Apricity

Over the weekend I was chatting with a friend living in a cold climate who, when she looks out the window, sees a snow-covered landscape, fir trees laden with snow clinging tenaciously to their branches and poorly-lit days in which the sun struggles to penetrate. It's quite obviously cold with temperatures well below zero degrees Celcius and warmth is something that comes only from artificial heat, the open fire and sauna, and a hot chocolate or coffee, or through being snuggled in bed - not a bad place to be.

This, is in stark contrast to the weather in my own location a world away. There was a 50°C temperature difference between where I was and where she was, +40°C here to her -10°C, which is a lot.

We spoke about how miserable temperature, and weather overall, can make a person; in her case the extreme cold which can get down to -30°C, and for me the extreme heat which can get up to +48°C, and we chatted about our ideal temperatures which, of course, varies depending on what we might be doing at the time. We agreed with each other mostly although I'm not really into the extreme heat here in Australia despite being born into it and she thought it would be awesome...melting isn't awesome though...I also haven't gone through a winter in sub-zero conditions and had my nose fall off. What we absolutely agreed on was the most legit feeling of apricity.

Apricity

It's a nice word that rolls off the tongue well but as nice as it is, saying it can't come close to the awesomeness of feeling it. Apricity is the feeling of warm sunlight on a cold winters' day and if you're someone who has experienced it I think you'll agree that it's glorious.

My friend was telling me that she lives for those days, cold, snow crunching beneath her booted feet, but blue skies overhead and the warmth of the sun beaming onto her face and body. After days of gloomy winter weather she says it brings her to life once again, something I understand in my own way as I feel it here too.

Winters in my part of Australia don't get very cold, around 1-3°C at night and between 9-20°C during the day. We get gloomy days though, rain, clouds, wind and so on but fortunately much of the winter in my part of Australia is blue-sky days with cool to cold temperatures meaning we get to experience apricity a lot. It's the lucky country indeed.

Australia is a vast country and on the very same day it could be 10°C and sunny in my part, snowing in the high country of Victoria, cold, wet and windy in Tasmania, sunny and slightly humid in Brisbane, a very humid 28°C in far north Queensland and even hotter and more humid in Darwin; in the central areas it could be a hot and dry 35°C; Australia is a diverse county and the weather is no exception.

I love the weather in winter in my part of Australia and the beautiful experience of apricity which helps to make the gloomy days more acceptable. I'd like to experience a winter in Finland as I think it would be beautiful in its own way, and part of that experience (I hope) would be days in which I could enjoy apricity. I like the thought of crunching through snow whilst hiking in a forest under a vivid blue sky with a little warmth from the sun on me, with some good company along also of course.

The weather affects the habits and activities of human beings so much whether it's good or bad; we've adapted well as a species and have adjusted what we do and how we live around the weather meaning we're able to get the most from life despite the weather conditions, mostly, but we don't always like the weather and sometimes it can be brutal.

I wonder what your preference is and if you've experienced extreme weather that has changed how you live or has even possibly threatened your life such as the cyclones we have here in the tropical north of Australia. Feel free to comment if you'd like to, or maybe tell me a story of apricity you've experienced during winter and how you felt because of it.