It's my least favorite time of year. Until I was 18, I never had to experience a real winter.
Average highs and lows for places I've lived (in January, since it's the coldest month):
Columbia, SC: 56/34
Pace, FL: 60/42
Apex, NC: 50/30
Rexburg, ID: 29/13
Vernal, UT: 30/7
Am I cold? Yes, sometimes. But my real problem with winter is not just that. I never really dealt with S.A.D. (that I know of) until living in Rexburg. It is manageable but not very fun. People think I hate winter just because I'm from the South. That's part of it, but I am quite capable of dressing warmly. It's really the lack of sunshine that gets to me after a while. The fact that January is both cold AND dark adds insult to injury, so I'm glad it's coming to an end soon!
Shortest days of the year (winter solstice):
Columbia, SC: 9:32 hrs., less than 11: Oct. 26 to Feb. 15 (112 days)
Pace, FL: 10:10 hrs., less than 11: Oct. 31st to Feb. 10 (102 days)
Apex, NC: 9:44 hrs., less than 11: Oct. 24th to Feb. 17th (116 days)
Rexburg, ID: 8:55 hrs., less than 11: Oct. 16th to Feb. 26th (134 days)
Vernal, UT: 9:17 hrs., less than 11: Oct. 19th to Feb. 22nd (126 days)
I seem to suffer the most on days with less than 11 hours of daylight. There is a difference of 32 days between Rexburg and Pace. That's a whole month of extra suffering, not considering the 30 degree temperature difference.
When James retires, we are moving South like all the other old people!
I'm surprised by how much I'm not actually hating the dark, grey Portland winter because it's been in the 40s and 50s the whole time. I find the SAD isn't so bad if I can get outside every day and not want to be dead because it's so cold!!! The days change so fast here too which was super disconcerting before the solstice but is awesome now. We've already gained nearly an hour of daylight since the start of January! It's literally noticeable.
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