Brrr - Cold, Not Colder Back to Journal →

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Two snowstorms into this winter season - and with another one on the way - I have made it up in my head that it has been unseasonably cold in both DC and Philadelphia and I Don’t Like It™.1I base this on the layers I’m wearing versus the cold I’m feeling along with the fact our walking totals are down around 25% year-over-year for the same days.

So in a moment of boredom, I took a look at Wunderground’s weather data for the past two months to test this freezing hypothesis. Needless to say I was absolutely shocked to find out that this season is basically par for the course in both cities.

• In Washington, D.C., the average daily high was 55 degrees F in December and 43 so far in January.2I realize a better measure than average daily high is average temperature overall, but those numbers aligned with these findings.
• Philadelphia came up just colder at 52 and 41 degrees F, respectively.

With a few more Google searches, I came to understand these numbers fit very neatly into the normal ranges for both cities. Even taking out a few outlier days in the high 60s and it still doesn’t quite align with my feelings.

Well, color me green and call me a pickle.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the things I feel are true on a daily basis3Everything from the price of a bagel being too high to the amount of time it takes to walk somewhere. and let shape my view of that particular thing, but I do not take the time to verify.