Unpopular opinion: Chicago winters aren't THAT bad (Erie, Toledo: crime, home)

[Greencheese]

When the world shut down for Covid most people here had literally nothing to do except except sit inside and watch video streaming. Meanwhile friends in SoCal, Florida and elsewhere were out hiking, cycling and being in the parks.

Sure I can wear multiple layers for a brief outing or warm up my car before driving but I bet most of us would rather have the choice of just hanging outside if we desired instead of planning short stints in the freezing cold air. It gets old spending countless days inside watching TV and maybe using that Peloton bike in January vs being able to go outside for a walk to the park and just hang out for a change of scenery and a jog.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Neptunepenguins

It's only cold like two months a year and it hardly gets snow these days.

I've been there a number of times during the winter season and as long as you dress for the weather, it's fine. Most people work indoors so they'll be sitting inside of a heated building for 8 hours a day, then getting in their heated mode of transportation (bus, train, car) and headed home to their heated house or apartment. If you walk then you'll have to interact more with the cold but as I said if you bundle up then it makes all the difference.

Its definitely not worse than Canada. Nowhere in the lower 48 do you get extreme cold.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Its definitely not worse than Canada. Nowhere in the lower 48 do you get extreme cold.

Untrue. In parts of the Upper Midwest, the daily high is below freezing for nearly one-third of the year. Half of Canada's population lives below 45.7 degrees north. Millions of Americans live north of that.

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Its definitely not worse than Canada. Nowhere in the lower 48 do you get extreme cold.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...71580817831625
As for our Chicago winters, we haven't had a really bad one since; I think 2015.
The killer here is the lake in April and May, lake breeze season delays much of spring; then we just flip right to summer.

[RamenAddict]

Originally Posted by Greencheese

When the world shut down for Covid most people here had literally nothing to do except except sit inside and watch video streaming. Meanwhile friends in SoCal, Florida and elsewhere were out hiking, cycling and being in the parks.

Sure I can wear multiple layers for a brief outing or warm up my car before driving but I bet most of us would rather have the choice of just hanging outside if we desired instead of planning short stints in the freezing cold air. It gets old spending countless days inside watching TV and maybe using that Peloton bike in January vs being able to go outside for a walk to the park and just hang out for a change of scenery and a jog.

No one is “just hanging outside” in the middle of summer in Florida- and by “middle of summer” I mean like May-September, best case scenario. It’s a situation where you are literally outside a minute and sweating because it’s so humid, and it’s really hard to bring enough water to actually do any real hiking. I would say the most we did in a summer was like 3 miles starting by 9 at the latest because there was otherwise no way to bring enough water unless you want to march around with a gigantic hydration pack.

I would say the number of months there where you can’t do anything outside is roughly comparable (if not worse) than here. I can put clothes on and do stuff outside a good portion of the year here. This upcoming weekend, probably not. I did go on a Christmas lights walk last night that was a brisk 3.5mile walk and the only person who really struggled had on inappropriate footwear. The hiking group I am in is actually active all year, even in winter, and some events have been huge in the winter.

[Urbanphile]

Keep telling yourself it isn’t bad. Ppl have preferences.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

Untrue. In parts of the Upper Midwest, the daily high is below freezing for nearly one-third of the year. Half of Canada's population lives below 45.7 degrees north. Millions of Americans live north of that.

And yet there are no parts of Canada south of Chicago. Any part of the Upper Midwest will have Canadian territory further north of it and be colder.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Sunbiz1

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...71580817831625
As for our Chicago winters, we haven't had a really bad one since; I think 2015.
The killer here is the lake in April and May, lake breeze season delays much of spring; then we just flip right to summer.

Is the dreaded "lake effect" worse than "ocean effect".

[MarianRavenwood]

Funny how people come for a weekend and then declare it's not so bad. These people whose commute involves walking to an attached garage and getting into a car that's already warmed up for them. These people who go home to climates where trees bloom in March and leaves don't fall until November.

If it's not so bad, why don't you move here? Give up that attached garage and stand on an exposed elevated platform every morning in the dark, with temperatures close to or below freezing for five months of the year? Enjoy the 15 day stretches of 100% cloud cover like we just enjoyed?

I grew up in Montana. Winters there aren't terrible because a)the climate is arid. Chicago's climate is much more humid, which makes the hot feel hotter and the cold feel colder; and b)most people in Montana have attached and/or heated garages where they warm up their cars. Their commute doesn't involve walking 1/2 mile in the cold to an elevated train platform or an exposed bus stop; and c)most Montanans don't actually live in the most extreme weather areas. They live *near* extreme weather--ski slopes, snowmobiling, etc.--but they live in sheltered valleys. The snow may pile up but the wind passes over them. Even ranchers bring their herds in close during the winter to avoid the cold.

Ask any New Yorker and they will tell you too--winters are much shorter in New York than here. A pleasant three months and then the trees start to bud and the tulips come up long before Mother's day. They get lake effect snow, but they don't get the cold because the jet stream is typically headed northward, bringing warm air up; whereas in Chicago the jet stream brings cold air down from Canada.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed that one day of sunshine on Sunday. Get your snow shovels out!

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Its definitely not worse than Canada. Nowhere in the lower 48 do you get extreme cold.

You've never been to the Dakota's huh?

Wednesday-Thursday forecast is -17 lows with wind chills -40's to the -50's.

If that isn't extreme cold, I'd love to here your definition of it.

We invented the term, Wind Chill Factor.