Quote:
Originally Posted by Handro
Also it's not just Chicagoans. It's not uncommon for people from outside Chicago to think winters here are Siberia-level cold and snow. That's probably not in small part to our penchant for exaggeration.
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That's been my experience as well. A few factors I think:
1) Whenever it's really cold or it snows a lot in Chicago, it's on some of the news making some believe that it's more normal than it really is.
2) Some people in Chicago exaggerate making others believe that really cold temperatures occur much more frequently than they actually do in reality. Also, there are some people who completely have selective memories when it comes to temperatures. I guarantee that when Chicago gets pretty cold again next month, that many people will selectively forget that it was recently 20+ degrees above average for multiple days.
3) Many people visit Chicago during winter and they sometimes visit when it's really cold for a few days. I have multiple friends and co-workers who have visited during times like this and they believe that's how Chicago *always* is. Even though they only went for a few days, when you tell them their days there were not normal, they don't listen. I have 2 co-workers specifically like this. No amount of telling them how many winters you lived in Chicago will make them believe you over the 3 really cold days they experienced once.
And the sad part is that these things also prevent some people from moving to Chicago. I have multiple friends and co-workers who love Chicago and nearly all of them have said "I would totally move there if it wasn't so cold." And when I ask them how cold they think it is, routinely they think the average high in winter is 15 degrees F or even lower based on them once visiting in January during a cold spell or seeing the news. It's fun showing monthly temperatures and they sometimes realize it's not as cold on average as they thought and not much colder than where they currently are.
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