Hot and Cold Weather and Climates

I know that this is a long blog post, and I do sincerely apologise for that

Weather and Climates
Hot Weather, Hot Climates, Cold Weather, Cold Climates. Two polar opposites. In one climate, people like to swim and try to keep cool, and in the other, people like to layer up and keep warm. Both of them (in their extreme) form are unpleasant to most people, and yet, somehow, humans have managed to survive in both of them with stone age technology. Hot weather and hot climates are the reason for air-conditioning, cold weather and cold climates are the reason for heaters. Hot weather is more intolerable when there is high humidity (or extremely low humidity in the form of dry heat) and cold weather becomes more intolerable when there is wind. Basically, humidity is to heat what wind is to cold, and wind is to cold what humidity is to heat.  Some of the hottest places in the world are deserts and tropics, and some of the coldest places are the poles and on top of mountains. As you already know, wherever you are in the world it's usually warmer during the day than it is during the night, meaning that summer days are more extreme than summer nights, and winter nights are more extreme than winter days. So which extreme is more tolerable?

This is a difficult question, and everyone has a subject answer, and some people prefer extreme heat to extreme cold, and some people prefer extreme cold to extreme heat, and some people really like one extreme, whilst most prefer mild weather. I have also experienced extreme heat and extreme cold, (and did a bit of research) so I will try to address this objectively looking from all perspective.

Hot weather

 (Unless you have air conditioning) summer makes it difficult to sleep, especially if humid. Growing up in Sydney, Australia, where we occasionally have heat waves where night time temperatures can easily exceed 30°C (90°C). Sleeping is an incredibly difficult exercise in this kind of weather, even with the window open. Moreover, heat attracts pests and diseases. Much of summer is spent shooing flies. Smells, of any description, are much stronger. There are generally two types of heat, humid heat and dry heat. Humid heat is terrible because of it feels much hotter than what it is, and makes everything "muggy" and sticky. Dry heat sucks the moisture out of you and can make you dehydrated quickly, without realising it. Heat also attracts pests, fungle infections, buildings and vehicles which don't have air conditioning become ovens, and you can't cool down, even if you strip naked. If you have a pool or a beach, you can swim to cool down, but after a certain point, you heat up so drastically that it has little lasting effect. It's still better than nothing, though... When you get into a hot car, the seat belt becomes a branding iron, and you need oven mitts to operate the steering wheel. Your car is also susceptible to over-heating. Houses in buildings need to have natural ventilation. Hot places are more subjected to cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons, and fires favour hot weather. The tropics have two seasons, the wet season and the dry season. The wet season is a non-stop barrage of rain and thunder storms, with the occasional hail (or at least hail, known as "sleet" in North America, and ice pellets everywhere else, whilst the dry season is extremely dry but still humid (in some places). There is no moisture anywhere, and rivers which tend to dry will usually be dry. However, the dry season is the best swimming season, whilst the wet season is the "stay inside" season. In non-tropical areas, summer is the ideal time for swimming, and (unless it's too hot) going outside. Swimming could be hazardous if there is a risk of pests (such as jellyfish) or diseases in the water. Hail, in extreme cases may also be cleared by snow plows. People prefer indoor places which are larger and feel more open. Restaurants will tend to see their outdoor seating is more popular (unless it's raining)  climates. When entering large public buildings, you walk in from a hot outside location into relief in a cool, air conditioned place, only to be bombarded with heat when you step outside again, and public buildings without air conditioning will tend to have ceiling fans, and outdoor ceiling fans exist. If you have never experienced heat, try spending A SAFE AMOUNT OF TIME in a room where the heater is ridiculously high. It's nowhere near similar to what it's like in real life, but it's the closest you can get.

Cold Weather

Cold weather makes you more susceptible to colds (the disease) and will make your teeth grind. You can always wear many layers, which could eventually become very heavy and a hassle to put on and take off, your face will always feel the cold (unless you wear a balaclava). Cold is completely intolerable with a lack of adequate clothing. Cold causes things to freeze, this could be your car. In extreme, you need to plug in your car's block heater in order to keep it connected. Lakes and rivers freeze. This means that you can skate, ONLY IF YOU'RE SURE THE ICE IS THICK ENOUGH AS IT IS VERY EASY TO FALL IN IF THE ICE IS TOO THIN or if it snows go skiing. In real extreme circumstances, your pool can freeze (meaning that only a few types of pools can built there) and your pipes and toilets can freeze. If your pipes freeze, and not managed properly, this can cause serious damage to your property. People tend to stay inside during winter, as oppose to going outside, and want warm and cosy environments. Restaurants will tend to see their indoor seating is more popular, and those which offer outdoor seating will tend to have heat lamps. Places which see significant snowfall will need to have sloped roofs, so that snow cannot fall off the roof, instead of accumulating and becoming too heavy for the roof to tolerate. Driveways, roads and rail lines will tend to have snow blocking them, meaning that snow shovels and snow plows (vehicles used to remove snow from roads and rail lines) are necessary. Some places will have heat lamps (which are desirable to stand under) underneath the roofs which cover footpaths, in order to melt snow.  During cold weather, people prefer indoor places which are small and cosy. Buildings will tend to have some kind of centralised heating. If water is cold enough, and you fall in, you could potentially suffer from hypothermia. If you have never experienced cold, try spending A SAFE AMOUNT OF TIME in a room where the air-conditioning is too cold. It's nowhere near similar to what it's like in real life, but it's the closest you can get.

Despite their opposites, SOME really hot cities, and SOME really cold cities have one thing in common- a system of tunnels where you can walk from one end of downtown to another and avoid the extreme weather

So where is it hot and where is it cold?
Inland deserts (as in places with red dirt and hot summers, not polar deserts, I'll get to the poles later) are hot? Well, yes, whilst that it is true at first glance, inland deserts have a huge variation between day and night temperature. Let's take Australia's deserts for example. Whilst temperature in Alice Springs can exceed 35°C (95°F) during a summer day, night time temperatures in winter can fall below 5°C (41°F). SOME statistics say that more people die from cold in the desert as oppose to heat. Night time temperatures average approx. less than 20°C (68°F), and day time winter temperatures average 20°C (68°F) or more during the day. 

Okay, so the desert can get cold, but surely, the poles are cold right? Well, yes, yes they are, however, places very, very close to the poles would find it rare to exceed 0°C (32°F) during the short winter days, summer days could average more than 17°C (62°F) and north of Arctic Circle, winter temperatures (where it's always dark, see my post about seasons) could regularly see temperatures around the -30°C (-22°F), summer temperatures can average more than 0°C (32°F).

So what temperature is hot and what temperature is cold? This is highly, highly subjective. A person who grew up in a hot climate will be likely to feel cold at a much temperature than a person from a cold climate. A few years ago, when One Direction visited Sydney, they were commenting on how warm the weather was, whilst the locals were simultaneously shivering through our jumpers. I once travelled with a group of Sydneysiders to our local ski resorts, wearing thick coats and all of our woollen clothing, locals were wearing T-shirts. This is not only the case on a societal level, but also on an individual level too (although, to a lesser extent, unless that individual travels frequently). Similarly, a person from a cold climate complains about the heat, whilst the locals are enjoying how mild the weather is.  Two people could be sitting next to each other, one discussing hot it is, the other how cold it is. 

But in either case, it's amazing, how we, as humans, have managed to survive in both extremes, extreme heat and extreme cold with stone age technology. Everyone from the Inuits/Eskimos of North America, who had to fashion clothing out of any animal they could find, whilst dealing with a small amount of food whilst trying to maintain their body weight which was lost to the cold, to the Aboriginals in the Australian Outback who had to learn to survive the extreme heat with little water, and for that matter, the Polynesians who travelled for months at a time on boats, to those who climbed the highest mountains and lived in the Himalayas. From the coldest parts of the Arctic, to the hottest parts of the desert, we managed to survive for millennia. And you know why, because we're human. We don't say "it's impossible" we make it possible! Our ability to survive in extreme heat and extreme cold is a true testament to the human spirit! But keep in mind that this applies to humanity as a whole, and is significantly more difficult at an individual level back to hot and cold climates.