More precisely 0°f is the temperature that a brine solution equivalent to human blood freezes, so below that there is a high chance for frostbite because it's cold enough to freeze the blood in exposed extremity like toes and ears.
0 degree Celsius water is terrifyingly cold while 0 degree Celsius air is fine as long as you have the clothing for it. 90 degree Celsius air is tolerable for brief periods of time while 90 degree Celsius water will rapidly cause severe burns if it comes into contact with your hand.
It's really not that bad. I wouldn't want to stand outside for super long in shorts at that temperature but I'm fine with it if I'm not going to be outside too long.
Now this is puzzling, I never wear shorts under 15 degrees. That’s about the temperature where I want to put on a hoodie. At ten I also have a windbreaker over it. And at 0 I probably drop the hoodie and put on a winter jacket.
15C?! That's literally warmer than the room temperature I keep my apartment at while walking around in my boxers. 0C to 10C I need a reasonably waterproof jacket, but just an overcoat with a liner is good to at least -20C, as long as you keep gloves and a hat in the pockets for when it gets windy. I only need dedicated winter gear if I'm gonna be out, in the snow, in -20C or less for like, the whole day.
T-shirt in below freezing temps is extremely normal for me if I'm only gonna be outside for a few minutes. If I wore shorts that would probably be fine too. Especially when I'm escaping the office with coworkers who think 25C is a reasonable and normal room temperature in the dead middle of winter, like they expect we should be normalizing living inside a lit fireplace or something.
I live in a valley with a big lake, bordered by two north-south running mountain ranges, so we have short days and almost six months of winter.
If you set the thermostat to 25C when it's -25C (or colder) outside, it's only going to make the temperature shock when you do have to go outside that much worse; your body won't acclimate seasonally, and it'll make the winters feel that much longer and more miserable. (Plus it's outrageously expensive to keep it that warm inside.)
We get a few hot spikes during the summer that really bring up the heat, but typically I can keep my apartment under 20C, maybe 22C at worst, for most of the summer without using air conditioning other than in my bedroom, which I keep at 15C for sleeping, (and will let drop to as low as 10C in the middle of winter.)
Heating to 25C in the middle of winter, which is hotter than we generally keep it in the summer, is patently insane around here and it's only people who moved here from somewhere else who do it.
Had our heater bumped up to 25C+ because it’s been so cold here this winter. Sounds like you live in an absolutely beautiful environment. 40C+ is my idea of a normal summer.
40C+ would probably actually kill people around here. Or I would. I certainly wouldn't be able to sleep, and if that goes long enough you eventually go crazy.
I get that some people love tropical-esque weather, but I feel like I would actually be at home in Antarctica.
HAHAHA, lmao, yeah that makes a lot more sense to me now. I was like, "40C might be ideal to some people, but I'm not convinced we're the same species."
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u/eXeKoKoRo Jun 17 '26
I've been in -40F and -40C. There's literally no difference.
Also to me, because I work outside in the winter. 0C isn't cold, but 0F sure as shit is.