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People's reactions to the cold always astonish me. I spend a lot of time in Canada and Hong Kong. In Canada, it can be 12 C (~53F) and lots of people will be we

by sidek 12y ago

People's reactions to the cold always astonish me. I spend a lot of time in Canada and Hong Kong. In Canada, it can be 12 C (~53F) and lots of people will be wearing t-shirts and jeans, and it isn't too uncommon to see the odd person wearing shorts. In Hong Kong, 12 C necessitates a cold weather warning, and a fair amount of people die when it drops to 10 C (50F). It would be interesting to try this article's suggestion of 55F offices out in various parts of the world. I would hypothesize that you'd see really different results, and that 55F as a "weight loss" temperature would probably only work in northern climates.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
I just got back from Southern China yesterday visiting my wife's mom. And it was cold...I mean, it was only 7C out, but there was absolutely no indoor heating at all. It actually felt warmer outside than inside (and probably was since it took the sun a while to warm up the concrete). It was unbareable even with a kotatsu. I am so happy to be back in freezing but well-heated Beijing. I can wear shorts in -10C weather, but no indoor heating at all will beat me down pretty quickly.
blackethylene 12y ago
In my experience, comparing absolute temperatures across different climate/countries does not give the full picture. I used to live in Paris where it felt warmish when the temperature was around 10C. Now that I live in Hong Kong, 10C feels freezing cold, as you pointed out. Maybe it's related to humidity ? Or maybe it's because there is no indoor heating at all, as seanmcdirmid noted.
- briandear 12y ago
  Humidity makes a huge difference.
- trhway 12y ago
  >I used to live in Paris where it felt warmish when the temperature was around 10C. Now that I live in Hong Kong, 10C feels freezing cold, as you pointed out. expectations and clothes. In Russia i never wore shorts in 10C which i do in CA (even at 5C :) In Russia it would be jeans, good boots, t-shirt, sweater, good jacket. In CA - shorts, light sneakers, t-shirt, light jacket. Getting caught in SF at cable car stop summer evening without jacket - you get to freeze like it would be -25C with wind in St Petersburg :)
- lukeholder 12y ago
  Also consider the constructions of the buildings. Perth, Western Australia can be a very hot place, but during nights and winters I hear from people visiting here that it feels far colder than their homelands which reach lower temperatures. All our houses are built with concrete flooring due to being built on sand - the concrete acts like chunk of ice under the house.
- techrat 12y ago
  Humidity. 50f in San Fran can feel downright chilly. 50f in Chicago is shorts weather.
- VLM 12y ago
  "Maybe it's related to humidity" Dew point. When you sweat your skin will rapidly drop toward the dew point. Where I live it varies thru the year from below 0 to about 80, always below the air temp of course. When you don't sweat your skin approaches the sometimes much warmer air temp. 30 degrees air and 30 degrees dew point right after a snowfall is sweater and pants time. This morning the dew point is only 10 degrees so I have to wear a coat although I didn't need to zip it up. No wind helps. A highly effective way to get killed doing winter sports is to build up a massive sweat and then completely stop moving before drying out... An air temp of 10 degrees is laughable and more or less comfortable if you're not sweating, but a dew point of 10 degrees if you're all sweaty will quite effectively give you hypothermia and kill you. Or the hypothermia will make you stupid, and then everyone will wonder why the heck a smart guy was walking along the cliff edge etc. Sweating in the cold is very dangerous. I usually don't wear a coat while I snowshoe hike (although I carry it in the backpack), wearing gloves and a hat and goggles but no coat always feels weird for the first time each season but you get used to it quickly.
Renaud 12y ago
Don't forget one thing though: Canadian homes are built to resist the cold and they are usually well-insulated. Hong Kong, by comparison, is probably one of the worse places when it comes to thermal insulation. When it's 12 outside, it's not far from being the same inside. It always amazed me how such an energy-hungry place, where electricity is expensive, is built so cheaply that insulation doesn't factor at all. Energy-efficiency is totally unknown when it comes to housing. I'm yet to see a double-glazed window pane in Hong Kong.
- markeibes 12y ago
  No, Canadian homes are not built to resist the cold. They have the same silly 3cm cardboard walls that American houses have. This was very stunning for me coming from a country where the temperature rarely drops below 0 degrees Celsius. I have learnt that the Canadians only feel like they are being eco-friendly because the only place they are comparing themselves with is the US. I mean: a remote control for your car's motor so you can have it pre-heat, half of the people driving around in pick up trucks or the toilets having about a million litres of water in them.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    Effective R value and the air barrier are a lot more important than thickness or material (of course material choice factors into R value, but better materials generally hit higher R values at lesser thickness...). Modern building codes require a vaguely reasonable R value.
- ddeck 12y ago
  >It always amazed me how such an energy-hungry place, where electricity is expensive, is built so cheaply that insulation doesn't factor at all. Energy-efficiency is totally unknown when it comes to housing. I agree that it's absurd. Switch off the aircon in summer in any of the apartments I've lived in there, and it's back at 33C within 10 minutes. After several years I finally rebuilt a place from the concrete up with proper insulation and double-glazed windows and the difference is astonishing. The amount of wasted energy is depressing. Not so surprising though when the same groups that own the larger housing developers also own the power company.
learc83 12y ago
How cold it feels is also dependent on humidity. A very humid climate means that it feels much colder than it actually is.
bane 12y ago
In the deep desert, temperatures change fast. I once spent some time in a desert environment that went from 120F (49C) to 50F (10C) in a matter of a couple weeks. Where I come from 50F is light jacket weather if it's windy at night. But in the desert, after having become accustomed to hair dryer temperatures all day, I was freezing. I mean shivering, teeth chattering cold. It was the most bizarre feeling. I could feel the air temperature, and it was fine, but my body simply couldn't keep up with the sudden change and I didn't get used to the new temperature for a few weeks.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
3pt14159 12y ago
I played soccer outside on Dec 26 in shorts and a soccer jersey in a balmy 6C here in Toronto. Would not have been possible without the sun shining right on me.
- arethuza 12y ago
  6C doesn't strike me as that cold for playing football in t-shirt and shorts. Actually, compared to most school football matches I can recall that seems quite civilized... [It's been a while, so my memories of school PE do seem to becoming more like something from Ripping Yarns with each passing year.]
colund 12y ago
I live in Sweden where -C is very common at winters. -25-30 is considered very cold even by us though. Nasal mucus freezes and skin "bites".
- sanoli 12y ago
  What? I didn't that your nasal mucus froze. I thought your body temp would keep it from freezing. How does it feel? Is it a beginning sign of frostbite?
  - mitchty 12y ago
    I grew up in rural North Dakota, here's what happens. You walk outside and inhale, and your boogers will immediately freeze in your nose. It feels.... odd, I've no way to explain it properly, it honestly is something one has to experience. The general rule is below about -10C or thereabout you blow your nose before going outside. That or you're going to wait for it to thaw and then blowing your nose. Doesn't have anything to do with frostbite that I'm aware of. When its that cold for shits I would take a full cup of boiling/hot water and throw it in the air. Making snow is fun.

by sidek 12y ago

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

I just got back from Southern China yesterday visiting my wife's mom. And it was cold...I mean, it was only 7C out, but there was absolutely no indoor heating at all. It actually felt warmer outside than inside (and probably was since it took the sun a while to warm up the concrete). It was unbareable even with a kotatsu. I am so happy to be back in freezing but well-heated Beijing. I can wear shorts in -10C weather, but no indoor heating at all will beat me down pretty quickly.

blackethylene 12y ago

In my experience, comparing absolute temperatures across different climate/countries does not give the full picture. I used to live in Paris where it felt warmish when the temperature was around 10C. Now that I live in Hong Kong, 10C feels freezing cold, as you pointed out. Maybe it's related to humidity ? Or maybe it's because there is no indoor heating at all, as seanmcdirmid noted.

briandear 12y ago
Humidity makes a huge difference.
trhway 12y ago
>I used to live in Paris where it felt warmish when the temperature was around 10C. Now that I live in Hong Kong, 10C feels freezing cold, as you pointed out. expectations and clothes. In Russia i never wore shorts in 10C which i do in CA (even at 5C :) In Russia it would be jeans, good boots, t-shirt, sweater, good jacket. In CA - shorts, light sneakers, t-shirt, light jacket. Getting caught in SF at cable car stop summer evening without jacket - you get to freeze like it would be -25C with wind in St Petersburg :)
lukeholder 12y ago
Also consider the constructions of the buildings. Perth, Western Australia can be a very hot place, but during nights and winters I hear from people visiting here that it feels far colder than their homelands which reach lower temperatures. All our houses are built with concrete flooring due to being built on sand - the concrete acts like chunk of ice under the house.
techrat 12y ago
Humidity. 50f in San Fran can feel downright chilly. 50f in Chicago is shorts weather.
VLM 12y ago
"Maybe it's related to humidity" Dew point. When you sweat your skin will rapidly drop toward the dew point. Where I live it varies thru the year from below 0 to about 80, always below the air temp of course. When you don't sweat your skin approaches the sometimes much warmer air temp. 30 degrees air and 30 degrees dew point right after a snowfall is sweater and pants time. This morning the dew point is only 10 degrees so I have to wear a coat although I didn't need to zip it up. No wind helps. A highly effective way to get killed doing winter sports is to build up a massive sweat and then completely stop moving before drying out... An air temp of 10 degrees is laughable and more or less comfortable if you're not sweating, but a dew point of 10 degrees if you're all sweaty will quite effectively give you hypothermia and kill you. Or the hypothermia will make you stupid, and then everyone will wonder why the heck a smart guy was walking along the cliff edge etc. Sweating in the cold is very dangerous. I usually don't wear a coat while I snowshoe hike (although I carry it in the backpack), wearing gloves and a hat and goggles but no coat always feels weird for the first time each season but you get used to it quickly.

Renaud 12y ago

Don't forget one thing though: Canadian homes are built to resist the cold and they are usually well-insulated. Hong Kong, by comparison, is probably one of the worse places when it comes to thermal insulation. When it's 12 outside, it's not far from being the same inside. It always amazed me how such an energy-hungry place, where electricity is expensive, is built so cheaply that insulation doesn't factor at all. Energy-efficiency is totally unknown when it comes to housing. I'm yet to see a double-glazed window pane in Hong Kong.

markeibes 12y ago
No, Canadian homes are not built to resist the cold. They have the same silly 3cm cardboard walls that American houses have. This was very stunning for me coming from a country where the temperature rarely drops below 0 degrees Celsius. I have learnt that the Canadians only feel like they are being eco-friendly because the only place they are comparing themselves with is the US. I mean: a remote control for your car's motor so you can have it pre-heat, half of the people driving around in pick up trucks or the toilets having about a million litres of water in them.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Effective R value and the air barrier are a lot more important than thickness or material (of course material choice factors into R value, but better materials generally hit higher R values at lesser thickness...). Modern building codes require a vaguely reasonable R value.
ddeck 12y ago
>It always amazed me how such an energy-hungry place, where electricity is expensive, is built so cheaply that insulation doesn't factor at all. Energy-efficiency is totally unknown when it comes to housing. I agree that it's absurd. Switch off the aircon in summer in any of the apartments I've lived in there, and it's back at 33C within 10 minutes. After several years I finally rebuilt a place from the concrete up with proper insulation and double-glazed windows and the difference is astonishing. The amount of wasted energy is depressing. Not so surprising though when the same groups that own the larger housing developers also own the power company.

learc83 12y ago

How cold it feels is also dependent on humidity. A very humid climate means that it feels much colder than it actually is.

bane 12y ago

In the deep desert, temperatures change fast. I once spent some time in a desert environment that went from 120F (49C) to 50F (10C) in a matter of a couple weeks. Where I come from 50F is light jacket weather if it's windy at night. But in the desert, after having become accustomed to hair dryer temperatures all day, I was freezing. I mean shivering, teeth chattering cold. It was the most bizarre feeling. I could feel the air temperature, and it was fine, but my body simply couldn't keep up with the sudden change and I didn't get used to the new temperature for a few weeks.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

3pt14159 12y ago

I played soccer outside on Dec 26 in shorts and a soccer jersey in a balmy 6C here in Toronto. Would not have been possible without the sun shining right on me.

arethuza 12y ago
6C doesn't strike me as that cold for playing football in t-shirt and shorts. Actually, compared to most school football matches I can recall that seems quite civilized... [It's been a while, so my memories of school PE do seem to becoming more like something from Ripping Yarns with each passing year.]

colund 12y ago

I live in Sweden where -C is very common at winters. -25-30 is considered very cold even by us though. Nasal mucus freezes and skin "bites".

sanoli 12y ago
What? I didn't that your nasal mucus froze. I thought your body temp would keep it from freezing. How does it feel? Is it a beginning sign of frostbite?
- mitchty 12y ago
  I grew up in rural North Dakota, here's what happens. You walk outside and inhale, and your boogers will immediately freeze in your nose. It feels.... odd, I've no way to explain it properly, it honestly is something one has to experience. The general rule is below about -10C or thereabout you blow your nose before going outside. That or you're going to wait for it to thaw and then blowing your nose. Doesn't have anything to do with frostbite that I'm aware of. When its that cold for shits I would take a full cup of boiling/hot water and throw it in the air. Making snow is fun.