Getting used to a new climate.

[DaveyR]

After living in the UK all our lives, the latter years in the harsh Scottish climate, Paul and I moved to Sub Tropical Tenerife almost 4 years ago.

The first two "winters" saw us amused at people wearing jackets and being wrapped up in temperatures around 19-20c with holiday makers still spending days on the beach. Our 3rd winter saw us wearing warm clothes and jackets some nights. This winter we've been wearing warm clothes since mid November and resorted to having a duvet and blanket on our bed.

It's obvious that we seem to be totally acclimatised now. We've only been back to the UK once in 4 years and that was in June so it was OK. I wonder if it would take 4 years to acclimatise the other way should we ever return?

I'm interested in hearing your stories of getting used to a totally different climate to the one you are used to. I've heard some people say that they were never able to fully adjust.

 

[nudeyorker]

I think it takes about two years to adjust, depending on your age and overall health. I grew up in California and Hawaii and anything below sixty degrees seemed very cold for me. However the first two years that I lived in NY I was miserable during the winter months because of the cold. I had thought I was fully adjusted however the last few years winter has bothered me much more than in the past.
I think a lot has to do with the elevation as well. I seem to fare better at sea level. When I visit higher elevations it takes me a couple of days to adjust.

 

[eddyabs]

Dear Dave, well, I've never moved permanently abroad, although I have spent long periods in Guadeloupe, where my partner comes from. I always find it really hard for the first week to 10 days, I feel tired, just drained by the humidity and heat. After that I gradually seem to acclimatise and soon regain my energy and settle into the climate. I know that this is nothing like 4 years, more like a month to 2 months at a time, so I would have no idea what it would be like to acclimatise over a longer period...plus the temperature there tends to stay the same..hot, hot and hotter!!

If you hear of any cheap lots available in the Canaries, please let me know though!! Anything has to better than the long miserable British Winter, and the lack of a prolonged decent Summer! Hmmm..wonder why you moved!!

PS...it would be interesting to hear what the cost of living is over there...and how property prices compare.

 

[DaveyR]

I think it takes about two years to adjust, depending on your age and overall health. I grew up in California and Hawaii and anything below sixty degrees seemed very cold for me. However the first two years that I lived in NY I was miserable during the winter months because of the cold. I had thought I was fully adjusted however the last few years winter has bothered me much more than in the past.

2 years seems to fit in with our experience too. I should have said that this year has seen the coldest winter in Tenerife for 40 years. Some nights have seen temperatures down to 13c. It hasn't bothered us too much as already it's warming up and come March were unlikely to see any rain again here in the South until November. :smile:

If you hear of any cheap lots available in the Canaries, please let me know though!! Anything has to better than the long miserable British Winter, and the lack of a prolonged decent Summer! Hmmm..wonder why you moved!!

PS...it would be interesting to hear what the cost of living is over there...and how property prices compare.

Give it a little more time and there will be some property bargains to be had here I think. The only people buying here just now are the Russians and prices are falling.

Given that the exchange rate between the Euro and Sterling is almost at parity things here no longer seem as cheap as they did compared to the UK. In fact we have British TV here and from what I can see prices are falling drastically in the UK.

It was the climate and lifestyle which brought us here though not the cost of living :wink:

 

[vince]

The heat here took a while to adjust to. I guess at was 3 years before I actually liked it. I think what made the difference was living for 2 years in a house where the A/C was crap. Last year even in the heat of August I was comfortable at night with just ceiling fan on. 40 degrees C in August is not unusual and we saw 48C two years ago. That's 118F. My g/f is from Austria and when she is here in the summer I have to put on the klima and use a duvet! And yes, today was 15C (60F) and I was wearing my heaviest sweater.

I called my kid the other day and she said the weather was 'nice' and it had warmed up to minus 3. yikes! too cold for the old man.

 

[midlifebear]

I want to know your secrets for acclimatizing. I grew up in the very dry west. Summers are very hot. Winters are very cold. But the Intermountain West (basically Ewetaw) and the Great Basin in general are famous for having "dry" snow. Not necessarily an oxymoron. It's simply snow with not much water content. It makes for incredible powder skiing. Probably the best in the entire world.

Since hooking up with The Squeeze I spend May through October in Barçelona (nice springs, but otherwise humid and hot) and then live November through April in Buenos Aires (again, nice springs, love the streets lined with blue clouds of jacarandas in bloom) but sub-tropical and very humid. I've been living like this for almost 9 years?

I am currently sitting in my den with the airconditioner turned on full blast. If I walk outside I want to melt. And when I go for a run I need to drink at least 2 liters of water during and after my jog until I feel hydrated again. Hell, I can almost sweat looking out the sliding glass doors to my balcony. I shower at least 3 times a day and go through as many changes of clothing. Cotton is my best friend.

 

[B_Hickboy]

froze about 2/3 of my ass off at the train station yesterday. We'll see how much I have to adjust before I leave here.

 

[vince]

I dunno Hick... I have to adjust every time I stand up.

 

[B_Hickboy]

Yeah, I have the blood pressure drop thing to get over every time I walk.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

I grew up in the wine country around San Francisco, California. That's probably one of the most mild and pleasant climates on earth.

The summers were quite dry and could occasionally be hot but the sea breeze from the Pacific Ocean usually kept the temperatures pleasant. There were never any humid, sticky days in California summers. Its too dry.

Winters were mild and wet in the wine country. I only saw a dusting of snow a few times in the decades I lived there.

After college my job took me to Redding, in far nothern California. There I began to experience a more varied climate. The summers were desert hot (though dry) with daytime temperatures regularly above 100F (38C). The winters were wetter and a bit colder. I also saw deeper, heavier snows in winter, although not every winter.

After a few years there, my job took me north to Portland, Oregon where I live now. Northern Oregon is much more a 4-season climate. Summers in Portland are not as hot as in California but are more humid. The winters are long and gloomy with weeks of gray skies, heavier rains, long lasting fogs, occasional snow and ice storms, wicked winds, etc. The weather is not as nasty as in locations further north and east in the USA but western Oregon weather has its own type of severity. It 1997 I remember measuring rain at my home the first 100 days of the year before there was a break.

I'd say it took me two years in each new climate to feel adjusted. While I hated the Oregon weather when I first encountered it, I now enjoy it and look forward to the change of seasons and the variety they add to life.

 

[D_Martin van Burden]

I feel like a desert rat now. I moved here last July right in the worst of the summer. I was lucky because I could just go take a dip in the pool. The dryness was probably the worst thing to get accustomed to because, literally, all the water just evaporates right off of you. I remember on several mornings waking up to some of my skin peeling a little bit from the lack of moisture. It just means I have to use better lotion.

Temperature-wise, I love it. Bring on the heat. Some days can get pretty awful, but most of the time, as long as you hang out in the shade, you'll be fine. And drink plenty of water, no doubt.

I don't know if anything helps you acclimate faster. Someone said age makes a difference. I can see that. Beyond that, I don't know; I suppose you just have to go outside and expose yourself to weather patterns and such. Hiking, running, and biking especially on the mountain trails are big to-do things here.

 

[midlifebear]

I worked through two weeks of the hottest weather on record in Tucson (The Old Pueblo) in 1991 when the temperature reached 114 degrees for several days in a row. At night it hovered (or cooled down) to 104 degrees F. That was the deal breaker. I could have accepted a good job working for Sunquest Medical Systems, but just couldn't bring myself to go through with it. Plus, Tucson today is not the Tucson of 1970 when we used it as a staging area for long road trips into México. But it's still has its virtues as a desert town.

Just as they say when it hits 103 or 104 in Salt Lake City, the people of Tuscon joke "But it's a dry heat." So is a convection oven.

It's the combination of heat and humidity that continues to destroy me. However, having lived in humid climates for more than 9 years I can truthfully say my skin (even for an old fart) is in much better shape than when I lived in the dry heat of the Nevada or Ewetaw deserts. It's this sitting outside at night (like tonight) and sweating buckets even though I'm not exerting myself that drives me nuts.