[wdfifteen]

A friend who has lived in a Mediterranean climate all his life asked about how we in the north deal with the cold. I told him about one aspect I don't hear a lot about - it's the dry air, which to me is worse than the cold.
Something that people don't talk about much, but which is one of the biggest annoyances of cold weather is what it does to our skin. The cold air outside is cold and dry, with very low in humidity. When it comes inside and is warmed and becomes warm and very dry air. This is very different from the hot dry air of places like Arizona. When it's hot you sweat and it helps keep your skin moist. When the air is comfortably warm and very dry, you don't sweat. My skin dries out and itches and gets little bumps on it. The airways in my nose and throat get dry, and I cough and sneeze like I have a cold. To me, it's worse than the cold air.
It's miserable, and there is no way to get completely away from it. When you're cold you can come inside and get warm, but wherever you are, it's dry. You can humidify the inside air somewhat, but there is a limit. Widows get cold, and above about 35% humidity, moisture condenses and freezes on the glass. In a poorly insulated house it will even condense on the walls, so there is only so much mitigation you can do.
Bottom line - here in the Midwest, in the summer we complain about the heat and humidity, and in the winter we complain about the cold and the dryness. No wonder we're such a cranky bunch of bastages.