Hi All, Just sitting here at 7:30 and it's dark and cold, about 20 degrees. I miss summertime. Washing the cars in the driveway after dinner, going to the local cruise nights, or just taking the Olds for a drive in the country, and openin' her up on the back roads. This got me to thinking about the members down south.....Do you still have cruise nights or car shows in the winter? Or do you hibernate too?

Part of the reason I ask is I may be going to Houston Tx in the next year for work, and I hear that the summer is hot and muggy, but fall through spring are nice.

Just checking how other people cope with winter....

Joe

 

I feel your pain. Cutlass withdrawl ain't pleasant! It's February now - January always feels like it's here for 6 months- so I'm hoping the time goes a little quicker.

It's staying daylight until almost 6:00 pm now, so that makes it a little better. I am tired of the dark and the cold too. Can't wait to set the clocks up again in March! I hate this slow time.

I just hope the yard dries up early so I can get the Cutlass back over to the driveway and the house garage, but I won't hold my breath... April showers and all that. I miss the cruise nights and shows too. There's just not much to do right now!

 

well I have to say,winter has been long an grueling but for some one who needs to get more parts for there cars this time is the best time to get them,so I cant say I hate it but wen it starts to get warm out an those parts get put on I will sure enjoy driving my Olds in the summer time.

 

I am in NE Texas and I am having cabin fever as well. I talked to a buddy down the street and he feels the same way i do - unmotivated to work on cars or anything.
It is cold here but not like what you up noth call cold. It is in the 40's here and it is getting OLD! I do not miss TX summers, but I miss our short spring and fall.

I have lots of work to do on Lady and the Tramp so I look forrward to March, April and May.

Right now I have parts coming in and parts on order for Lady's rear suspension rebuild. I still need to finish her doors when it warms up.
The Ford had developed a heat-related ignition problem which I hope to remedy tomorrow with a new disty and pickup unit.

Not too many cruise nights or car shows around here in winter.

 

Just think, 7 more weeks until SPRING!

 

Winter in the AZ desert is our best time of year and when we get to enjoy our (rust free) cars like the rest of you do in the summer months.

 

Tell all the guys in Scottsdale with the crunched cars it's the best time of the year.

My sister lives in Arizona and she says that the winter is the worse time to drive, crowded, dangerous and slow because of all of the snowbirds.
I hate driving behind one guy cruising endlessly while his wife is at the beauty parlor, they're always wearing a golf hat with crossed clubs on the front.

I don't feel so bad when my car is in a million pieces and it's freezing cold outside with a foot of snow here. I would go nuts if I saw guys cruising right now, that means I would have to work on my car.

I DVR and watch all the auctions on the big screen endlessly with the sound off to fight cabin fever.

Rust is always free until you pay for it.
My cars are from out west.

 

well its nearly 10pm and its still 85 outside. I'm in shorts and a T shirt and have the Ac on inside. Just went outside to move the olds off the nature strip and back onto the driveway.

We had a real hot night the other week, it was over 90 all night and then just climbed back up to over 100 that day. supposed to be 95 tomorrow but given its still 85 now I think it will be warmer than that. was over 100 today, was a bit warm driving the olds home without AC.

February is our hottest month. we expect about 2 weeks of 95+ the worst last year was 117 that felt like being in a furnace. Had the olds out in 110 the other day and it still ran cool. Don't know what they did to the radiator but it seems to keep the car cool even if I'm not.

 

Granted it is your summer down there right now but June and July can't be all that cold in Melbourne , can it? I always found that it was hotter here when it hit 85-90 than when I was out west and temps got to 105+. That was on the prairies where it is dry in the summer. here it is so humid that just walking around outdoors makes you break into a sweat. These days I will still take that over what we have right now. Today's high is -13C.

 

It's 24 degrees here right now - cloudy with some flurries possible. We had those single digit temps over the weekend, and this feels like a heat wave! LOL!! Going up in the 30's later on.

It's Ground hog day - the radios are broadcasting from Pennsylvania and Punxatawney Phil is about to come out and see if he sees his shadow.... Oh dear... he saw it - 6 more weeks of winter! It must be those bright lights they shine on him. It's so cloudy you couldn't see a shadow! Someone must have been really bored in PA to come up with Groundhog Day! LOL!!! Anyway you look at it, we have 6 more weeks of winter.

 

Things could be worse

 

Wow, it's been in the low-to-mid teens here, and THAT's getting old. If it got into the 40s, we'd call it practically a heat wave, everyone, including me, would be out in the driveway washing their cars, and I'd be out working on the Oldsmobiles!

 

At least you folks in the US have the option of moving further south. We're SCREWED up here in Canada. I think its time Canada took over a nice warm island. Maybe Cuba since there are enough Canadians there anyway!!! LOL

 

Oh, come now. We're constantly being told by the Obama-ites about the wonderful health care system you all have up there and how we should adopt something like it down here. As far as Americans are concerned, everything in Canada is just peachy-keen. I just assumed that meant the weather, too!

 

Late 40's early 50's here in the Paciofic Nothwest, some light rain with sun breaks. Warmest Jnuary on record. Days are getting longer and the forcast for February is warmer still. The plants are starting to bloom. Weird weather for us but I am not complaining.

 

Well, the Almanac didn't lie when it said we were in for "numbing temperatures" through the winter, that's for sure! We sure have had those! This is our Feb. forecast according to the almanac... hope they're wrong!
Great Lakes/Midwest U.S. Weather

February 2010
1st-3rd. Wet, then clearing, cold. 4th-7th. Clearing, colder. 8th-11th. Major storm brings heavy snow, with accumulations of 8"-15". 12th-15th. More snowy weather, especially Great Lakes. 16th-19th. Fair. 20th-23rd. Snowstorm. 24th-28th. Fair, cold.

 

Being in England, what is this thing you all are calling summer? Is there really no rain or fog? Andy

 

I can wait. After all, once the poles shift in 2012 Canada will be a tropical country. I should actually get off my butt and trade in that AZ land for some Arctic beach front.

 

In Texas, from July to Sept, expect low temps in the low-mid 80s with high humidity and dryer highs in the low-mid 100s with no rain to speak of. If it does rain, it evaporates before hitting the ground, making the hot humidity unbearable. (Walk out to get the mail and you can be dripping with sweat...)

 

I hate humidity.... I like plain old hot!

 

A guy can get alot of work done on his Olds over the winter. We got heat in the garage, satalite music, a car hoist, and good friends! It makes winter a little more bearable.

 

[quote=Bluevista;145045] Tell all the guys in Scottsdale with the crunched cars it's the best time of the year.

My sister lives in Arizona and she says that the winter is the worse time to drive, crowded, dangerous and slow because of all of the snowbirds.
I hate driving behind one guy cruising endlessly while his wife is at the beauty parlor, they're always wearing a golf hat with crossed clubs on the front.

C'mon man don't be a hater, just because of one freak storm? If AZ is such a lousy place for old cars, then why does every major auction hold an event here in January? Besides, the guys wearing the golf hats are usually snowbirds from Ohio. They're easy to spot in the high-speed lane doing 40 with the left blinker on! They just forgot what it's like to drive in nice weather without dodging potholes.

 

while I know this sound stupid, our sun is hotter than yours, its hard to explain, but even a 'mild' day which is 25-35C so 80-95F roughly you can't stand in the sun for more than a few minutes until you feel like your being cooked. We have this lovely great hole over us so the sun beams on in at an alarming intensity.

I have a girl on staff who came recently from Nebraska, she can't get over how hot the sun is even when the temperature is not that hot.

Winters are ok, we don't get snow. That is how I can drive my Olds as a daily driver, not saying we don't suffer rust, but no salt to contend with.

 

I think this can be explained fairly easily. To put it simply, Australia is not as far south of the equator as the U.S. and certainly Canada are as far north.

Remember what the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are. They represent the latitude of the farthest the sun gets in the sky in the northern and southern hemispheres on the first day of summer. They occur at 23.5 degrees north or south latitude as that is the angle of tilt of the earth's axis relative to the plane of its orbit.

So, in other words, on June 21 each year in the northern hemisphere, the sun is directly above you if you are at 23.5 degrees north latitude. On December 21 it is directly overhead at 23.5 degrees south latitude. (To finish the thought, the sun is directly over the equator on the first day of spring and the first day of fall.)

The more directly overhead the sun is, the more direct the angle of the sun's rays impinging on the earth or anything on it, and the warmer on average is the climate.

The Tropic of Capricorn passes right through the CENTER of Australia, basically cutting the country in half. Cities it pretty much passes right through are Alice Springs, Northern Territory and Rockhampton and Longreach, Queensland, to give anyone with an idea of Australian geography a sense of what I'm talking about. (The rest of you get a globe and look!)

The Tropic of Cancer, on the other hand, passes through the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico and right through the center of Mexico itself. It goes just north of Havana, Cuba. It passes just north of the Hawaiian Islands, but otherwise does not pass through any other part of the U.S.

So, to summarize, the sun feels hotter in Australia, on average, compared to the U.S. or Canada because, on average, it is higher overhead and the rays are thus more intense.

Another way to think about it is, if being in the "tropics" is defined as being within 23.5 degrees north or south of the equator, then half of Australia is tropical. No part of the U.S. except Hawaii is.

 

Just picture being able to look up and see nothing but blue sky and a big bright yellow thing up there that kinda looks like this
My sis lives out on vancouver Island and they usually get a lot of rain over the summer but last year was the sunniest and driest on record. now they are having a warm wet winter , so much so that they are going to have to truck in snow for some of the events during this years olympics. We usually have a dry July/August but last year was one of the cloudiest and wettest on record. Seems like the east & west coast weather has flip flopped somewhat.