Show HN: It is pants or shorts weather? | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: It is pants or shorts weather?

skorotkiewicz.github.io

27 pointsmodinfo52 comments

Brit here. When dressed, I always wear pants. But I switch between trousers and shorts depending on weather and circumstances.

We Americans consider knickers to be antiquated 19th-century wear too.

I'm just hoping it's never pants weather where I am. I don't want to witness that.

Amen brother, amen.

I can't remember where I spotted it, but when researching the climate of a region of Japan I was planning on visiting, I found a city's tourism website that had a table of months of the year with pictograms of the appropriate attire (shorts, sweaters, umbrellas, etc.) for a typical day.

It stuck with me as a nearly perfect way to convey this information instead of burdening the visitor with the job of translating average temperature and rainfall data into what to pack. And it needs virtually no translation to other languages.

Until you show up in those clothes in Norway and realize that locals have a freakish tolerance for cold that you don't :)

The Scottish variant

https://www.taps-aff.co.uk/

The boys who wear shorts all winter beg to disagree with the premise:

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/01/why-some-...

Funny...I'm in my 30s and still get "yelled at" by people for wearing shorts when I'm exercising in the winter. If I have a hat and gloves on, I have no problem going out in a t shirt and shorts until 20 degrees(with calm, dry air...40 is my limit if it is windy or humid).

The reason I do it is simple: It feels better. If I bundle up I end up being super comfortable but get really sleepy when I get back inside. Going out in the minimum not-in-pain clothing leaves me feeling energized.

I tried running in -5C (23F) in my 4” running shorts this year! It’s fantastic. Put on some gloves and a hat, an extra layer on top, and you’re gold. After 5km you’re back to being a sweaty beast.

Biggest problem ended up being all the soaked through clothes when I stopped. Instant omgsocoldwtfamidoing. But while you’re moving it’s great, you can even run faster than normal because heat dissipation is one of the biggest limiting factors in workout performance.

If you dress for running in the cold perfectly you won't sweat much. You have to endure 5-10 minutes of cold before you warm up, which is unpleasant and convinces most people they need to run in a jacket. Alternatively, you can start with an extra layer and take it off when you start sweating.

And yeah, you need to layer up or get inside as soon as you stop or you'll start shivering.

I prefer running in the cold, it feels great. Never thought I'd be Calvin's dad but here we are: https://picayune.uclick.com/comics/ch/1993/ch930101.gif

I really don't like the attention-seeking spin on the article, as someone who simply was hardly ever cold (from puberty until ~30) and wearing shorts all the time above +10C. Sure, that's not snowy weather but everyone still felt the need to comment.

9 p.m. local time: 7 °C: It's Shorts Weather.

Shorts and Netflix, right?

You need someone else's opinion on what to wear, but now also need to know what to watch? It sounds like you need a significant other. They always are ready to tell you what to wear and what they want to watch!

What kind of arctic wasteland must this developer live in to think 13C and cloudy is shorts weather?

That's about as warm as Iceland gets. Maybe they're Scandinavian?

I actually do sometimes wear shorts at this temp, but usually I'm one of the only ones, and I only do it if I'm doing something relatively high intensity like walking a few miles and going over hills so I expect to get sweaty. At 13C in SF, if the sun isn't out, I usually see people wearing winter gear!

Based on the url I'm guessing the developer is Polish, which I would expect to get warm enough for 13C to be culturally considered pants weather, but what do I know.

I used to wear shorts down to -5 or so when I went jogging. I put out a lot of heat when I exercise, and I will sweat at any temp. My knees need to be kept warm though, or they sort of catch and make a disturbing clicking noise.

The name indeed sounds Polish, but https://github.com/skorotkiewicz says "Bayern. Germany".

I live in Germany now for 15 years. But I was born in Poland. :)

It is 5°C here now, I'm wearing shorts. This is Sweden. When the sun comes out in spring and there isn't too much snow it is shorts-time - use it or loose it.

That's interesting. I didn't appreciate how much of this weather:attire relationship is cultural. You do still at least wear long-sleeve shirts at that temp right?

I come from a more continental-climate-area in the US so I'm used to a range of temperatures from -15C to 35C. I just can't imagine wearing shorts under 15C unless I am exercising or indoors.

I hardly ever wear long-sleeved shirts and even if I do I roll up my sleeves - if I don't they either get dirty, get caught in some machinery or just are in the way. When it is too cold for short sleeves I put on something long-sleeved over those short sleeves.

I live on a 17th century farm which is heated by a wood-burning stove and a wood-burning kitchen stove. While it is quite possible to make it too hot for comfort inside (record is 27°C inside with -20°C outside, the result of adding a bit too much wood to the fire while leaving the ash door open) the inside temperature usually lies somewhere between 16°C and 18°C, in the morning often around 12°C. Having a lower inside temperature makes for a smaller temperature difference between inside and outside. This in turn makes for less of a cold shock when going out.

Humans are, to a certain degree, more sensitive to temperature differences than to absolute temperature. If it is 17°C inside that 15°C outside can feel quite balmy. If it is 23°C inside those same 15°C feel quite chilly.

Maybe the developer is Australian, in which case it’s always shorts weather.

Source: Australian, 1c today and it’s shorts weather.

The biggest reason for me to lookup the weather forecast is "do I need to bring an umbrella?". Unfortunately that seems to be a very difficult thing to answer with any accuracy, even if you ask the very same morning.

Very easy to answer 9mo of the year in California!

Also very easy in Scotland....yes, bring umbrella

You’re in luck, there’s a “Show HN” for that too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30070369

I have a compact/collapsible umbrella in my bag always, which I forget about until it works great on the rare occasion I need it, never have to worry about forecasts. Recommended.

Somehow Google thinks I’m located in Charlotte, NC (on Verizon in the Southeast) but this app accurately located a town within about 10 miles of my real-world location.

How in the hell is Google worse than a random GitHub project?!

Mobile looking website on the desktop, not the end of the world but looks weird on my 27" screen.

Bigger issue though is in the US we're still dumb and use F but the data is shown in C. 12C means nothing to me. 12c = 53.6F though which is above 50F which is my criteria for shorts, of which I'm wearing right now yet it tells me pants. Still neat idea though, but add Fahrenheit please :)

Edit: 27 minutes after posting this comment I refreshed and I see Fahrenheit. Thank you! :)

Not sure about the source of weather's accuracy. I was told partly cloudy, but it's crystal clear blue sky with not a cloud in sight. That coincides with the other weather sources I typically see.

Checking the site's source directly, it even conflicts within itself. Whatchagonnado?

11degC and night time is shorts weather?!?!

Looking at the comments I suspect they have a Boolean issue in the code somewhere

It looks correct : https://github.com/skorotkiewicz/pants-or-shorts/blob/ffb695...

I think the author loves to wear pants whenever it’s not painful.

For the record, the 'Feels Like' temp usually takes wind speed into account. It's probably not necessary for the dev to include that factor manually.

For me it showed 79F and sunny as 'pants weather' (my Feels Like temp is 87F), I'm not sure I fully endorse this algorithm.

'Weather for Olisipo'

Olisipo?!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olisipo says '... the ancient name of modern-day Lisbon while part of the Roman Empire.'

Aha, learned something new today! Strange that it gives me a name that was used two thousand years ago? What service is used to convert ip addresses to geo location?

It also used a 14th century name that was from the byzantine era for where it (wrongly) guessed me to be, and then the Malaysian name for my city (not Malaysia) once I actually entered the correct name for where I am, so the geolocation is more than a bit wonky I guess...

That, plus it thinks 12C is shorts weather!

This takes on a different meaning in British English!

Indeed! The weather here really is pants, isn't it?

Although today it wasn't pants so I wore shorts

Hm, is 9C really considered shorts weather?

It gave me pants for the same temperature. Strange...

Wind speed is the point.

https://github.com/skorotkiewicz/pants-or-shorts/blob/main/s...

I don't think 14°C is shorts weather.

Lol - I built a standalone version of this for my 4yo (at her request). It has a temperature sensor and a bunch of LEDs that light up next to little pictures of outfits to tell her what she’s allowed to wear.

It's always pants weather in the south-west for me, too much sun, dust, and spiky desert plants or poison oak.

Here in Canada:

It was 18c a few days ago and last 2 days it has been nonstop snowing.

Pants weather is a myth.

I like the easy to remember URL

Sunny and 26C is pants weather?

> Partly cloudy 19 °C

> It's Pants Weather

Hmm

This must have a bug. Mine is 13c and says shorts weather

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