First Draft

New Orleans is associated with heat. Humidity. Unbearable, climbing temperatures that make everyone drip of sweat. Buckets of it. Summers that make the whole city look like a ghost town, everyone hiding from the sun in their air conditioned homes. Locals hardly go to the bars. Shocking, I know. They aim to not leave the comfort of their ice boxed sanctuaries. It’s too hot. 

The Midwest has a traditional sense of seasons. It’s hot in the summer, cool in the fall and spring, and ice cold – a snowy, grey mess of slush – in the winter. Leaves change every fall into a beautiful burgundy and yellow palette, and in the spring, flowers bloom into a bright neon purplish pink that graces every street. 

Summers in Cincinnati, Ohio are humid too, but not nearly the depths of New Orleans. No, Ohio is not the devil’s armpit, but the river valley creates more stickiness than most find comfortable. It’s a comfort I find when visiting Ohio in the summer, though – a salvation from New Orleans heat, which is a totally different beast. 

Seasons in New Orleans are warm in the spring, but borderline hot, then warm in the fall, but still borderline hot, and atrocious in the summer. But as winter approaches, as the holidays start to creep around the corner, temperatures have finally begun to drop. Well, at least today.

Weather is typically unpredictable, no matter where one lives. But New Orleans weather changes at the drop of a hot. While one day is a torrential downpour with warm temperatures, the next day will be muggy and hot, and then, we get the days of reprieve – those perfect days where the sun shines and there’s a crisp, cool breeze blowing the Spanish moss on the oak trees. 

Today is not a perfect day. Unless you’re coming from living in the Midwest, like I am. It’s the end of November and 54 degrees. This is fall. A traditional fall, approaching the cooler temperatures of winter, but not quite there yet. This is sweater weather. And who doesn’t love pulling out their fall sweaters and boots? 

As soon as the temperature drops below 65 degrees, New Orleanians don’t know what to do. And 65 degrees is being generous. Some locals prefer it stays 70 and above. If there’s a dusting of snow, everywhere shuts down. School Days are canceled. Restaurants lock their doors. The city truly does not know how to handle or prepare for this sort of precipitation. 

A snow day in Ohio is only granted when inches of snow and ice plummet to the ground, sticking to every road, smooshed onto every sidewalk so that the ice is so compacted, it’s basically a skating rink. 

Residing in the 50s is essentially a New Orleans winter wonderland. Something unfamiliar. Well, something that comes around each year, but the discombobulated sensation brought on by heat waves makes us forget. While I wear a turtleneck and thicker blazer, others have brought out their scarves, gloves, and puffy winter coats. This baffles a Midwesterner like me. But simultaneously, I’m adopting the New Orleans way.

I grow more and more accustomed to New Orleans each and every day. 

I left my home this morning, and I thought, it’s chilly. I do not have the same thickness of skin as I did back in Ohio. A day like today would be a November gift there, but here in New Orleans, it’s a bleak and cold curse. 

No one will ever be happy with the weather. Not entirely. People will always want what they can’t have. All summer, New Orleanians beg for days like today, and once God has granted the Midwestern perfection of 54 degrees, we beg for those 90 degree days back. 

My fingers are like ice. But I have to remember that this is kinda nice. That I’ve always adored the cooler temperatures. I’m just not used to them so much anymore.  

Bundle up, turn on those heaters, and sip on a warm beverage. I opt for coffee, about 5 cups daily, to wake me up, keep me sharp, and warm these chilled bones. Perhaps some hot cider is more appropriate than hot cocoa. It’s almost Thanksgiving, the final weeks of fall. Not yet time for Christmas. 

I’m thankful for days like today, for the next New Orleans season awaits. So get cozy, get ready, and prepare for days with sunshine and chill – breezes that make one’s nose freeze, turn the nail beds purple, and cheeks rosy. 

Then again, this could all change tomorrow, and we’ll be back to sweating, begging for a chilly 54 degree day.