Shorts in February
Quick — which represents a bigger swing in temperature: 10 below to 50 degrees above, or 30 degrees to 90 degrees?
Answer: they’re exactly the same, 60 degrees difference.
But my guess is that if you live in a temperate climate, anything below, say, 40 degrees just seems . . . cold.
However, if you live in the Upper Midwest, you know that there are huge gradations between merely chilly and . . . bone-rattling, spine-chilling frigid.
So, any time the thermometer jumps from ten below to almost 50 above in the span of three(!) days — like it did last week — it’s cause for relief and celebration.
P.S.: the three men in the illustration above are exactly the same height; it’s the context that makes it appear otherwise.
