I HATE the cold!! !

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So... we have major cold fronts sweeping down across the eastern US this week. The second front will arrive here in South Florida Tomorrow and low temps will dip into the 30's by Tues and Weds mornings. Some far western regions (where much of YOUR winter produce is grown....expect to pay higher prices for your veggies and fruits this winter folks *shakes head*) of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will likely see low temps at freezing or a little below.

This is extremely unusual for South Florida...at least for this early in the cold/dry season (Nov-Apr). If we see temps at all like this during the course of a year, they normally don't occur until Jan and Feb (which, on average, are the two coldest months in South Florida) and we are supposed to see a low temp of 39 degrees F Tues morning here on the coast in Ft. Lauderdale. If so....that would be a record-breaking low temp for the date (Pearl Harbor day/Dec 7th). The last time it was even close to that cold (42) on this forthcoming date was 160 years ago!! !


Well.....if this is indicator of things to come this winter...we are going to have an absolutely miserable Jan and Feb.


And before you folks who live in the temp climates (which is most of you, i'm sure) start telling me to "man-up" or something and that 39 is "nothing" compared to the arctic below zero temps you endure every winter, please consider the following:


First of all....those of us who have lived in South Florida for many years (i've lived here for 15) are acclimated to very hot and humid subtropical/tropical weather of course.


Now examine the "heat zone" map I linked to here and then tell me that most, if not all, people who are used to (on average) AT LEAST 180 days per year of temps of 86 degrees F or above aren't extremely cold when the temp drops to 39 (or even 50 for that matter.)


http://southerngardening.org/heatzone.htm


Secondly.....unlike the places most of the rest of you live in....cold weather in South Florida is, of course, the exception rather than the rule.


Unlike what the local news anchors and American optimism fascists in general would have us believe about such rare cold temps being a "refreshing change" or something, I hardly think they can be viewed as an objectively happy exception.

For one thing...extreme cold weather (say 55 or below for a low and 65 or below for a high) in South Florida is the mortal enemy of the local economy. Needless to say, our economy is heavily dependent on tourists from all over the world and "snowbirds".

Many of these people come here to escape the brutal winter temps and conditions of wherever they're from in North America, Europe, etc....They come here to enjoy summer-like temps in the heart of this nation's coldest months like Jan and Feb. Our AVERAGE temps during these months are at least close enough to what many of these people experience in their own actual summers. The activities available here during these months (and year-round of course) are the same (aside from whatever you can do in our local natural environment which most of the rest of North America lacks like scuba diving/snorkeling on coral reefs, hiking through tropical hardwood hammocks in the Everglades, etc....) as those available in the summer months in New York, Ohio, Pa, Quebec, Germany, etc.....


Sooooooo.....need I say more?


The outdoor cafes are empty when the nighttime temps fall into the forties or less. And forties here often FEELS quite a bit colder because of the wind/wind chill that usually comes with such temps/high pressure ridges. Furthermore, because it is usually and significantly more humid here than it is in many other parts of the country no matter what, it is often a damp, dungeon-like 40 degrees F here rather than a dry and crisp one.


Ditto for the charter boat operations (for fishing, diving, snorkeling, etc....), various tours, nightclubs, botanical gardens, (like the world-renown Fairchild Tropical Gardens in South Miami), jet ski rentals, etc....ad infinitum. All suffer greatly when these cold fronts hit and some never recover their losses. Especially if it was a particularily bad winter and it has been unusually cold here for the past three winters. This winter already looks like yet another one in which we'll see very little of our beloved sunny 82 degree days in Jan and our comfortable 70 degree evenings during the same month.

As I touched upon earlier, it is also a disaster for the citrus growers in Central and North Florida....at least when temps fall to freezing or below for a night or more. Ditto for those who grow much of this nation's (and Canada's I would guess as well) winter produce in South Florida. Again much of the produce is grown in the extreme western regions of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, etc...counties in South Florida. It is these very regions which are most likely to encounter temps of 32 degrees F (or a few degrees below) when a strong cold snap hits the area.


Therefore, the growers lose billions of dollars during a hard freeze and subsequently, many people in North America will pay out the nose for their produce during the fall/winter/spring months.

Finally....cold temps in South Florida aren't exactly pleasant for many of the animals and plants (especially most of the non-natives which are from warmer tropical regions in Latin American, the Caribbean, SE Asia, the SW Pacific islands and Africa and usually thrive here) and many local residents and businesses have invested thousands, if not millions, into beautiful tropical landscaping. Let's face it....many orchids, palms, ficus trees, etc.....are not cheap and a hard freeze can seriously harm them, if not kill them. On the other hand, I admit that's fairly idiotic to spend a significant amount of money, time, etc...trying to grow exotic plants around here which have very little in the way of cold tolerance. Sure some can easily be moved inside during cold spells, but try doing so with a 20ft Pelagodoxa henryana palm (native to the "extra tropical" Marquesas islands in French Polynesia) that some damn old fool of a gardener who still thinks he's in the salad days of the British empire (like some wanna-be Sir Stamford Raffles or something ) attempts to grow outdoors here.


In any case....if I had my druthers, I would likely move further south. For example.....there has never been a recorded temp of below 60 degrees F in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The average temps during the "coldest" month (Jan) in San Juan is 83 for the high and 71 for the low.


I can't stand cold even though I was born/raised in Pittsburgh, Pa. I got the hell out of that blasted subarctic goods as soon as I could. I would get very depressed during the fall/winter months in Pittsburgh...I felt like I was living in Tolkien's land of Mordor where nothing was growing and the whole world was brown and bleak.

I've always said that while my body was born in a temp climate...my "soul" (figuratively speaking of course since i'm an atheist and a materialist) was born in the equatorial lowlands.


Well...at least the "happy" part of my soul. I suppose the more intellectual, creative, somber and "gothic" part of me still has a great affinity for mother north. Since i've experienced the throes of severe depression in it's most hellish glory, i'm not exactly eager to tap into this somber and dark aspect of myself though I certainly cherish my intellectual and creative side and do my best to adapt them to an environmental microcosm which, somehow IMO, doesn't seem AS conducive to all things intellectual and creative as the chilly, gothic, austere and "old world" ambiance of mother north does.

Anyway....for all of those denizens of colder regions who would tell me to "man-up" about the "relatively warm" cold in South Florida or some similar stupidity, I say enjoy going broke paying for your Tropicana orange juice and tomatoes this winter. Or enjoy taking a trip this winter to Disneyworld with your family and attempting to take a dip in the hotel pool.


Bottom line....nobody in their right mind or with an ounce of concern for anyone/anything beyond their own selfish preferences could ever view exceptionally cold temps in South Florida as anything less than a negative across the board.

The major cold snaps that hit here often enough (and they've been unusually brutal in terms of quanity, quality and duration for the past three winters) in the winter months are just as damaging (economically and otherwise), if not more so, as many of the hurricanes we've experienced.


And yet thousands of stupid, shallow, self-absorbed and materialistic local women look upon these cold snaps in S. Florida as welcome and rare opportunity.

An opportunity indeed!! !

An opportunity to gambol about like giddy monkeys on an island of idiocy while wearing their expensive and "pretty" sweaters, jackets, etc... that rarely come out of the closet in South Florida's usual hothouse climate. First of all...one is forced inquire about the dubious "logic" of paying top dollar for something one only gets to use when the moon turns blue To add insult to injury, these vapid and childish creatures often don Santa Claus hats and tell everyone how "Christmassy" they/it feels!! ! *shakes head*

For the love of Pete...they might as well go ahead celebrate the deadly car accident which ties up traffic and allows them to miss the date they never wanted to go on in the first place!! !

I would like to ask such women what the devil they're doing in the land of coconut palms and coral reefs if feeling "Christmassy" gets them so darn sweet between the hams

They ought to take their silly a**es to the North Pole and join forces with that fat, bearded, old goods and his mangy reindeer!! !

I would kindly ask them to take their miserable and destructive cold fronts with them too!! !


K.....largely (but not entirely ) tongue-in-cheek and misanthropically-tinged rant over

Ok well i hate the summer. Being cold is so much of a smaller problem than dying of heat stroke

I prefer the cold weather. Hot weather makes me feel like crap.

Ummm... If you're between like 8 and 80, in reasonably good health and you manage to DIE of heat stroke in the developed world well.........

I can't stand the cold weather too tbh, but I know I'll always survive through it somehow and i don't know how but I just do.

I ran outside last night and I am surprised just how difficult it becomes to breath and force yourself to move when the temp becomes bitter cold. We got several inches of snow overnight. It feels like I haven't seen sunlight in about a month and a half. I don't mind winter, but it seems like I go into semi-hiberation during this time of year. My mind drags and I can get a little goofy.

I also don't care for the cold. I have my portable heater on 70% of the time that I'm awake. I have to work in the cold early in the morning. I dress in layers and wear really thick work gloves and I still feel a little chilly. It's supposed to go up to 9 Degrees over the next 5 days, so I can't really complain.

horus you take everything i say so freaking personal. knock it off already, I was just saying why i didnt understand why you dont like winter

Dude, dude relax.....I was just razzing you!! !


I have no beef with you.

I love the snow. I also like tornado season.

Me too!



Tornados scare me.

I like tornadoes too



Such awe-inspiring and sublime meteorological events. It just sucks that they have caused so much death and destruction

Here in South Florida, we have more waterspouts per year than anywhere else on earth. I've seen plenty and while they're usually weak in comparison to the tornadoes which occur elsewhere in the country and only a threat to small watercraft, they are a beautiful sight nonetheless.

I chase 'em.

Ugh! Battery just died on my car again. What a waste of gasoline it is. Praying for a short winter.

I would LOVE to do that someday!! !

Chasing the monstrous F5 twisters would be especially cool

I am hating the cold spell the UK is having . We have snow & ice atm - I am on crutches with a broken foot. All the snow and ice makes it too dangerous to go out, and to top it all off we have had no hot water and heating for the last 10 days (in subzero temperatures )due to a broken boiler!