Open Thread: Temperatures

Inspired by this thread: let's talk temperatures.

What temperature do you like to be in the summer? How about in the winter? What's your ideal outdoor temperature? How do different temperatures affect you? (Both excessive heat and excessive chill make me sleepy, for instance. Humid heat makes my stomach upset.) And anything else temperature related!

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17 comments:

Loquat said...

I like it warm - 75-80 in summer, 65-70 in the winter. Over 80 and I start to feel a bit overheated even in shorts and a tank top. I hate being indoors in strong air conditioning during the summer, because I tend to want to dress appropriately for whatever the weather is outside, and on days where outside calls for shorts and a tank top I really don't want to have to carry around a jacket.

chris the cynic said...

I tend to like about 62 f indoors.

-

For NaNo I was originally trying to write a unified Greek-Roman creation myth (this involves a lot of picking and choosing as they're all contradictory) using Hesiod as my guide, trouble was that his style was too genealogical for him to be a good guide without prep work I didn't do. So I decided to go down the lines, write those stories, and as I did create a list of cross story references that could be used to create a chronological story as originally intended.

Since we last shared that's literally all I've done.

The Line of Tethys and Okeanos Part 1 I relate the shortness of the passage in Hesiod and then, bringing in every other myth fragment available, tell about the grandchildren by the eldest daughters.

The Line of Tethys and Okeanos Part 2 Bringing in every other myth fragment available, I tell about the descendants of the eldest sons. Keep in mind that this is Greek myth so there are multiple varieties of rape, Aphrodite and her son which is sort of on the love potion end of the rape-like spectrum, sex with a bear, transformation into animals, transformation into plants, incest, Sirens, rivers having sex with each other, suicide attempts, kidnapping, murder, trauma, tears, crossdressing to get into women only spaces (no, not the story about the guy who gets his head ripped off) me calling on a muse to fill in a hole in that story and writing about someone who appears to be pretty well trans, the death of humanity by flood with only a couple of exceptions, bullshit etymology to try to paper over plot holes, death by serpent, serpent death, resurrection, disavowing a predestination "own grandpa" paradox, an abnormal dislike of hermaphrodites and a strange fixation on castration, rape by use of wine after rape by jumping out of the bushes got the rapist killed, death by tree cutting, me making up names because I could only get 17 of the 20, random asides about transliteration, being turned into a flute, Hercules, and stuff. And that's probably about it.

More on Daphne and Leukippos Remember when I called on the muse to fill in on a story? Yeah, this is the rest of that. (Trigger warning for insensitivity about infertility [Eris and Artemis get in a snark match, Eris is not known for playing nice.])

★☆ keri ☆★ said...

Humid heat - ugh! I live in North Florida, so I get that from, basically, April through October. It's awful. I learned as a teenager to keep an extra set of clothes in the car in the summer, because what I wear gets so sticky/damp and it's no fun to go into a cold restaurant or something like that. On the other hand, I'm so used to the humidity that on the rare dry days (usually in winter months), I get horrible headaches.

I like the autumn here best, though - cool enough to wear jeans and sleeves, or layers, and without the oppressive humidity. It doesn't last long though - soon enough winter sets in and we have nasty cold wet days with a wind off the ocean. And because the coldest days only last for a few weeks at most, I don't have proper winter clothing. The couple coats I own were hand-me-downs or purchased for trips - or they aren't really "winter" coats, more for autumn weather. I'm not sure if I'd like winter if I were prepared for it? but as it is, I like the autumn.

Unfortunately, a month ago I developed an autonomic disorder (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and I can't wear anything around my neck because it interferes with the functions that regulate body temperature and heartrate and so on. I tried a decorative scarf on a relatively cool day recently and about fainted. It was awful! No hot drinks or soups for me now, either...Days about 77°F are perfect, because I can wear a t-shirt and jeans and not get too hot, but any cooler and I want to bundle up, which makes me overheat.

I've always tended to feel cold, and I love wrapping up in a cozy sweater or blanket... I'm really not looking forward to the heat returning in April! This whole "I'm cold, let me put a sweater on...oops, now I'm feeling like I'll faint" thing is no fun.

Brin Bellway said...

Humid heat makes my stomach upset.

That has occasionally happened to me, but I'm not sure if it needs to be specifically humid. Usually it happens when I'm in a heated car but haven't taken off my heavy coat. (I've started unzipping and taking my arms out of the sleeves the moment the warmth starts getting a little uncomfortable.) Less often between going to bed and going to sleep, if I overestimate the needed blankets too badly. At least over-blanketing is easy to fix.

(One of the reasons why I have two blankets on my bed, a light one and a medium one (and a third medium-heavy one in winter). That way I can mix and match depending on weather and point in circadian cycle. (Bodies, I'm told, tend to be coldest a couple hours before waking. I guess that explains why I often wake up cold a couple hours before getting-up-time, add another blanket (or replace light with medium in summer), and go back to sleep.))

Boutet said...

All these fahrenheit temps, my conversion is struggling, haha! I'll convert in this comment to save you guys the trouble. Where I live we range from -40F to 95F (oh Canada) so I get to deal with a wide variety of weather. I find that I can survive just about any local level of cold easily enough since you can just put more clothes on, but I wilt away in the heat. I like 64F for outside and anything more than, oh, 73F leaves me lethargic and probably gives me a headache. Higher temps also give me nosebleeds for some reason.

Inside I like 64F as well. Sweater on if I'm staying still, sweater off if I'm working on something.

Silver Adept said...

Optimal temperatures for me very with weather, outside - indoors, I like about 67-69 degrees F. Outdoors, sunny days should be cooler and cloudy/rainy days warmer, but hanging about in the 75 degrees F range is usually great for me. The humid heat of the hometown was not good - temperature and humidity racing for 100, and no actual storm relief in sight.

depizan said...

I don't like getting chilled, because I find it very difficult to get warm again. Cooling off from getting too hot is much easier - for me. As for specific temperatures, that really matters what I'm doing, what season it is (my body adjusts some to whats "normal"), and how fit I am.

Generally speaking, I think it'd be great if the daytime outdoor temperature was generally in the 60s and 70s (15.5 C to 26ish C), during most of the year and didn't get worse than the mid 20s (-4 or so C) in the winter. I prefer my indoor temperatures somewhere in the vicinity of 70 (21C) - warmer is okay in the summer, cooler in the winter once I've adjusted. But do not point lots of AC at me in the summer, or I'll be miserable. Many people may happily rush off to their 68 (20 C) home when it's in the 80s (26+ C) out, but my body just says "Augh! Where's my sweater!"

In fact, I'm very happy I live somewhere where it's possible (for me) to do without air conditioning.

graylor said...

I r gardener: I have thoughts on weather. I like winter to be cold and wet. Spring should be windy and damp. Summer... Well, on one hand I hate heat. On the other hand, I love tomatoes. So summers like when I was a kid, where it's meltingly hot and humid until you can't take it anymore, and then there's a cloudburst. Dry autumns make me nervous because of trees and people who shouldn't be trusted with matches and nobody likes a brushfire gone wrong, y'know? Crisp autumns with occasional rainstorms to keep down the flammability.

What we're getting is projected temps in the seventies with no chance of rain (the forecasters say it's '~beautiful~ weather'--hell, no, it is not, not for here in freakin' December). There are yellowjackets still buzzing around. In December. Did North Carolina drift down to southern Georgia latitude without anybody noticing? *is grumpy grump because arid sinuses are unhappy sinuses*

Oh, and this is still the same graylor, I just went to all the great trouble (swoons onto fainting couch) of making an actual disqus account. ;-p

Ana Mardoll said...

Humid heat makes my stomach upset, too! Particularly in the mornings when in the bathroom getting ready after my shower -- if it gets too humid and hot in the room, I have terrible stomach pains for hours. Huh!

My ideal is about 77F in the summer and 69F in the winter indoors. I'm extremely sensitive to temperature changes and can "tell" (or so I feel) when someone moves the thermostat one degree either way. Cold air makes me sleepy, and I once had a math professor who always kept the room at 60F because he thought cold woke people up (I guess it did for him). I was miserable that year.

Thomas Keyton said...

I prefer the cold - things often look prettier when it's cold, shade and cold winds are refreshing, and heat brings sweat and lethargy. (That being said, extreme cold is best appreciated when viewed from inside a warm building, so I guess my ideal temperatures are found somewhere around late autumn/early winter.)

KNicoll said...

Ahh, that thread is indoor temps. I want it below 75 (that's about 24C) in the hot times, and would really like it to be cooler but honestly the expense on that is ridiculous and environmentally untenable so I just deal.

I'm not actually sure what my preferences are for the heating times of the year. I suspect I'd be pretty happy with 60 (fifteen and a half C) much of the time, but other people aren't, and anyway we keep it warmer because small children have fewer heat reserves and an obnoxious tendency to kick off the blankets.

KNicoll said...

I turn into an idiot at temperatures above 85 or so (30C), and am become unhappy at temperatures a little below that. Too much humid heat makes me panicky and claustrophobic, for bonus fun times.

I also chill fairly easily but I don't mind it so much; I tend to comment that I can always put on more clothes, but when it's hot I start to run out of options to wear less. How I feel about lower bounds can vary pretty widely depending on what I'm acclimated to - at the beginning of winter, in the 40s is cold, whereas in February a few years back I recall walking to the subway perkily pondering how warm it was and how I really didn't need a jacket at all up until I saw the bank sign that informed me that the temperatures were exactly freezing.

The thing that gets me about the winter around here is actually the wind - that's the most reliable sign of the seasons turning, actually; the colder half of the year is the windy half of the year, and by the time it gets to real winter it tends to be the bitey, vicious kind of wind that cuts through things and, in the city, when channeled through alleyways can physically shove people around. I'd be much happier being out in winter weather if it were calm (it was calm that warm and balmy freezing day).

I do joke that I moved to Massachusetts for the weather, though. I'd so rather have the cold than the hot.

devilfish said...

I think the best weather is when you don't notice there's weather going on. That sounds weird, so I hope you know what I mean. Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, not too cloudy, and you don't have to go out of your way to dress appropriately for the temperature. If I'm prompted to say "Gosh, it's really hot/cold/overcast/sunny/etc today", it's not nice weather. Cold is distracting to me, and heat makes me goddamn miserable.

Then again, I am a child of the internet, and the Daystar frightens and upsets me.

Hi! I'm new here! Cookie?

Isator Levi said...

I, for one, inexplicably have a good feeling about this devilfish individual, and am going to run with that feeling with an unsolicited endorsement of one's presence and interactions on this board.

Isator Levi said...

Darn it, my home broadband is worse then ever, so I've not been able to comment yet.

Myself, I prefer cooler temperatures. I'm especially fond of a winter chill at my face and my hands, while the core remains just blandly cool due to my wrappings. I also like leaving the window right next to my bed open for a few hours to leave all the coverings nicely chilled (it also has a nice effect on any drinks I leave on the sill).

I can't stand summer heat; it makes me feel all itchy and constricted. But I'm not actually as bothered by it as one might think, as I have a knack for generally positioning myself in whatever part of a warm room or open area is the coolest.

Elise Kumar said...

<10C (50F) WTF NO WHAT IS THIS AAARGH
10-15C (50-59F) TOO COLD OMG
15-20C (59-68F) Cold
20-25C (68-77F) I am okay with this
25-30C (77-86F) Hot
30-35C (86-95F) Very Hot
35-40C (95-104F) TOO HOT OMG
>40C (104F) NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
>45C (113F) <-- this happened once to the city I lived in but I was lucky enough to be overseas at the time. It was funny though because our huge ferris wheel melted and broke.

I've just moved from Melbourne to Sydney, going north (closer to the equator) means my winters should be milder but I'm not really looking forward to summer as it's more humid here than I am used to. Hopefully I'll get used to it.

It was the first day of summer on Saturday and I basically spent the whole weekend naked in front of a fan (we don't have air con), so yeah we'll see. It's been 25-30C generally.

chris the cynic said...

Apparently I totally forgot to put two stories on my blog weeks ago so here is:
Skewed Slightly to the Left Apocrapha: Why Amanda was allowed to sit in on the meeting - In which I fill in a space between two scenes I'd already written and then realize that it doesn't fit.

Snarky Twilight: Who knows? - In which Bella tells Edward who knows they're together and that people who kill their own narrators are truly dangerous threats.

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