Why does the same temperature on your living room thermometer feel differently depending on the seasons outside? For example, 73 degrees Fahrenheit feels cold in the winter time but it feels great in the summer?
In: Physics
The thermostat doesn’t tell you the temperature of your house. It tells you the temperature of the air near the thermostat. Depending on how efficient your house is, the air throughout the rest of the house is going to be competing between your heating/AC and the temperature outside.
So if it is very warm outside, the air inside your house is constantly being warmed up. If it is very cold outside, the air inside your house is constantly being cooled down.
Your body kinda gets used to a certain temperature each season.
If you go swimming, you’d probably feel the water colder at first and after some time you will think it’s not as cold as before.
Happens the same with seasons, if the weather outside is colder than 73, you’ll feel it’s warmer when you enter because you are used to it. If it’s hotter outside, you’ll feel it’s colder.
We are actually surprisingly good at detecting temperature changes.
The difference is likeley to be related to relative humidity, it has a noticeable effect on thermal sensation and is ignored by most thermostats.
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