What Temperature is Cold for You? 76°F, 69°F, 90°F or More?

[Psinter]

For me 76°F is cold and at 69°F I begin to shiver. I'm used to temperatures ≥ 90°F almost every day. In fact my room has been lately getting at 94°F at night while 86°F at the outside of the house (at night). Therefore, I'm very sensitive when it comes to drops in temperature.

Anyway, what about you? What is cold for you and when do you begin to shiver?

 

[Danger]

I'm going to have to use conversions here—we're metric. I keep my home thermostat at 85°F, but it's in an area of the house where heat accumulates. The parts of the house where I spend my time are generally around 72°. All that I wear in that environment is sweat pants and slippers. The window beside my couch/bed is quite leaky, so I use a blanket for sleeping in winter.
Outside, anything above 50° is jeans and a T-shirt sitting on the lawn with beer weather. I'm comfortable going outside in a T-shirt at around 35°—50°, but not just sitting around. If I have to walk anywhere, it's easiest for me to breath between 32° and -5°, but I have to wear a coat. Below that, it's too painful to breathe without a scarf, but that interferes with my oxygen supply.

 

[Evo]

I break out in painful swollen welts and start swelling up if the temperature hits 75F. Above that I stop perspiring and my body temp and blood pressure plummet, becoming serious. I keep my house at 65F year round and keep a large fan blowing on me. Outside temps 5-10F are cold, but even higher temps where the windchill reaches these lower temps feel cold. At night in the winter, I open my bedroom window with outside temps below 20F. Last year a plant I had in front of the window died, it froze. :( inside my bedroom. I make sure the rooms with water pipes are kept above freezing.

 

[DaveC426913]

I'm at a similar latitude to Danger. Anything above 50F is T-shirt weather.

This past winter we had a bit of a cold snap where it reached -20F.

 

[lisab]

I prefer cooler temps. Inside, not much above 20 or 21 C (68 or 70 F). Outside...well I think I'm sensitive to humidity. Where I live now, it's rainy/misty/foggy often in the winter. Anything below 4 C (40 F) feels pretty cold - being wet and cold is miserable.

But I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska. It's an Arctic climate, and it was extremely dry there. Temps around -20 C (-4 F) were routine in winter, but it wasn't unbearable.

Two observations: in very cold climates, people keep their houses unreasonably warm, and holy moly static electric shocks are brutal!

 

[nuuskur]

263-273K is alright, 243-253K winters are a bane.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Anything below a dry 75F is where I start regarding it as a bit too cool.

Of course, heat comfort and discomfort are radically affected by the humidity. I lived in Minneapolis for 8 years. The winters are much too cold and the summers are much too humid (not too hot, too humid)

 

[wukunlin]

I find it quite interesting that when I lived in Auckland, NZ, I start to feel hot at around 17C, but now I live in Sydney AU, I still feel a bit cold at 25C.

 

[Medicol]

Maybe that we get older each day explains why.

 

[Danger]

Maybe that we get older each day explains why.

That's a pretty valid point. Blood density changes, muscular weakness in the cardio-pulminary system, arthritis... they all make cold & humidity terrible enemies.

 

[Mark44]

I open my bedroom window with outside temps below 20F. Last year a plant I had in front of the window died, it froze.

One place I lived for about a year while I was in college was a fisheman's shack with gaps around the windows and the window frame. To keep the place warm I bought a used space heater. One night, with the space heater going, it got cold enough in my room that a glass of water beside my bed froze solid. That's in no way an exaggeration.

Another place I shared with a good friend had one room that was heated and one that wasn't. In my (unheated) room you could see stars at night through a narrow gap between the wall and the ceiling. Some friends we had over tracked some snow into my room - the snow lay there unmelted for two days.

BTW, both places I'm describing were free...

in very cold climates, people keep their houses unreasonably warm

I've noticed that as well. My ex-inlaws (in the "banana belt" of Montana, near Missoula) kept their house so warm that I always brought along a pair of shorts to wear. At one time the inside/outside temperature difference was so great that a glass pane in their front door cracked.

The coldest temps I have experienced were -39F in Lolo, Montana, per the time and temp sign on a nearby bank. During the day it would warm up into the -20s (F). On a lark one day I decided to walk around the outside of the house, barefoot, wearing shorts and no shirt, in about 6" of snow. Some people probably wouldn't do that

 

[Psinter]

Wow. You all seem to be able to handle cold very well. Danger and Dave can be on T-shirts in the range of 50°F while Evo can sleep with surrounding temps approximating 20°F.

Amazed, I'm simply amazed. To think the lowest I've ever been is 62F (and I thought I would freeze). For you all that temperature must be a breeze.

PS. My condolences to Evo's plant.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Below 10C the cold starts to bother me. If I'm in my coat, hat and gloves though anything down to 0 is ok though it's obviously not comfortable.

 

[dlgoff]

I learned a little about Wisconsin's winter temperatures/wind chills from Greg when we were at the Science Festival. I love the man but wouldn't want to live with him. :(

 

[Danger]

PS. My condolences to Evo's plant.

Don't worry about it; she kills one about every 10 minutes. You get used to it pretty quickly.
Our coldest winter (going by on-site thermometers and anemometers since it was out on a farm) hit -55°F with the wind-chill factor at -75°. We don't go outside on days like that.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Cold, for me, is when she gives you her number but never picks up.

 

[Astronuc]

I'm comfortable in shorts, T-shirt and bare feet at ~ 0°C, and even lower if the air is try.

Coldness depends on the heat transfer coefficient and ambient temperature.

 

[Danger]

I'm comfortable in shorts, T-shirt and bare feet at ~ 0°C

You should relink your picture of you playing Tarzan in the snow to this thread. :D

 

[Matterwave]

In Fahrenheit I consider 70 to be the ideal temperature 65 starts getting cool, and probably 50 is cold. In Celsius, I consider 21 to be ideal, 18 starts getting cool, and 12 is cold.

...does that add up at all...

 

[Danger]

...does that add up at all...

Myeah... apples and oranges. It all ends up as fruit salad anyhow...

 

[Matterwave]

Myeah... apples and oranges. It all ends up as fruit salad anyhow...

I decided to check... 21C=69.8F, 18C=64.4F, 12C=53.6F so with the exception of the last one, the first two are quite close! lol

 

[davenn]

For me 76°F is cold and at 69°F I begin to shiver. I'm used to temperatures ≥ 90°F almost every day. In fact my room has been lately getting at 94°F at night while 86°F at the outside of the house (at night). Therefore, I'm very sensitive when it comes to drops in temperature.

Anyway, what about you? What is cold for you and when do you begin to shiver?

when Ice is forming on the insides of my bedroom windows!

Cold, for me, is when she gives you her number but never picks up.

LOL Simon ... almost as bad as a cold shoulder from the wife ;)

Dave

 

[Danger]

Well, if my lady friend is wearing a steel bra and it can't keep her from poking my eye out...

 

[Drakkith]

My thermostat is set at 71F. I'll start wearing my leather jacket if I'm outside and its less than 70. If there's ice then I'm going back to sleep for another two weeks.

 

[nuuskur]

people in Australia would go extinct if they had our current weather :D

 

[Highspeed]

;) Being from a state that is shaped like a mitten may skew my view a bit. Cold, disregarding wind-chill, doesn't really happen until about 40F. Over that a vest is all you need to work outside. Inside, cold for me is below about 68F, as everything in the house gets cool to the touch and uncomfortable to sit on. That's the short version. 8)

 

[psparky]

Keep in mind that people with shorter, stockier physiques, with shorter arms, legs and fingers tend to hold heat much better and thrive in cooler temperatures.

People that are taller will thinner physiques, with longer arms, legs and fingers tend to NOT hold heat very well and do NOT thrive in cooler temperatures.

Personally, I typically don't wear a jacket until it's 50 degrees or lower. I typcially keep the heat around 68 degrees during day and around 63 degrees at night.

If I kept the heat at night at 72 degrees I would litterally die of heat stroke.

At 5'-8" tall and 185 lbs I am on the shorter, stocker side. My brother for example is 6'-3" tall and 180 lbs...an absolute "freeze baby!"

All degrees are in Farenheight.

 

[George Jones]

Indoors, I like it cool enough that I am comfortable in t-shirt and a sweater.

Outdoors, for me, "cold" doesn't start until - 25C (-13F). For example (from last winter),

It is not really that cold yet, but I did walk (20 minutes) my seven-year-old daughter to school at -18 C (0 F) this morning.

The predicted temperature for tomorrow morning is again -18C (0F), and, again, my daughter (now 8) and I will walk.

I walk for at 25 minutes every morning no matter what the temperature. I have walked in the -30sC (-22F and colder) several times in each of 3 Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec.

 

[Danger]

Keep in mind that people with shorter, stockier physiques, with shorter arms, legs and fingers tend to hold heat much better and thrive in cooler temperatures.

Good point. I was 5'10" @ 115 lbs., went up to 125 lbs. and stayed that way for years, then gradually shrunk to 5'8" while maintaining 125 lbs., and my low-temperature tolerance is far worse than that of my friends and family. (I'm a poor excuse for a Canuck. :L) It's my contention that I'm an ideal radiator—huge surface area:mass ratio.
I should also specify that my cold tolerance is based upon being dry. I can't swim, even in an indoor pool, because I go into hypothermia within 30 seconds of hitting the water. I made the mistake once of participating when my baseball team entered a mud-vollyball tournament. It was a windless day at about 30°C. The first time that I fell down and got wet, I started shivering uncontrollably with my teeth chattering and goosebumps like 50-grit sandpaper. They had to wrap me up in a blanket and put me in a running car with the heater turned up. Once I dried out, everything was fine again.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Keep in mind that people with shorter, stockier physiques, with shorter arms, legs and fingers tend to hold heat much better and thrive in cooler temperatures.

People that are taller will thinner physiques, with longer arms, legs and fingers tend to NOT hold heat very well and do NOT thrive in cooler temperatures.

Personally, I typically don't wear a jacket until it's 50 degrees or lower. I typcially keep the heat around 68 degrees during day and around 63 degrees at night.

If I kept the heat at night at 72 degrees I would litterally die of heat stroke.

At 5'-8" tall and 185 lbs I am on the shorter, stocker side. My brother for example is 6'-3" tall and 180 lbs...an absolute "freeze baby!"

All degrees are in Farenheight.

Animals, including people, that live in hot climates generally have longer limbs to radiate heat away from their bodies. I work with a lot of black guys and they get cold easier than I do. They'll complain about it being cold if it's just under 70 degrees F. I'll start to complain when it gets near 50, but before that I'm ok.

 

[dlgoff]

People that are taller will thinner physiques, with longer arms, legs and fingers tend to NOT hold heat very well and do NOT thrive in cooler temperatures.

It's just not fair. When I was young, it was swimming ability. Now that I'm old, it's the dang cold.

 

[psparky]

I think the amount of food you eat is a factor as well.

Take the guy who eats 2,000 calories per day compared to the guy that eats 6,000 calories a day.

A small calorie (sympbol: cal) - 1cal is the amount of energy required to raise one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

The 6,000 calorie guy is going to be warmer.

And then to add more effect, the thinner guy is usually eating the 2,000 range where the heavier guy is ussually eating up to or beyond the 6,000 calorie range.

 

[BobG]

But I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska. It's an Arctic climate, and it was extremely dry there. Temps around -20 C (-4 F) were routine in winter, but it wasn't unbearable.

Two observations: in very cold climates, people keep their houses unreasonably warm, and holy moly static electric shocks are brutal!

I spent a year about 85 miles outside of Fairbanks (along the highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage, near Anderson, home of the annual bluegrass festival). -20F was pretty normal the winter I spent there. Above 0, everyone was outside celebrating the warm weather (and running their vehicles off the road, as icy roads seem to be slicker around 0F degrees than at -20F degrees).

The coldest weather I experienced was -45 degrees F. We had a wild party. I strapped two sink plungers to my chest and commented on the weather, "A bit nipply tonight, isn't it?"

I was lucky. The week after I left, the temperature dropped to -65F.

Anything above -20F and I'd walk home from our radar site to the dormitories (about a mile). You have to get outside once in a while, even in the cold (we had very good cold weather gear). But there's a limit. Walking outside at -45F is dangerous. You can't really feel the difference in cold when the temperature's below -20F. You just notice body parts get numb faster (which wouldn't be a good thing if you were far away from shelter).

And, yes, it was incredibly dry and there was so much static electricity that pulling your blanket from the bed was a light show.

Where I live now (Colorado), anything above 50 degrees is shorts and sandals weather when the sun is out. Anything below 70 requires a jacket if it's cloudy. The air is thin, so the air temperature isn't quite as important as it is at sea level.

 

[Danger]

(and running their vehicles off the road, as icy roads seem to be slicker around 0F degrees than at -20F degrees).

That's because ice isn't slippery; the layer of water on top of it is. The compression/friction heat of the tires that melts it is more effective at higher temperatures.

 

[Formagella]

I can afford clothes so cold for me is when I feel my hands getting cold and I have to put them in pockets or something.
Now it's 13°C and it's mild weather for me.
Anything below 5° begins to feel cold and makes me want to be inside even with the sun out.

I hate frozenslush on the sidewalk and stuff so I hate any T < 0°C.

Generally I prefer to wear the least clothes possible. 24°C is my perfect summer sleeping temperature. Above 26°C, I sweat the bed. Above 28°C, it's more difficult to fall asleep because of the heat, and I also begin to feel sweaty/sticky when standing still, in the shade and with no clothes.