nytraveler, I work in the heat. My office is in the pro shop of a golf course and the door opens all day so its very hard to AC my office. It's hot. I'm often out on the courses during the day.

I live on the beach. Literally. I spend tons of time outside. I run every morning.

I'll still say the heat rather than the cold.

Although I hate humidity (believe it or not, we have major humidity here), I would take the heat any day.

You would, too, if you spent your entire life in Buffalo!!!!

Winter is definitely my favorite season. I much prefer cold and snow to heat and hunmidity. The latter just makes me wilt. I'm a senior and have lived in MA all my life and now we have a place in FL but we don't spend winters there bcs we still ski all winter in VT & CO. Weird, I know! When we're in FL for long periods in spring and fall, I have to fly home (by myself, hubby likes heat)sometimes just to "see" the seasons and get away from endless summer. It depresses me. I think I have reverse SAD. Oh, well. It's a good thing everyone doesn't want to be in the same place!

Well, I am a weather wimp, but I'll stay with heat and humidity. Can't stand cold weather and neither can my skin, there is only so much moisturizer I can slater on it.

When I was a child, schools weren't AC'd (elemetary and jr. high) and I survived. I've worked outdoors in the summer and got used to it. I know how to deal with summer, but not winter. Of course, I like AC and prefer 72 and balmy instead of 102 and hazy.

Even if NC bought snowplows for the roads and learned how to use them, I'd still have to deal with my driveway. And the plows are worthless in sleet and ice conditition which are more common in my area. However, if I could live in the hamster tubes of a northern city, maybe I'd reconsider. But until then, I'll stick with hot and humid.

Mother Nature gave us in NC a good lab experiment on this question in the last few years: a hurricane that took away power for a week of tropical heat, and an ice storm that took away power for a very cold week (below 20, which is exceptional for this area). I survived the post-hurricane life -- as long as we had water -- much better than the week of bitter cold.

But on the other hand, if the house heats up 20 degrees higher than comfortable (call 70 comfortable, so 90), there's little you can do to make things better, whereas as if the house goes down 20 degrees (50), you can pile on the clothing and cope.

Finally, it's kind of a cliche that without the cold I wouldn't appreciate the heat, and vice versa. Love the changing seasons. At least we know summer, and then winter, will end. And thank God for October and May!

I have the experience of the bitter snowy winters in Russia and extreme heat in California. If it's cold, you can put on another layer. If it's hot, what can you take off? Your skin?