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Same 23 degrees. Walk in on a summer day, and it feels chilly. Walk in on a winter day, and it feels cozy. Same number, so why does it feel backwards? The 73 on an American thermostat works out to about 23 degrees Celsius. Lots of people notice this. Here's the answer: your skin is not a thermometer.
A thermometer only reads the number right now. Your skin cares about something else: compared to a moment ago, did it get colder, or warmer? Over three hundred years ago, someone described a little experiment. Put one hand in hot water, the other in cold water, and wait a minute. Then put both hands into the same bowl of lukewarm water.
The hand from the hot water feels cool. The hand from the cold water feels warm. One bowl of water, two different stories. Walking indoors works the same way. In summer it's in the thirties outside. Coming in from the heat, 23 degrees is that bowl of lukewarm water, and it feels cool. In winter it's below freezing outside. Coming in from the cold, the very same 23 degrees feels warm.
Reason two: what you're wearing. Indoors in summer, it's a T-shirt and shorts. Indoors in winter, you're often still in a sweater and long pants. The people who write comfort standards for air conditioning have measured it: a typical winter outfit keeps you nearly twice as warm as a summer one.
Reason three: the air coming out of the vents. When the AC is on, the air blowing out is often only in the teens. When it hits you, of course it feels cold. When the heat is on, the air blowing out is around 40 degrees. When it hits you, it feels toasty.
The room may average 23 degrees. But the little patch of air around you is cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Sometimes it flips the other way. Sit next to a big, icy window in winter, and the same 23 degrees can feel cold. Because cold walls and windows quietly draw heat away from your body.
So whether you feel cold isn't just about that one number. It's also where you just came from, what you're wearing, and where the air is blowing. Next time the same temperature feels wrong, don't blame the thermostat just yet. Ask yourself: where did you just come from? Got a strange question you can't figure out? Leave it in the comments. Maybe we'll answer it next time.
Feeling cold isn’t just about one number. Where you just came from, what you’re wearing and where the air blows all change how it feels.
73°F on a US thermostat is about 23°C.
The English philosopher John Locke wrote about this in 1690.
The room may average 73°F, but the little patch of air around you runs cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
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