What do you find more uncomfortable extreme heat and humidity or extreme cold? I suppose you can define “extreme” your own way. I personally hate sweating and find extreme heat way worse than cold. I hear "I hate the cold" so often I wonder if I am the only one that feels this way. Put on proper clothes and gear and you don't get cold. It is simple.
"extreme" cold is worse in my opinion. I like a good sweat when I'm working. I personally feel a lot safer in heat than I do in cold. It definitely depends on what you're doing though. Some days it could be the exact opposite.
I dislike either extreme. I lived on the border of Canada during two extremely cold winters. Weeks of - 20 to - 30 actual temps, with the lowest going down to - 45 below with a - 110 windchill. I still went out, ran some snares but your face froze and it was hard to breathe. Even in chicagoland and central illinois the cold would be annoying. I had 130 laying hens at one point. That's a lot of messing with water and ice and frozen eggs when we'd get the subzero temps and wind. I went several summers including the not so distant super hot summer in central illinois. The summer with all those days of above 100 degree temps and miserable humidity. Working out in our 3 acre garden every day and having no air conditioning in the house. It got up to 98 inside the house. You have to take a lot of showers and when you grab a towel it feels like it has been in an oven. Then you start sweating again. In a way I loved it, you appreciate the lightest breeze, any shade giving tree and the slight temperature drop at night. But mostly it sucked . But now I live in the high Desert. No humidity, it can get hot in July but it drops 20-30 degrees at night and you can go a couple miles and be in the cooler mountains. In the winter it can get below zero here in town but not for long. The sun is so strong you usually only need a sweatshirt during the day. The warmer desert isn't too far either. Yep, I like this waaaaay better.
Heat. I have always been able to "dress for" the cold. When it is crazy hot, like Phoenix in the summer, hot, there is only so much clothing you can (legally) remove.
The cold isn't so bad if you're moving around and doing things to keep yourself warm. Sitting in extreme cold weather isn't pleasant though, although you can always dress for the elements to take the sting off of it. Those 90 degree days with high humidity are miserable, if you're outside there's really no way to cool yourself down without getting in water, where as you can always dress for cold weather. I like the cold more than I do the extreme heat in most cases, but with this extreme cold weather we've been having with whipping winds makes it a bit of a tougher choice, I would have rather pumped my gas yesterday in hot weather than that stinging cold breeze.
Extreme cold. I have had near frostbite on my hands and rubbed them and popped blood vessels. So now whenever I get cold part of my fingers turn white and start tingly. It is ridiculous. It'll take me an hour to warm up. I'll take heat any day. I would even move to the humidity state of FL.
Id rather have extreme heat. Cold doesn't really bother either, unless it is with a good wind. I'd rather be baking in the sun than having a 20 mph wind going through me with below zero wind chills. I don't mind the cold or heat when I'm outside. However, when I'm inside it needs to be ice cold in the summer with the AC cranking and HOT with the furnace cranking in the winter. Hate coming from outside and going indoors being either hot or cold.
Parts of my body don't hurt in the heat. The heat does not bother me. I've heard the saying " you can only take off so many clothes" Yeah well you can only wear so many and function. I can think of about 4 times I've run the AC in my truck in the last 10 years, and we can get some miserable heat in Missouri. But I also work outside, drink water like a fish and wear light breathable clothing. My work slows down in the winter, so really its all conditioning.
I hate both. I get tired of putting on the layers to go outside and do stuff. I will put up with both if I have to but at home I like to be comfortable. It is funny how you can get used to both extremes and function. Extreme heat will kill you faster, sure you can freeze to death but you can wear clothing to prevent that. You can be naked in the heat but without water you will die within a pretty short time frame. I used to go west every summer working fire and wearing Kevlar pants and long sleeve shirts on black burned ground usually at elevation you are sweating by 7am. Used to drink a minimum of a gallon of water and a few gatoraids during the shift and then had to rehab by taking in another half gallon off shift.
I guess as other have said extremes either way suck..... but I can take the heat better... I built a sweat lodge in my attic it's good for the soul...
I think it depends on how prepared you are for either... If you are prepared for extreme cold, it is more tolerable. But being in extreme cold unprepared? That sucks. It literally hurts. Being unprepared for extreme heat is more easily manageable IMO.
Great point. I guess if I was unprepared I would rather be in extream heat as well. But with the proper gear would much rather be in extream cold.
Heat. Cold sucks. You can still function in heat but I cant do squat when it gets cold. Working in it sucks, everything is frozen covered in ice and wont thaw out. I hate cold.
I hate both, but if we are just talking temperature alone, I guess I'd take extreme cold over extreme heat. Put wind into the occasion and my choice changes. I can handle negative temps as long as there is no wind, but even a slight breeze turns those negative temps into something way worse than extreme hot. I can always find shade on a hot day if I need it. That will knock about 10-15 degrees off the actual temperature. No way to warm it up on a cold day though.
