Well we have had a couple days in a row of 34C and 36C weather and in talking to an American on facebook, I made a comment about Canadians melting when mercury soars near triple digits (it hit 104F today before the humidex which made it feel like 110F).  Why is it that Americans think that -30C is so much worse than 30C above?

First off, I have a 30-30 rule where I do not go into work if it is above 30C or below -30C.  It has served me well and unless there is an emergency I have no problem taking some personal time off.

So today we get to rant again about an American saying something a little bizarre (Canadians say just as many dumb things in my opinion but we aren’t as much fun to bug because we don’t get as aggravated).  So here is the conversation…

Canadian: “I don’t know how you guys from (insert southern state here… arizona, texas, california, nevada, etc.) handle this weather… it is over 100F today and Canadians are melting by the thousands.”

American: “it ain’t so bad… it’s a dry heat down here”

Canadian: “at 104F does it really matter what the humidity is?”

American: “oh yes, dry heat isn’t as hot.”

Canadian: WTF?  “104F is 104F, and whether the humidity is up and I am melting or it is dry and my blood is simply boiling… it is too hot for humans to live and breath (as I recount May of 2012 working at the InterOp conference and feeling like I was walking around Las Vegas with a hair blow dryer in my face 24×7)”

American: “Well it beats the freezing cold you guys get in the winter… we don’t know how you live in that.”

Canadian: I get the statement and I understand the confusion if you have never dressed for -30C (-28F) “at least when it hits -30 (do we really need a unit here anymore?) we can just put more clothes on… I can dress for the winter or stay home”

American: “There is no way to dress for -30.”

Canadian: “you realize that we get down to -40C right (the units come back now because we are at -48F now)?  We don’t all die every winter so there is obviously a way to dress for the weather.”

American: “well it is easy to take off some of those clothes to survive 100F…”

Canadian: “how many clothes can I take off… i could be naked and melting… you can’t undress enough for heat but you can always put on more clothes for the cold… and if it gets too cold for the cars to start or drive then we can just stay in the house and crank the furnace.”

American: “well why dont you just stay in the house and crank the AC in the summer?”

Canadian: “it would be nice but most of us don’t have AC for the 7 days of 100F weather we see each year.”

American: “well without AC how do you survive?”

Canadian: “ummm… we don’t… that was my whole point.”