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Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

One reason to live in the Valley is the opportunity to exercise outdoors in shorts and a t-shirt 365 days a year. That's why I want to move out there, anyway.

Winter is highly overrated.

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I'm from Canada so I know exactly what you mean. The one benefit of freezing winters is that you can get six solid months of productivity while locked inside.

Contrary, I find my productivity increases with warm weather given the freedom to move around with ease (walking to a coffeeshop or waiting for a train/bus). Not to mention health benefits of things like vitamin D.

I would imagine you're being downvoted by people who don't know what winter in Chicago is like. ^^

Hear, hear. The number one reason to move from Illinois to the Valley: ability to drive your car and not be snowed in on Lake Shore Drive.

I, and many other true Chicagoans, am very much proud of our winter weather, thank you very much.

Why??? How can you be proud of something you dont control? Its irrational.

I'm sure there's some psychological term for what long-time Chicagoans feel for the winter there... you'll find it amongst the chapters concerning victims who identify with their abusers. (I did my five years in Chicago and gtfo).

The term is "Stockholm syndrome", for the record.

It's become Tea party here, with old ladies talking bout weather.

My last winter in Illinois there were two weeks where the high temperature never got up as high as -15ºF. Pants freeze to your legs, glasses ice over in seconds, even if you're sufficiently bundled your eyeballs can get frostbite.

People underestimate how much nicer the world is away from the Chicago-Boston-DC triangle.

You're memory doesn't seem to go along with facts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Chicago#Temperature_...

Seems like the coldest high temperature in Chicago's recorded history was -11ºF

FWIW I've lived in both SF and Chicago and quite like Chicago's climate/seasons and really liked the city life much more than I did in SF (although the stuff a couple hours from SF is fantastic), and I'm not at all alone (I live in NY now)

I was in a small town downstate; the lake can actually moderate temperatures in Chicago proper. Downstate Illinois can have more Fargo or Minneapolis weather. Warms up faster in the spring, though.

I have one piece of advice: Just fucking do it. Seriously. The only reason I didn't leave Boston sooner is because I'd never been to California, and I assumed the weather sucked everywhere.

Silly Valley weather is mostly nice most of the year. I used to motorcycle all of the time (spent several years without a car). Off the bike, I wear sandals. Cow-orkers of mine were known for their invariant shorts-and-flipflops.

It got boring. Now I'm in Seattle and the weather is actually interesting. It rains a lot, and we have very occasional snowfall, but most of the time I can still motorcycle.

I'm not sure what this has to do with HN, except that outside of SF, Silly Valley weather is generally drama-free and leaves you more time for work. :)

I grew up around the seattle area and now I live in the Valley. I don't miss the weather. I really appreciate the weather here. It seems like a miracle to me that every day that I wake up I can go on my bike and go to work in nice weather. It might get chilly once in a while, but thats nothing a sweater can't fix. The two times it has rained while I was commuting, the rain so light and not nearly as cold that I laughed. Rain here tends to be a fine mist.

For those who aren't familiar: San Francisco weather sucks, but the valley has great weather. It's weird, but in SF, there are actually relatively few days where you'd want to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Climate

"exercise outdoors in shorts and a t-shirt 365 days a year" <-- Some people in new York, myself included, do the same thing. Even when it's snowing, most of my friends sport tee shirts and shorts. It's actually more pleasant than the 100+ degree sultry summer weather ...

It's actually more pleasant than the 100+ degree sultry summer weather ...

Northern California doesn't have that problem either.

stupid question: what is considered "silicon valley"? Is it in northern or southern california? (I was under the impression that it was southern california)

Northern California, the bay area, and silicon valley are all pretty much synonyms in this context.

The definition of Silicon Valley isn't set by law. Common definition of Silicon Valley is San Jose North to Hayward on the East Bay, up to somewhere around Millbrae on the Peninsula. But it can be roughly considered the area starting at San Jose and running north up to Oakland on the East side of the Bay, and San Francisco on the North Side of the bay. Almost all people would agree that Silicon Valley doesn't go North of San Francisco/Oakland, and doesn't go as far south as Santa Cruz/Gilroy (though last time I checked, you could still take Cal Train from Gilroy into the Valley). Los Gatos might squeak into the Silicon Valley Destination. Morgan Hill is likely too far south.

There are many that wouldn't include San Francisco/Oakland in the "Silicon Valley" region - but enough technology companies have started migrating to those areas, including Emeryville, that I don't think it's too much of a stretch to include those areas.

As far as weather - it's actually highly variant for such a small area, with some parts of the bay benefitting from air conditioners in the Summer, and Heating systems in the Winter (though it rarely gets down to freezing, it can frost up a bit in the morning). I live in Redwood City (Climate best by Government Test), in a reasonably tree lined Page Street - and haven't felt the need for either in the last three years - though it has gotten down to around 55 degrees in the house a few times in the winter.

As a Canadian who used to live in 100 Mile House (actually Fawn Lake) British Columbia, who had to deal with _months_ of sub zero weather, and occasional sub -40 degree day, I'll agree with the general trend here - I'm happy to have left that miserable weather behind.

Silicon Valley is certainly not to be confused with southern California.

Southern California should make you think LA. Silicon Valley should make you think SF. (There are loads of other associations, but that pairing shows how far apart they are.) Totally different, or hella different.

Winter is not all bad. There are no annoying insects bothering you at 10 below.

After dark in SF it gets pretty cold... a t-shirt may work if you're going for a very hard run, but I'd recommend a hoodie just in case.

When it's below freezing in Chicago, I wear a wool baselayer, a long-sleeve fleece-lined running shirt, and a very light windbreaker. When it's 45, I wear a t-shirt and shorts :)

I grew up in Wisconsin. We not only had snow days, but we had cold days, where the school wasn't allowed to hold class because they couldn't keep the building at least 50F / 10c. And then when you go to university, you have to walk around in that weather all the time. It was miserable.

When I moved to sf I used to snicker at the people you see wearing leather coats and scarves because it's 45F out. Now I do the same :( No winter for no summer is a great trade.

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