I live in a fairly moderate & temperate climate, so we don't get a massive variety of weather phenomena.
We had a heat wave a few years ago that broke records, causing daytime highs to be around 103/~40 °F/°C. The nighttime temps also remained around 90/~32 °F/°C, which was unusual.
As someone who uses a window fan year-round and hasn't used anything more than a sheet to cover himself during sleepy time, that was a *****. Temperatures dropped slightly over the next few days which was also unusual because we'll get "heat waves" where temps approach 90, but they didn't tend to persist more than a day or so. This was just out of nowhere and people around here had no idea what to do.
A few years before that, we had a wind storm [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah_Eve_windstorm_of_2006] that left my neighborhood without power for 4 days in December (winter in the Northern hemisphere). I remember wearing a winter jacket under my blanket before going to sleep, with a little hood and everything.
I was driving home when the storm actually hit, late, past midnight, and it was eerie and terrifying. There was shit all over the roads, no artificial light what-so-ever, something that looked like a tree massacre, and gusts that caused the car to bump 'n slide all over the road. I'd be driving along and all of the sudden a gale would cause 2 tons of metal, plastic and rubber to slide laterally in an instant. It was incredibly unnerving.
Nothing that comes close to blizzards, hurricanes or tornadoes, though. I cannot understand why anyone would remain living in a location that effectively has guaranteed tornadoes. Hurricanes too, but they seem more ethereal than a visible column of spinning air. Tornadoes are scary as fuck, and the weird-ass cloud cover that accompanies them are just as horrifying. I couldn't be paid to leave some death trap like Oklahoma fast enough. The clouds are attacking: I'm out. Fuck it. Sell whatever I don't need and drive, ride or walk north.
Aelinsaar said:
It just taught me that ultimately you can put on clothing to get warmer, blankets, etc. If it's REALLY hot, you can only take off so much before you're just hot AND naked.
Which is why I loathe everyone around here who laments the "crappy weather" because it's 60 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy, while also whining about any day over 80. Hate the weather? Move to California and relish in the delights of drought, fucking morons.