Look outside at 7 AM when it’s not raining. You will probably see that the sun is out early. Go through your day, and realize you’re not freezing like you were a few months ago. Look at your thermostat and you’ll see that the heater isn’t that high. Notice what you’re wearing today. Not as many layers as a few weeks ago. You ditched the scarf and just let your neck flow. Yep, it’s getting warm again.

I remember seven years ago when my class went on a field trip to Tynehead. It was late February. For some reason, it felt okay enough to just put on a t-shirt and denim jacket. Throughout the day, it started to get hot to the point where it was okay to take off my denim jacket and just wear a t-shirt. I didn’t put on my jacket until after I left school that day, and it was only because I was lazy to put it in my backpack.

A few days after, I decided to wear one of my nice coats with sherpa lining. That turned out to be a terrible mistake because the heat was still there. Because of how thick the coat was, there was no way I was fitting that into my backpack. You also need to know that March was still a few days away. Even early March isn’t supposed to be hot in the slightest.

(Camilla Cannarsa / Flickr)

May usually isn’t burning, but oh my god May 2017 was easily one of the hottest times and it wasn’t even summer. I remember walking to school in the closest thing to a heatwave and I was sweating by the time I arrived. You would think it would be better inside the school. Dear lord, I was wrong. It was just as hot inside as it was outside. We had four fans in one of the classes I was in and it still didn’t fight off the heat. It was better in the two classes I had after, but when the final class came, the heat picked up again. There were over 50 of us in the classroom which didn’t help with the heat. Having that many sweaty teenagers in a relatively small band room is not a fun time. The fans that we had in the classroom didn’t help one single bit.

Then you have last September and October. For almost two months straight it didn’t snow. There wasn’t a single day during that time when I needed to put on my rain jacket or wear more layers. I was able to get away with wearing my denim jacket the entire time which is something that should not be happening in October. I wasn’t even checking if I brought an umbrella inside my backpack. That’s how dry it was during that time. Only in early November did I have to start wearing more layers but it didn’t even amp up until later in the month.

(cat’s_101 / Flickr)

You might think this is nice, and you’re somewhat right. Nothing sucks more than having to change your outfit to accommodate precipitation. That cool outfit you’re going to wear now has to be covered up with a raincoat. Those cool shoes you were going to put on now have to be replaced by something you’re okay with wearing in the rain. Sometimes, you wish the heat would knock it off and just go away for a little bit. Whenever it was cold in the morning during the summer, I didn’t wrap myself up. I just embraced it because I wasn’t sure about the next time the cool temperatures were coming back.

We all want to not be freezing when we go outside, but we don’t want to be sweating just by standing. While it’s supposed to rain for a few days this upcoming week, how much can we guarantee that? We had a few false alarms last month about pouring days that turned out to be shockingly bright. That wasn’t the mood I had in mind for a few days during January.

It’s kind of the same deal when the heaters are on inside the house. I was once hanging in my living room, trying to record myself playing my instrument. By the fourth take, I had my shirt off because of how hot it was. Turns out, the heater was on super high which explains why I was sweating in the middle of November while I was sitting. I asked my dad why we had to turn the heat on super high. While it makes sense for the house to not freeze over and bust open our pipes, I wish we kept it down a little bit so we’re not burning. We start turning it down more when the winter months are coming to an end. If we keep the heater on during those months, I’m pretty sure our house will turn into an oven. I even stop turning mine on during January and just wear a sweater.

(Felipe Skroski / Flickr)

The heat is something no one is prepared for in the winter. You put on your jacket, scarf, gloves, hat, and everything else you need to stay warm. The moment you step outside, you notice something is off. You think it gets better throughout the day but still, you feel like something is off. You get home, and that feeling is still there. You start taking off each layer one by one and that’s when you realize it is hot outside. You check what month it is. Your calendar says it’s January. That can’t be right, it’s probably late April. Nope, it’s January. That wasn’t something you expected.

As long as global warming is still a thing, it will keep getting hotter during the winter months. You can either embrace it or be concerned. I would be concerned for the world burning during these months. In this case, I wouldn’t mind the rain coming every week. At least it keeps things in check and doesn’t make the hotter month more dreadful than they’re supposed to be.