I think I'm the only person in the northeast who enjoyed last year's winter. Two things: a) my workout group exercised outside frequently, and the crisp fresh air, getting pleasantly warm & sweaty, and the good company was fun & invigorating. b) I've taken up photography, and winter light and winter's subtle coloring can be so beautiful. And I love a crackling fire in the fireplace, the quiet of snow, and watching cardinals at the feeder.

Nope, I live in Austin, Texas and I love winter here! It's the summers that kill me.

I'm a Texan who hates heat (go figure) so yes, I'm looking forward to winter very much!

Texanjana - LOL!

Well, *I* hear ya, and feel ya...and I live in NC! Last winter was absolutely brutal, the polar vortex about did me in...and I live in NC! :) I cannot imagine how awful it must be further north. I chaperoned a group of 5th graders to Washington DC in February...I thought I was going to die. A "reinforcing" polar vortex came through while we were there. It hurt to breath. We had a night tour of the Jefferson memorial, the wind brought tears to my eyes.

I really hate winter, I NEVER complain about the heat and humidity in NC! I told dh when he retires in 20 years I want to be a snowbird...that seems lovely to me. :)

I can sympathize with you - we're having the same dark, damp day here on my side of the Delaware.

We finally moved the patio furniture onto the porch and pulled out the rest of the annuals. When the weather clears DH will check the generator (and I pray we won't need it) and the snow blower.

The bad news is that both the Farmer's Almanac and the National Weather Service are predicting another cold, nasty, snowy winter.

The good news is that DH retired so I can now share the snow removal duties! He can remove the snow and I'll make the hot cocoa.

I'm in MN but not dreading it yet. I'm just not thinking about it. I think I hate the darkness more than winter itself.

Counting the days til Spring. Can we get dismal Fall out of the way before whining about cold Winter. Those Texas summers would be great. But I enjoy mine right here on a beautiful beach. Blasting cold again today, so switched the menu to hot soup.

It's supposed to be colder than normal here this winter in Georgia. We had our earliest frost ever. I do have some nice broccoli, tatsoi and salsify plants started from seeds to replace the frosted plants. Our fall was very short this year. I'm not fond of winter here. It gets very windy. I prefer to be outside during ther day, but not when it is cold and windy. We lived in Vero Beach area for 17 years before we moved here and I prefer the warmer winter weather there.

I am in MI and totally dreading it! We have already had some sleet and snowflakes and it's been pretty chilly the last few days. We are still 15+ years from being able to move out of state but boy do I want to live in a warmer climate. I keep wondering how I'm going to make it thru another brutal winter when I'm already dreading it this much. :(

I'm an ex-Texan, and I moved from Austin to Los Angeles and haven't looked back. The winters were generally not that bad in Austin (but I did endure at least one ice storm), but the summers were almost unbearable.

It's in the 80s and 90s here right now, but is supposed to cool off to the mid 70s by the week-end. This summer I finally broke down and got central A/C and kept the thermostat at 75 degrees. When I lived in Austin, I had to keep it at 80 degrees to avoid an outrageous electric bill. I've been in L.A. for 25 years, and this was the first summer that I felt the need for central A/C, but then I've always lived near the beach. Last winter, it only got below 50 degrees a couple of times in December, and so we did not use much heat either. I haven't had a single frost since I've lived here, which means I can grow herbs and vegetables all winter, which is nice, but with the drought, I have to water them regularly. In a normal winter, they would get rain.

Look me up when you visit your brother! I would love to meet you in person.

Lars

OMG, if I had seen snow already I'd be selling the house and moving south. I hate the heat and humidity, too, so I guess I;d be going to the southwest. As it is, I am staying put.

I agree about hating the dark and gray and dismal-ness even more than the cold and snow. At least a whopping snowstorm is sort of exciting as long as the power stays on and no trees land on the house.

I hated those days in December when it would be dark when I left for work and dark when I got out at the end of the day. I felt like I didn't see sunlight for a month.

I don't know how those of you in places like North Dakota do it.

Last year the National Weather Service predicted a mild winter and look what happened. I hope they are equally as wrong this year.

I still have to close up my porch and cover the outdoor furniture. Hate to say goodbye to it until next May.

At least my knock out roses are still blooming - the buds are slightly anemic - but their trying hard to bring some color to the autumn bed.

The woolly bears are predicting a winter much like last year's...long with a short, late spring.

I was waiting for the woolly bear prediction. Say it isn't so!

UGH, the time change! It is so dark with so much traffic when I am coming home from work most days. Only good thing about snow is that if there is any at all, we get a snow day.

Dedtired, you missed it then...I posted a few weeks ago.

For those of you with SAD...mine really starts to kick in this time of year...an easy cure is a 3 way lamp by your bed. When you wake up, put the lamp on the lowest for a couple of minutes, then on the middle for a couple of minutes then on high for a couple of minutes before you get out of bed...it helps simulate a dawn which has helped me a lot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woolly bears 2014

No, you're not, Awm. I love winter. Love walking in the snow, sledding, watching the birds at my feeders, having an excuse to not feel like a blob if I'm curled up on my sofa during the day, fires in the fireplace.

Only things I don't like about winter are ice and heating bills.

While there are things I like about winter...the zillion diamonds of light when the sun hits the icy trees...the wonderful light and shadow you get from the sunlight through the trees on the snow fields...the cozyiness of being tucked inside even though it's miserable outside....there's so much I dislike. So I guess my favorite part of winter is the promise of spring to come.

Another winter lover here. But that's why we moved to Montana, to a town where winter is highly anticipated and celebrated. It's fun to live in a place where the whole town pulses with giddy excitement for a winter storm watch.

We're all skiers here, so that's what drives the wintertime love. Without some sort of cold weather activity to look forward to, I agree that it would be a tough season to endure.

That said, it's been a lingering, beautiful fall and no one seems to be complaining about that either. But it had better start snowing soon...

I'm ready. I think. This is our first winter in New Mexico, and we actually get snow here. I grew up with snow, but 25+ years in Alabama makes it a distant memory. We've gotten a good winter vehicle, but I still need to do some shoe/boot shopping.

The beauty of the west is the lack of humidity. It can be 25 degrees outside and I don't feel as cold as I felt in Alabama when it was 45 degrees.

I start hating winter as soon as we go off DST. It's nearly dark when I get home from work and I miss my outdoor time to go for a run! Sun sets here around 5:45 right now but pretty soon it will be around 5 pm. I have started coming in earlier a couple of times a week so I can leave early, which sucks to get up so darn early too. So if I hustle I can get home, change and hit the pavement and be back home before it's totally dark. I don't really mind running in the cold as long as it's not windy.

Trying to think of anything to like about our winters. Hmm, the only thing I can come up with is being able to go to the grocery store in your ratty clothes because you can throw a coat on over them. Another is catching up with the neighbors when everyone is outside shoveling 16 tons of snow. Er, no not that one.

I like winter clothes better than summer clothes. I like sweaters and warm socks. I like scarves and gloves.

That's all I've got.

Winter is the east is definitely more disgusting than winter in the west, except maybe New England, but I am not sure about that. Our pretty fresh snows quickly become snirt (snow dirt) and ice is no fun either.

Winter lover here, too. We're surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains, have low humidity, the sun shines 300+ days/year, and it usually feels warmer than it actually is, snow melts fairly quickly, fresh, clean air filled with the fragrance of pine trees. Anxious for ski resorts to open:)

There are parts of the country where I wouldn't fair well, the PNW in particular.

After living in San Diego for 27 years, and now living in Austin, I really do look forward to the slight chsnge of seasons and the crist cooler weather. It's also such a pleasant relief after the brutal summer heat.

So yes, I'm looking forward to winter and even the possibility of a few snow flurries!

My rule for myself is that I may complain about the heat/humidity of summer OR the cold/snow of winter, but not both. So I gripe and moan and whine about heat and esp. humidity, and don't allow myself to complain about cold or snow.

griping about ice, though, is always allowed.

After surviving the polar vortex in Chicago last year, we made the commitment to be gone before winter this year, sold our house and will be in NC in 10 days. HOWEVER...... can anyone please tell me why oh why we have to have a forecast of 34 degree high and 50% chance of snow on the day our moving truck arrives? And that cold snap is supposed to extend down to western NC for our arrival with a forecast of yup, you guessed it, 50% chance of snow. :-/ I need the moving fairies to intercede!! Anyone have any connections - please?

Ded, I am with you on every point you have made. However, being a teacher in a district that changed its schedule to include (stupidly) 13 (!) snow days ( new superintendent is from Texas, so guess she isn't a fan of snow), I am hoping for tons of snow! So much fun to take the dogs out front to run around when everything is shut down.

Well...up here in the "Winter Capital" of Fargo, ND...we finally got some snow earlier this week!! Gone now though.
Today & yesterday were dull-gray skies, very WINDY, & occasional mist.

I've always LOVED the increasing cold in the Fall, & the dark gloom! Always LOVED heaps of snow too. Made me kinda proud (& insane!?) to live where winter often tried to kick your A**! When we had snowmobiles, I COULDN'T WAIT for snow!!!! Flying across large fields @ 70-80mph is SUCH a freakin' rush!!! If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd be off to get a fairly bad-a** sled by Noon!

There IS a reason why I love the colder weather, starting as a youngster...NO ALLERGIES!!! Spring & late summer sometimes SUCKED when I was younger. I'd get VERY stuffed-up. I still have a LIVID hatred of Lilac-blooms!!

But when Fall/Winter came....I'm Free!!

Faron

Here is a link that might be useful: A BEAST-Sled I'm lusting for....

What is this winter you speak of? LOL, in Miami we're just starting what many folks think of as our best season. I don't mind a little nip in the air; it's getting below 70 at night now so that's officially autumn/winter level. Humidity slightly lower as well and that's also nice. What I really love is the *light* in the winter subtropic season. Hard to describe but it is almost crystalline and everything is in such sharp relief. That along with the intensity of the blue skies...paradise. I've never lived north of the Mason-Dixon line but I do recall those short, gray, sad winter days in Georgia and Virginia. Yuck.

Then again I don't really mind summers here either. That's boating/swimming/diving season which is also lots of fun. Nothing like sliding over the side of the boat when the water is the same temperature as the air and you're about to swim along a gorgeous coral reef with that sunshine sparkling through the water.

Guess I just wouldn't want to live anywhere else which is good cuz I'm not planning on relocating!

I'm ready for winter... mainly because I'm leaving for FL on the 13th for the winter. If I had to stay in PA, not so much...

I just love snowstorms. We have a huge whole-house generator that kicks in automatically so we never lose power. No school for the kids. DH and I don't need to go anywhere. It's life on pause. Usually, our pond freezes over and we can skate on it. We are about an hour from skiing, which the kids have done since they were toddler and we all look forward to.

As long as you can give in to the snow, you can just enjoy it's beauty and quiet.

It's snowing here right now and making me very SAD (sorry bad pun).

I would be happy if it snowed on Christmas Eve and was gone by Boxing Day (and if it missed a day in there I wouldn't be upset).

The real killer for me though is cold, just can't take the cold. I like spring until fall.

Well, there is that old Swedish saying, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

We lose power around here a lot. Not only is our electrical infrastructure old, the lines all seem to be under ancient trees that drop huge branches whenever someone sneezes.

Winter was more fun when the kids were young and we all went sledding, skating, and built snowmen. Now it just means chattering teeth, paying someone a lot of money to clear the snow and hoping the power stays on. It was out five days last winter.

More and more people are putting in whole house generators around here. Wish I could afford one, but at least I can go camp out at my mother's house.

Evidently we have some huge polar vortex on the way at the end of next week to freeze our fannies off. Oh yippee.

I have SAD big time. The very first day of the time change I told DH I don't think I'm going to make it through this winter. I hate the getting dark early even more than the prospect of snow, ice, and cold weather.

When I was a SAHM I loved the winter. Particularly when we had a giant snow storm and my kiddos got a few days off of school. I loved having them home, coming in and out of the snow and endless cups of hot cocoa, and home made cookies. Sitting by a crackling fire and putting a puzzle together or playing games.

I am almost certain I will be closing my business next fall and I don't think winter will seem so gruesome when I don't have to drive in the snow and ice. I will be able to curl up and become a veritable slug without a smidgeon of guilt!

Lars, I will definitely let you know when I am out that way. I already emailed with the Evil One.

When I worked in a hospital, some of the docs had specialties where they never saw the light of day. They would use "happy" lights to combat SAD. I think they are a good idea. I may try one myself.