LauderBlog
Dec 4: CH-CH-CH-CHILLY??
Posted On: December 4, 2008 4:47 PM
Posted By: LauderBLOGGER
Related Subjects: Greater Fort Lauderdale
A reality check for my neighbors. And for me. As I write this blog on Thursday afternoon, it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit in Minneapolis. It is 25 in Chicago. Detroit is about the same as Chicago and New York City will see its high temp drop into the 30s by Friday. It’s cold up there. And down here in sunny South Florida, where I’m wearing my turtleneck and sport jacket around town lately? Right now, it’s a very brisk and shivery 76 degrees. But hey, there’s no humidity, right? So, like, that makes it feel colder and all that, doesn’t it? I mean, there must be some reason weathermen are leading newscasts by talking about the chilly air and locals are donning leather jackets that haven’t seen daylight since last winter. We’re not all wusses here, are we?
Yes, we are all wusses. Because 76 degrees is not brisk, not shivery, not chilly – even without humidity. Sorry. Because 76 degrees is a perfect summer afternoon in Portland, Maine and a hot summer evening in Fargo, North Dakota. For all I know, 76 degrees is probably a recordbreaking high for the 4th of July in Fairbanks, Alaska. But 76 degrees is never really chilly. Even in Fort Lauderdale.
The same with all the other “cold” temperatures around here in the past few days. To which my neighbors would say, “But, hey, a couple days ago it got down into the 50s in the middle of the night for a couple hours. That felt really cold, man.” To which I would say, “You’re a wuss. So am I.” How did this happen to me? I used to live in a state where 20 degree below zero temperatures were common in winter. I recall a stretch of two weeks when the thermometers never once climbed above zero. And that was without the wind chill factored in. Now that IS brisk! That’s chilly! But living in a tropical paradise all these years hasn’t just “thinned my blood,” whatever that means. It has turned me into a meteorological wussy-boy. I go down to the beach and see people wearing what people should be wearing on a day like this: bathing suits, shorts, tank tops, flip-flops. These people are called tourists. Those of us who live here are wearing, well, something more than bathing suits, shorts, tank tops and flip-flops. So just on general principle, I may peel off a layer and let the sun shine on me as though it were August. And I really may do that too just to toughen me up a little, I just really might. But I also think I probably will wait until tomorrow – it’s supposed to get a little warmer then.
Yes, we are all wusses. Because 76 degrees is not brisk, not shivery, not chilly – even without humidity. Sorry. Because 76 degrees is a perfect summer afternoon in Portland, Maine and a hot summer evening in Fargo, North Dakota. For all I know, 76 degrees is probably a recordbreaking high for the 4th of July in Fairbanks, Alaska. But 76 degrees is never really chilly. Even in Fort Lauderdale.
The same with all the other “cold” temperatures around here in the past few days. To which my neighbors would say, “But, hey, a couple days ago it got down into the 50s in the middle of the night for a couple hours. That felt really cold, man.” To which I would say, “You’re a wuss. So am I.” How did this happen to me? I used to live in a state where 20 degree below zero temperatures were common in winter. I recall a stretch of two weeks when the thermometers never once climbed above zero. And that was without the wind chill factored in. Now that IS brisk! That’s chilly! But living in a tropical paradise all these years hasn’t just “thinned my blood,” whatever that means. It has turned me into a meteorological wussy-boy. I go down to the beach and see people wearing what people should be wearing on a day like this: bathing suits, shorts, tank tops, flip-flops. These people are called tourists. Those of us who live here are wearing, well, something more than bathing suits, shorts, tank tops and flip-flops. So just on general principle, I may peel off a layer and let the sun shine on me as though it were August. And I really may do that too just to toughen me up a little, I just really might. But I also think I probably will wait until tomorrow – it’s supposed to get a little warmer then.
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