Why are Floridians completely nuts when it comes to temperature?

I'm not even being sarcastic. Long story short, I moved to Florida for college about 2 years ago, and people here are completely bat**** crazy with temperature. Where I currently work, many employees will come to work in hoodies and jackets, despite it being in the 80s or 90s outside, and then proceed to whine and moan about how it's "freezing". The other day it was in the 80s, and the one supervisor literally claimed she was so "freezing cold" that she was going to be physically ill. I hear it almost every day... Someone will be sitting there in their sweater or jacket and complaining that they're "freezing". One girl bundles up in a sweater and then drapes a big blanket over herself. Another woman actually has a little portable heater that she sets up. From this person claiming his hands are frozen to that person saying "Burr! Burr!" and pretending to shiver (I kid you not), I am at a complete loss for words over this whole thing. I just do not get it. I can -kindof- understand if people were born here and lived here their whole lives and just happened to be physically acclimated to the hot tropical climate. Even then it's crazy. But what really gets me is that people who move here from up north act the same way.
No, you're not freezing to death when it's 80+ ******* degrees outside!
Can someone please explain wtf is going on with people in Florida? Why are half the people I work with convinced that weather in the 80s is some frigid, freezing temperature?
I swear to God, the day I graduate and leave this hellhole will be the best day of my life.

They are all anemic and they take blood thinners. Check that warm blooded privledge at the door!

I would say this is common in any area with hotter than average, or lower than average temperatures.

My father came back from Africa last year, and found it amusing that many of the citizens there were wearing winter clothing 30-35c (86-95f), when he was out shirtless.

In the winter here, it can get to -40c (and -40f) and when it's like that for a good week or so, if it were to get to -10c (+14f), construction guys will be outside with their jackets AND shirts off!

Body regulation/adaptation is a funny thing.

a reply to: trollz

I grew up in Miami, where its 90 degrees for at least 75% of the year. We have thinner blood. I moved up to North Carolina and it took me some time to get used to the winters. Now I'm pretty well rounded when it comes to temperature changes.

I remember going to Disney World in Orlando during the summer time and watching the northerners passing out from the 85 degree weather. The heat never bothers me. I can wear a hoody in 95 degree weather and feel fine. Hell, I lived without central AC in Miami up until I was 12 years old.

Hi there, Tampa Bay native transplanted to Michigan here < waves > Well, mostly native, my parents moved us from Michigan to Florida when I was very young, & grew up there, only leaving the perpetual sauna last year. I believe I can give you a little insight on this.

Floridians are largely cool temperature pansies. Really. They're so used to it being hotter than the devil's armpit most of the year that cooler temperatures turn them into insta-sissies for the few brief weeks it occasionally dips below 70.

Observe the reactions to January/February cold (lol, it's not cold, but they think so) The very few days it gets below 60 for the highs are the funniest, everyone walks around bundled up like they're going on an Antarctic expedition. I can't tell you how many times I went out & about on foot, in normal clothes (sandals, shorts, tank top) in the early mornings with temps in the high 30's/low 40's and had person after person after person gasp & ask me how I wasn't cold. < shrug > I never got cold, apparently I'm made for the tundra.

It does simply boil down to acclimation. They're acclimated to hot, hotter and WTF hot. Despite growing up there, I never acclimated to the climate, and was, frankly, very miserable for all BUT those few cool weeks. MI's weather fits me like a glove, it was like I never left.

a reply to: trollz

Why does it bother you so much? You seem to be pretty upset about people being unable to acclimatize; something that, to me, is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things, considering what's going on in the world.

Just wondering how their thin blood affects you to the point where you feel the need to lambaste Floridians.

it's because you weirdos still use funny numbers that do not actually relate to the temperature.

If you'd only adopt centigrade, we'd all have less wars too.

originally posted by: NthOther
a reply to: trollz

Why does it bother you so much? You seem to be pretty upset about people being unable to acclimatize; something that, to me, is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things, considering what's going on the world.

Just wondering how their thin blood affects you to the point where you feel the need to lambaste Floridians.

All things considered, it's perfectly acceptable to scrutinize where you live. Especially Florida. There's always a free pass on lambasting Florida, and I used to call it home. Besides, why does someone doing so bother you so much? Shouldn't you be more focused on the goings on of the world, considering it's current state, than chastising someone for being befuddled?

When I was nine years old we went to Lakeland to spend Christmas with relatives. It was my first trip to Florida. They had an extreme "cold snap" that Christmas. The temps fell into the 30s at night and all the smudge pots were fired up in the groves. It was in the 50s in the daytime. To us, having left daytime temps in the 30s, the 50s felt positively tropical to us.
My aunt had a lot of jokes about how the Floridians bundled up. She said it was because all the women wanted to show off their fur coats!

I grew up in the midwest and have been living in central fl for 4 years for work.

I know what you mean with the winter clothes in 80 deg weather though. Guys wearing beanie caps and hoodies, while I'm rolling commando in flip flops and no shirt sweating into my eyeballs.

There is major conditioning with people from the midwest imo. The swing in temps throughout the seasons is intense in a year. -20 to 100 degrees F.

I will tell you something I've noticed though, 50 degrees and 100% humidity feels like 35-40 in the midwest. The chill absolutely cuts through clothes and chills to the bone.

Florida will jack with your body temps in a bad way if you spend too much time in AC. Like full time desk jobs or your home AC. You will never acclimate to the weather and feel hot and miserable constantly outdoors.

Of course, that works the other way as well, acclimate to the heat, and 73 feels cool.

Turn your AC to 45 for 2-3 days and that 55 will feel warm.

Born, raised, and still living in Florida.

I love the cold, and hate that Florida is so hot all the time.

I plan on moving to north Georgia sometime in the future. I want cooler weather without a lot of snow. I just don't want to deal with the hassles of it.

So, not all Floridians are cold intolerant.

People become acclimatized to high temps. Then when they go someplace that is cooler they become cold. Here is an example. I was stationed on IWO JIMA for about 4 months back in the early 70's. The daily temp there averaged around 110 degrees. I got use to that High temp over time. I went home to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving. It was 70 degrees outside. I was freezing. I had to put on a winter jacket to stay warm. Even inside my parents house I would be wearing a jacket, and walked around with a blanket. If not I was literally shacking because I was cold. I suffered like this for several weeks until I became acclimatized to normal temps again.

Florida isn't even really tropical though, yeah? Its like sub-tropics, like Brisbane, right?

Anyway, every time I've been to the actual tropics like Townville and Cairns (Australia), the locals are always whining and moaning about how either cold or hot it is... Its like dude, just deal with it.

I don't know the science behind it, but there's definitely something about people who live in tropical (sub-tropical) regions always carrying on about the weather... I've definitely noticed it.

a reply to: trollz

Go to work in shorts and a tee shirt just to make a point. Have a desk fan going and eat ice cream.

a reply to: trollz

I lived in Miami 16 years and it took me forever to get used to the humidity.
To be honest still can't stand it in the summer which is about 10 months of the year..lol
But when it hits the lower 70s then i notice the complaining from the people that grew up there,my barber said he hated it and he didnt feel good when to me it was very pleasant.

Sounds bloody crazy, I could never survive a place of such temperature! I'm at the opposite end though, it's 7 degrees C here right now and I am in a vest, no heating on. I just don't really feel the cold that much. I'm the sort of person who starts panting and sweating in 20 degree weather though

a reply to: trollz
You have about 2 more years max, before you will a climate to the Florida weather and you too will be one of the freezing club.

Ask my mother. She sounded like you until after she had lived in Florida about 3 years. Now the heat goes on and there is a fire in the fireplace, the moment the temperature drops below 74.

Make sure you come back and tell us when your body makes the change. We should write a paper about this phenomenon.

That is hot chocolate in that mug to help you warm up a bit.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I agree the a/c is the culprit. They don't turn off the a/c in most places when the temperature drops, causing the inside temperature, especially with the elevated humidity, to feel much colder. You can almost see fog coming from your mouth when you breathe.

You have to go outside to warm up.

a reply to: trollz

I live on the north shore of the Thames Estuary, in a little town ironically named Southend-On-Sea. It is in the county of Essex, and this year we have had one of the warmest winters I have ever lived through. It's been consistently above ten degrees, for most of the winter, and certainly for the last four to six weeks at least. Flowers have been blooming over the last little while that shouldn't be seen until the beginning of spring, there are birds, bees, wasps, and little flies all over the place... It was sixteen degrees c the other day!

This is not in any way normal, safe, or good. Despite the unusually warm temperatures, I have seen people wandering about in coats and hats, and complaining about the cold.

Now it must be said, that although we are one of the warmest counties on the mainland of Britain, we usually get at least a few weeks of freezing temperatures, maybe a little hail, or the very occasional bout of proper snow. Even if there is no snow, the wind and rain and sleet usually drop the temperature down pretty well. This wintertime , we have had double digit NIGHTS! That's right, you heard me, nights where the temperature remains above ten degrees! And still people have been exclaiming "Oh that's a bitter wind!", or "Brrrrrr!".

And yet, this is not cold. This weather does not understand the meaning of cold, it has never been to the same parties as, or have any of the same numbers in its mobile phone, no contacts alike with cold. Cold weather means that it is MINUS ten degrees, with a wind chill of a further minus five degrees, cold means wearing thermal undergarments and thick gloves, and marching into a blizzard in order to go for a pint with ones mates, because the busses cannot run on the ice and snow slicked roads, un gritted thanks to the useless local council. Cold weather means smashing a two inch thick ice off our back stairs so that we can get to work, gritting the frontage outside our store, and digging a path to our shop doorway because snow has drifted up against our door and window... This winter has been PATHETIC!

California native here. Anything under 74 degrees IS FREEZING, I expect snow around 68. I moved from warm sunny California to Montana. Before that I had never seen temps go below 20 and that was a big deal when it did, everyone freaked out that the temp was dropping into the 20's! The I move to Montana and see -36 degrees. I learned to dress for it. Tights and 2 pairs of leggings under my normal clothes. Many layers of shirts and sweaters and two hats on my head, a skull cap type and a bigger one, plus a jacket hood.

I am perfect weather temp spoiled, it is true, but I am slowly adjusting. Heat doesn't bother me at all though. I am totally ok in temps over 100 degrees.