Whats with white people and cold weather?

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SAD and sad, very sad. Winter sux!

I hate heavy coats, so I always wear a light blue jean jacket in winter. It would be a little different if I worked outside in the weather during winter. If I'm just going to the store and it's 10 degrees outside I still wear a light jacket, because I know I won't be out in it for long. I don't like the cold, but I can take it for long enough to get inside a store, where it will be 89 degrees all winter long (crazy Hoosiers!).

I'm not stupid though. I always throw my sub zero gear, heavy parka, snow boots, gloves, wool knit cap in the back seat in case I have problems, but it usually sits there all winter.

Yeah, my jacket lives on the backseat of my car, just in case the car breaks down. Once in a while it gets stolen and I find a new one. "From anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt."

There might be some adaptation to the cold that people who are descendants of Northern Europeans have. Race is a little more than color the of skin, but in strange ways that people don't often consider.

For instance, most 'white' Americas have s-waves, IIRC from anthropology class. It's a vasodilation after being out in the cold for a period of time, in about 30 min.s to 45 min.s cycles. 'Black' Americans don't have this. It was discovered by the US army when they were drilling soldiers in the cold for preparations of a war with the USSR. I've heard from black people that they don't like working in the cold because you can never warm up. Personally, I've often felt the warming when I've been out the in cold for a while.

Blacks might also have adaptations for exerting themselves in the heat.

Love it.

Interesting. I used to be one of "those" people who would go outside without a coat on in the freezing cold weather. Now I have Raynaud's and need to keep warm so now I actually dress warmly. When it was really cold the winter before last I would have to take a hot shower to warm up because just coming inside would not be enough. I also have not that much tolerance for the heat.

I don't think I'll ever get over ion's Avatar. There's something about anime that I love...

Anyway, I'm one of those people who can say that I can walk around in a T-shirt in December because of the fact that it's summer down here in New Zealand. Aah, a little bit of Bacon and Eggs, some Beach Cricket (and we still wear the fuzzy Santa hats), all topped off by Fish and Chips on the beach during sunset. Ah, bliss!

I don't think I've ever experinced real snow before. I went up to Ruapehu a couple of times but it was summer so they used fake snow, and the snow on Fox Glacier down South was more like ice than actual snow. It'll never snow in Wellington mainly due to the amount of salt in the air coming from the harbour. Similarly to the Rain topic, I don't mind going out in the rain in just a T-Shirt and light pants to get wet and have the rain trickle all over me. The wind could make things a bit uncomfortable, though. And yes, I'm white. It'd be pretty hard to find a Black Dutchman, y'know (considering the circumstances required).

Oh, petty you, it must be very cold in Florida, according to my uncle who lives there.

Month Avg.High Avg.Low Mean RecordHigh RecordLow
Jan ~~ 62°F ~~ 38°F ~~ 50°F 84°F (1953) 4°F (1985)

Ok, thats cold. I thought it would be like 80°F most of the time.

In Miami it is. Didn't your uncle tell you that?

If you are used to highs in the 90s along with humidity in the 90s and it drops to 50 degrees, it's a shocker, especially at 100% humidity. Brrrrr!

Growing up along the Gulf coast of Texas, it could be 90 degrees any day of the year and the humidity was always near 100%, regardless of the temperature. Lots of people wear a parka when it gets in the 40s down there, though.

There have been actually several anthropological studies, and yes, generally, people are darker the closer you get to the equator. Now, plop yourself down in any one place and you will find a lot of variation in skin color, but on *average* , people are lighter skinned near the arctic and anartci. And the anthroplogists measure 'where the sun don't shine', like the armpit and groin, so they aren't just measuring amount of skin tan.

And there is a biological reason -- you need a certain amount of sunlight to synthesize vitamin D. Melatonin blocks sunlight. If you have too much melatonin, you don't get enough vitamin D. It you have too little, you can get sun poisoning.

For instance, in Finland, they have taken a lot of Somalians in as refugees. They have a lot of problems with vitamin D, especially in the winter, and they have to take supplements.

My thermostat is broken

Ah, I forgot that Tallahassee is much far north. Yes, my uncle lives in Miami.

I just got reminded why not wearing the right gear in the rain sucks. First, you can't feel the soothing rain due to being numb, and two, you get the worst runny nose in the world. I could barely sleep due the me going "SCHIURBHSHZLLE!! !" everytime I breathed.

I'm mostly whitish and dislike any extreme temperature. I like dry weather, though, so where your ancestors came from makes sense to me. Many of mine were likely from a desert region or were mediterranean. Except the Irish ones.