a stalker. 
Just curious about locations of the admitted ChiDopers.
Older buildings, designed with “flo-thru ventilation” and with fans wherever you can stick 'em without blowing a fuse, can be perfectly comfortable in this weather, as long as you don’t DO anything. So I don’t.
Oh my, yes. By the way, folks, here’s the difference humidity makes. Check out this heat index calculator. I’ll just plug “98” in the temperature box and “95” in the humidity box.
Lessee…wow. An “apparent temperature” of 172. :eek:
It’ll kill you in a heartbeat.
You know, here in Japan we had the rainy season recently. It rained quite a lot. Go figure!
Tangentially, I was in Okinawa a few years ago, and it was so humid that when you went into your hotel room and turned on the air conditioner, in about ten minutes you couldn’t see out of the window because of the condensation on the outside of it.
The newspeople do get tiring, hearing the same thing every heat wave. If I’m too hot, I know to get in the shade or an air conditioned building, and to drink water. It was the same thing they said during last year’s heat wave, and the year before’s, and even during the heat wave in 1998. And lord knows I don’t need to hear it at 5, 6 and 11 every night for two weeks, as well as read it in the box in the newspaper.
I’m more perturbed, however, by the coverage whenever we get more than two inches of snow (which of course happens most every winter in the mid-Atlantic). Yeah, let’s cancel all our programming, spend the day in crisis mode, report over and over the schools that are closed, stick a reporter on some corner to watch the cars spinning their wheels, and basically spend a whole day on the same 60 seconds’ worth of information. Makes a whole lot of sense.
Now that I mention it, I wonder why they don’t do that when it’s hot…
Just once I want to hear this weather forecast:
“Well Bob- what’s the weather hold for us tomorrow?”
“Well, Jim, it’s gonna be hot. Motherfucking hot. Sweat pouring down the crack of your ass hot. Hotter then a $2 whore. Hotter then the depths of hell. Yep, it’s going to be the kind of hot where you walk outside and just start stinking. Hot, Jim. Really fucking hot.”
“Thanks Bob! In other news…”
Zette
Here in the Bay Area we get the yearly trek of TV Reporters doing live coverage from Donner Summit. Now, Donner Summit is on the Route to Lake Tahoe, a heavily frequented area for skiing. Yet every year…
AnchorNow we’ll go live to Kate on Donners Summit…Kate
TV Reporter: Hi Alex it’s Kate and yes it’s snowing up here allright.
Hmmm. Summit, that would imply a mountain top of some sort. And it’s winter. Geesh wouldn’t you fuckin expect it to snow there.
The only thing worse is watching them interview those people installing chains on cars (an industry there). I can’t believe how many ignorant assholes go to Tahoe to go skiing and yet don’t bring any friggin chains. What the fuck is the matter with you! It’s fucking snowing, that’s why you’re going! You don’t think that perhaps some might land on the fucking Highway?!
“Hotter than a fresh-fucked fox in a forest fire. Hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock. So hot your shoes fill with sweat. Just…goddamned heat wave in hell hot.”
Well, the freshmen just arrived to the campus here (I’ve been working here all summer), and suddenly these signs go up reminding them not to over-exert themselves and to drink water. Now, these are people who had to be accepted to get in here…
…and you let in people too stupid to drink water? In my mind, anybody stupid enough to fail to drink water–essence of life and all that–on a nice, pleasantly hot day deserves their heat stroke. It’s only maybe 35 out, and there’s always an air-conditioned building with a water fountain within 100 feet or so. Of course, somehow somebody stupid enough not to drink water when it is readily available will be persuaded by a sign on their classroom door…
/hijack/
nerv, I was stationed in Okinawa for 2 years. Where were you at? Did you ever experience the strange “get out of the shower, dry off and still be wet” phenomenon I did in my un-air conditioned poured concrete apartment?
Come see me tonight! I’m going to play some violin duets with my buddy. August 9, 6-8 PM. We can complain about the heat.
And while we’re at it, I would like to send a message to Los Angeles area residents. I realize this is a slight hijack, but it’ll just take a few minutes, and then we can all go on with our lives.
MEMO
To: Residents of the Greater Los Angeles sprawl
From: deepbluesea
Subject: Weather (yes, we do have some from time to time)
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People, I know we don’t have much seasonal climatic variation. This doesn’t mean that we have a covenant with god guaranteeing that our part of the country will always be 77 degrees and sunny. God does not, as far as I know, make those sorts of deals, and if he did I suspect we would not be the beneficiaries. Sometimes we do have to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous weather, folks. Yes! Sometimes it may be as much as twenty degrees away from 77! So stop acting like you’re trying to figure out who you can sue over this weather, and stop acting betrayed, and just cope.
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You may still feel free to complain if you don’t like the weather, although those of us who have lived in other parts of the country will feel equally free to mock you. 55 degrees does NOT = severe frostbite type cold. You do not need L.L. Bean parkas and gloves here. Put on a light jacket and just ADAPT. We are MAMMALS. We have the ability to regulate our own body temperatures, for god’s sake. USE this ability. 55 degrees? I’ve slept in rooms much colder than that, and been perfectly comfortable. So take off the ski mask, the two layers of wool sweaters, and the fucking SNOW BOOTS! Or I will come for you with ice cubes! I mean it!
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When we have one of our semi-annual bouts with the Santa Ana winds, PLEASE do not express surprise. This happens every fucking year, you idiot! Do not say “It’s never like this here.” It is! Have you, in addition to your mammalian thermoregulatory abilities, ALSO lost your fucking memory? How about your intelligence? DOGS are smart enough to realize that these temps are far from unprecedented. DOGS are smart enough to remember the last time this happened. And DOGS don’t fucking TALK about it all the time, in a really shocked tone of voice, like we’d just experienced a rain of fire and toads or something!
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Finally, since I’ve brought it up already, let’s talk about rain. It does rain here. We have a whole season that is nominally a rainy season, and sometimes we actually do experience precipitation during that season. This is not a cause for alarm. Rain is a perfectly normal meteorological phenomenom. You will not die if it touches you unless you are the Wicked Witch of the West. (Which is entirely possible, I admit, but if you are indeed she, I expect you to admit it.) So do NOT, I repeat, do NOT swerve to avoid raindrops. Do NOT tell me that you cannot walk 100 freaking feet because there’s a light mist going on outdoors. And do NOT drive like you’ve just spilled acid in your lap! For fuck’s sake, people! Did you all learn to drive on Mount Fucking Sinai? No? Then DRIVE LIKE YOU HAVE A WORKING NEURON OR TWO!
Thank you, residents of Greater Los Angeles. Your prompt attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
deepbluesea, weather therapist
Local representative of the National Organization of People in Favor of Just Coping with the Weather
I love it when, in the winter, the weathercasters get all excited about snow!
“We’ve sighted a flurry front on Doppler radar!
Its heading maybe this way. Maybe!
We’ll interrupt your regular program every few minutes just to let you know if you will have a horrible blizzard or just a regular snow.”