What happened to the cool weather?

We always want cooler weather around this time of the year. Although it hasn't really come full blast as of this month. What happened? We normally have cooler weather by the time Christmas comes. Of course, it's a different story in Baguio, where temperatures have already dropped, prompting tourists heading to the summer capital to enjoy the weather. The cool weather is a respite from what is to come in a few months. Intense, hot, humid weather. I hope cooler weather does hit the Metro soon, as predicted by PAGASA. Hopefully they got it spot on.

But the cold can be a bane as well. Record low temperatures have been recorded in the middle of the US in the last twenty years. The cold weather, just like the typhoons we have here, also cause school closures, flight cancellations and even deaths. Even businesses are affected, some closing down until the weather improves. My friends in that part of the US complain of the biting cold, and they have been used to cold weather for some time. The arctic winds are making their way towards the east coast, so New Yorkers are already gearing up for that. Many Filipinos who live in the Big Apple are already warming up.

We may long for cool weather, but certainly not the kind the mid-US is experiencing. A whole host of problems do come up when the mercury drops. Heating for the home is as important to them as an air conditioner is to us during summer. Everything ices up, so they have to be ready for that. Heaters for car engines even when not running, anti-freeze for the coolants, salt on sidewalks and lots more. Roads are extremely slippery, causing accidents left and right. And prolonged exposure to the cold will kill you.

I can just imagine if we were to experience that kind of cold weather. Most of our houses are not insulated for the cold, but for heat. There are no fireplaces built into houses here. And I doubt if there is a house here with centralized heating. The poor will most definitely be hit hard. Houses built with no more than thin pieces of laminated, even old wood, roofs made of galvanized iron. All these offer no protection from the cold. And we just don't have shelters where the homeless can stay for the night. Something the government should look into.

A recent visitor said that it is easier to get warm in the cold, than to get cold in hot weather. He had a hard time adjusting to the warm weather we have here, although it was already November. He should have been here in March or April. Now that was hot. His opinion may be true, but I also have friends who came back to the country because they just couldn't stand the cold weather anymore. Rather than transfer to a place with a nice climate like California, where it is expensive, they came back instead. They complained for a while, but then they got used to it. Thanks to air conditioning, of course. Although just like the rest of us, they are now complaining of the expensive electricity. Can't have everything, right?

I guess we should be thankful for the weather we have. As long as the likes of Ondoy and Yolanda don't show up, we should be okay.