Spring is here! Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and the weather feels... extra warm?

We’ve all lived it—a balmy 10-degree day in April has you peeling off your light jacket and basking in the early-spring sun. That sensation of feeling warm in the outdoors is unfamiliar yet entirely welcome after months of brisk cold. 

But why is it that this same 10-degree temperature feels so much colder in the fall? No, you’re not just imagining it. The two seasons do, in fact, have different impacts on the body despite numerically appearing the exact same. 

The biggest reason has to do with physiological adaptation. In the winter—or even while travelling for just a handful of days in a cooler climate—our bodies quickly acclimatize to the cold. Our resting metabolic rates rise and blood vessels constrict to help produce and retain more heat. Scientists have also noted an increase in brown adipose tissue activity in frigid temperatures, a type of fat that only burns to promote heat while exposed to the cold. 

In other words, there’s a lot going on internally to keep you warm during the winter. When the seasons begin to change, it takes a moment for your body to regulate. On those first few warm days of spring, as your body continues to have a higher metabolic rate and is still working to produce extra heat, you will almost inevitably start sweating under your raincoat. 

For the same reasons, that same temperature feels much colder in the fall because your summer-regulated body hasn’t yet adapted to cooler weather.  Greater humidity and the position of the sun in the sky—it's higher and more intense in the spring—can also contribute to that extra-warm sensation.

Luckily, the human body is quick to respond to changes in weather. After just a couple weeks, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying the perfect in-between spring-fall temperatures that Canadians cherish. 
 

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