Current Events > It still amazes me there are places in the US without A/C.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So there's going to be a heatwave in the coming days in the Pacific Northwest, and people are freaking out. I made a comment suggesting to stay inside most of the day and don't go outside, and I got blasted and was told that A/C isn't very common there.

Why is that?

Here in Georgia, it doesn't get cold for very long during the winter, yet every house and building still has heating.

Even if it only gets hot occasionally during the summer in a location, it would still make plenty sense to have at least a window A/C unit to cool off. Can someone who's from the Pacific Northwest explain?

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My guess is most people don't feel justified in purchasing an air conditioner for 4 days a year.

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Kombucha posted...

My guess is most people don't feel justified in purchasing an air conditioner for 4 days a year.

Well then dont complain and suffer through it
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keep in mind that these are the same people that act all superior over dealing with snowfall compared to southern states, while ignoring the fact they've got the infrastructure in place to deal with it and southern states barely have enough snowplows to clear interstates.

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Super-Mario-Fan posted...

Here in Georgia, it doesn't get cold for very long during the winter, yet every house and building still has heating

As someone who lives in the South... Uh, fucking what?

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You mean Georgia the state right? Cause I got central heat and air and a window unit in my room. Plus a box fan.

I like sleeping in an icebox.

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BeyondWalls posted...

As someone who lives in the South... Uh, fucking what?

Do you not have heating?

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The biggest misconception I get from east coasters is that on the east coast it's 80 at night and 90 during the day, and it's 90 for 12-15 hours

In the west it's normal for the temp to drop 25-35F every night and it takes all day to warm up

But in Seattle specifically the normal June temps are 50 at night and 70 during the day, so that's more like 60F for the vast majority of the day. No reason to have AC for the 10 hours a year that it's hot

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monkmith posted...

keep in mind that these are the same people that act all superior over dealing with snowfall compared to southern states, while ignoring the fact they've got the infrastructure in place to deal with it and southern states barely have enough snowplows to clear interstates.

No the climate is such that snowfall is rare in low-lying areas around the PNW. An example of one of these areas would be Seattle, which seems to be what TC is referencing. I know snowfall sends things to a standstill where I'm at in the PNW.

Of course you have mountain ranges and a vast dry hot area away from the coast that is acclimated to using air condition.

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Super-Mario-Fan posted...

Even if it only gets hot occasionally during the summer in a location, it would still make plenty sense to have at least a window A/C unit to cool off. Can someone who's from the Pacific Northwest explain?

I think the idea is that this kind of weather is exceedingly rare, like this heatwave is something that hasn't been seen in 20 years or something. Considering our hot months usually don't peak above the low 80s on average I can see why people wouldn't want to drop money on AC.

I'm lucky because the previous owners of my house had a very good air conditioner installed, so this weekend will not be bad for me.

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Super-Mario-Fan posted...

Here in Georgia, it doesn't get cold for very long during the winter, yet every house and building still has heating

For the record, we do have several months of winter here in the South. It snows, it gets below freezing, and you will absolutely die without heat.

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I live in PA and have a building with two apartments and I live in one. I bought an AC unit for the renters and everyone is like "Why are you wasting your money, you aren't required to provide AC." Which is true apparently. But I would still feel like an asshole.

I don't have a problem with providing an AC unit for the apartment. It is mine and stays with the apartment.

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Njolk posted...

The biggest misconception I get from east coasters is that on the east coast it's 80 at night

Maybe in Florida.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Maybe in Florida.

virginia sees that often enough in the summer. last week the nighttime temps sat around 79.

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_MorningStar posted...

You mean Georgia the state right?

Yes.

I really hate how there's a country in Asia called Georgia. Makes things too confusing.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Maybe in Florida.

Alright I guess I was exaggerating, looks like Kansas City, Atlanta, and DC have average overnight lows around 70F in the summer

Still quite a bit hotter than 45-55F in places like Seattle, MT, or CO

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It still amazes me that they dont have snow plows in Miami: the thread

monkmith posted...

virginia sees that often enough in the summer. last week the nighttime temps sat around 79.

Dude, I live in the sunbelt and every night for the last month its been in the high 60s at night.

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BeyondWalls posted...

For the record, we do have several months of winter here in the South. It snows, it gets below freezing, and you will absolutely die without heat.

It doesn't last. A frosty morning will end up above 60 F in a few days.

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I'm in Florida and I can't even imagine living with no AC. There are days we just don't go outside here

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Super-Mario-Fan posted...

It doesn't last. A frosty morning will end up above 60 F in a few days.

And youre full of shit. You know I live here too? Youre not going to sell me on your bullshit we dont have winter. We do. And you will absolutely die and freeze to death without a heated home.

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MC_BatCommander posted...

I think the idea is that this kind of weather is exceedingly rare, like this heatwave is something that hasn't been seen in 20 years or something. Considering our hot months usually don't peak above the low 80s on average I can see why people wouldn't want to drop money on AC.

Its similar to how Texas struggled with the snow and prolonged freezing temps over the winter. As someone in Chicago, I could laugh and say Whats the big deal? Thats nothing, since it is something I am accustomed to facing, and prepared to face. They are not.

The Pacific Northwest has mild summers, and they just deal with the occasional 80F days. But 100F (and Im assuming humid to go with it) is an entirely different situation.

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Kombucha posted...

I know snowfall sends things to a standstill where I'm at in the PNW.

Because we dont have the infrastructure for it.

Theres no use in spending millions in plows that might not get used that year. Pullman and Spokane and Eastern WA have the infrastructure for that stuff tho since we actually get snow consistently.

But to answer TCs question, normally the highs are in the 90s for maybe a week and its unneeded most years. Extreme heat isnt a problem for the coastal part of the PNW.
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BeyondWalls posted...

As someone who lives in the South... Uh, fucking what?

I live in Texas and it doesnt get much more south than that.

Everyone has a/c and heating so I dont know what youre confused about.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Dude, I live in the sunbelt and every night for the last month its been in the high 60s at night.

ok? how does that change what i said? just last sunday the low was 79 in my city, tuesday night was 82, its not even summer.

surprisingly if you live by the coast you're gonna see higher average nightly temps since the bay/ocean suppresses big swings in day/night temperature change...

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monkmith posted...

surprisingly if you live by the coast you're gonna see higher average nightly temps since the bay/ocean suppresses big swings in day/night temperature change...

Im glad you brought that up because I also lived in the Outer Banks for a year. The coldest Ive ever been in my life was winter on that island. That freezing wind from the ocean blowing you up against a building will kill you. You will die without heat in the South (barring extreme examples like Southern Florida.)

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Meanwhile, in tornadoland, we're used to a variance of about 150F in temperature, seemingly at random.

The reason we don't have AC is because the buildings were built 30-50 years ago when temperatures were even lower than they are now. No reason to spend extra money installing central air in a new building when temperatures rarely went high enough to need it.

You can see the infrastructure differences just in California. Los Angeles is generally 15-20 degrees cooler than cities in the valley. So most homes here don't have a/c, while most homes in the valley do have a/c.

Perfect example is last week's heat wave. Los Angeles temperatures peaked at around 87, but in the valley (still in California) they reached peak temperatures around 108.

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Because it would rarely goes above 80 degrees in the pacific northwest

I just went and bought an extra fan, weather will be boring again in 2 weeks, or it will get so hot that forest fires will just block out the sun

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Actually here in UK, if the air con installation isnt so expensive, we might actually consider getting the rooms upstairs done even though we only have maybe 3-6 weeks of heatwave a year.

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