What's your zone?

No. Not your USDA plant hardiness zone. What's your USDA personal hardiness zone.

I was reading a topic in tropicals, about a person growing Plumeria in SK (I believe that's Seskatchuwan or a place with a similar spelling), and thought to my self, "How on Earth can anyone live in a climate like that?"

I then quickly remembered all of the snow birds that leave our area long before the wonderfull heat of August envelopes us.

It's amazing to me how all of the worlds 98.6ish degree bodies, acclimate themselves to to such a wide range of extreme temperatures on both ends of the thermometer.

This may be better for one of Daves polls, but until then, here's the general question.

What's HOT for you, and What's COLD for you.

Me?

HOT is 95 with a 95% humidity or higher
COLD = Under 55 or so.

Chris

I am VERY hot-natured so hot for me is anything over 80, and cold is in the low 20's. I don't think I was born in the correct hardiness zone - HA!

I start to get uncomfortable around 76 with no breeze on the high side and too cold is any number that reminds me of my teens with a wind of more than 10 mph. I really don't mind weather in the twenties and thirties WITHOUT a stiff breeze. I am most comfortable when it's in the upper 60s or low 70s - how's that for picky???lol If I can wear a flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up, that means it's not too hot.

Good question ... since moving to NY, my cold threshold has really gone down. In fact, it even goes down as the winter progresses. What used to seem freezing in the Fall and early winter seems balmy in February and March.

Ideally...

Heat - probably 95 degrees (low humidity)/85 degrees higher humidity

Cold - Probably about 40 degrees would be lowest comfortable temperature - I'm not a big one for hats, etc., so this is probably the lowest temp that I'm comfortable with a lightweight jacket.

95 degrees with 95% humidity is pretty hot and 55 without long john's is pretty cold to me. With long john's 50 is okay. And if the air temp is less that 80, surf temp of less than 80, no swimming for me. LOL

Molly

Hi Chris, hope you and your family are doing well. :^)

Howie and I are both most comfortable when it's between 60-70 or maybe 80 with low-humidity. We like cooler weather and most of the time keep our house between 60-65 during the winter. This winter it's been colder outside, though, so we nudged it up to about 67 during the day! Many times I work outside in short sleeves when it's in the 40's...I have other insulation. ;)

Somewhere between 65 and 85 is ideal for me, altho on vacation in Arizona the temps were near 100 and it didn't seem too bad. I can *tolerate* weather below 65 down to about 30, but I hate wearing a bunch of layers and refuse to wear a hat at all :)

Eileen

It starts to get too cold outside without a hat (mostly for my ears ;) when temperatures are under 8°F - and especially if it is windy. If it's calm, it doesn't feel so cold at all. I've used to temperatures as low as -20°F living here, although this Winter it hasn't been so cold at all if I compare to last year.
I usually start wearing long johns in the Fall when temperatures are under 32°F to 25°F or so.

Hot is hard to describe because I don't know about the humidity. Summers in Finland are often very hot in the end of June to August. We get some rains too but not very much. Perfect climate IMO :)

And days are long of course, in June the sun doesn't go down at all in the North, here in south we have a couple of hours dark time. Nights are cool too (if we don't have a heatwave like last year) which makes sleeping more comfortable.

hot for me is around 98 with humidity the same.
cold is anywhere below 60.

I'm with Lisa. 98 is great if the humidity is low, if it is above 60%, which it always is here, give me the AC!! Can't take the cold, 60 is about my low limit. Give me 75-80 year around with low humidity & I would be a very"Happy Camper".

Great question Chris!

Honeybee

Find me a climate of about 35 degrees F to no higher than about 76 degrees F and I will be very happy. Of course I would want really good soils and a great place to get to the mountains quickly for my "fix" and keep the wind on the calm side too. I sure wish we could order our climate and have jobs appear out of nowhere for us and spouses. OR we could be independently wealthy and just live to have fun.

I dont get warm till 75 and hot well maybe at 100!
Im a "tropical" out of place here in michigan!
Im always freezing,while others are in shorts n Tshirts
they all laugh at me with my sweatshirt on!

***Its sowing like crazy right now! :(

My personal temperature ranges seem to be changing as I get older. I'm comfortable outside when the temps are above 40F if I have on warm layers, especially if it's windy, but don't want to stay out in it anymore.

BUT I prefer temps in the 60's and 70's. When it gets above 80-85 here in the mountains, it's HOT! Our humidity can get high but usually doesn't much. Not dry like the desert states, though.

When I'm inside, I'm usually sedentary so now I want the house warmer, say 70-72F, until bedtime and then I turn the temps. down to around 67F.

Here in the desert area of Wash. we have very low humidity, which I like. But I'm hot if the temp is over 80, and I don't go out to the garden to work. When I do work in the garden i wear a hat all the time. I can take the cold, I just don't like the wind, which living where I do on a south sloping sidehill I do get quite a lot of wind. It was breezy not really windy yesterday, high 51 degrees. I planted a 100 soaked sweetpea seeds under my SP trellis and still have about 40 seeds left to plant in different areas. Donna

I prefer temps around 70-75*, and low humidity. I don't do well in heat and humidity anymore. I don't mind the wind - in fact it is like working with a fan on, which is nice. I can even work in the rain if it isn't a thunderstorm. Never did mind working in mud. As for cold - If I bundle up I don't mind working outdoors as long as it is above 40*. Colder than that and my asthma kicks in. Besides - colder than 40* and nothing is growing in Ohio anyway ! And indoors- the air conditining runs all year long. My family gets cold sometimes. I tell them to put on more clothes. If I have to take mine off, it's not a pretty sight !

I'm most comfy when it's 80 and up; too hot is somewhere around the century mark, especially in high humidity.

Unless I'm doing some strenuous activity, I get uncomfortable when ambient temps dip below 75F, but I sleep best in a cool (60-65 F) room, and can't sleep if it's above 75.

So basically my most comfortable range is very narrow: 75-90 degrees. (picky, picky, picky me ;o)

When I'm in the house and awake, my comfort zone is 74F. When I'm in bed, 65 to 72F is best. Outside, below 50F is pretty cold and above 82F is hotter than it ever needs to get. Around 60-65F is my favored temperature range for working outdoors. Any hotter than that and I prefer to stay in the shade. (The sun here is very intense.)

Inside, I like daytime temperatures around 70 and sleeping temps around 65.

Outside, anything around 75-80 is hot. Cold is probably around freezing, unless I am very active.

The big X-Factor is humidity. Here we are lucky to have not very humid summers; but, we have very humid winters. I started watching the outside humidity and temps this fall, and between Dec 15 and March 1, the humidity was almost always between 80% and 98%. Usually closer to 98%. No wonder so many things rot.

GW put a link about Fat White Guy in Hong Kong. He mentioned at 20C (68F) everybody wears coats and scarves. Today here was nice,41F, snow continues to melt. Anything under 20F is cold. Below 0F is annoying. That's when the furnace runs all day and it's 62F inside. We fire up the wood stove. Hot is 90F, rare as we are on the coast.