--- title: Weather: This Temperature makes People the Mot Miserable description: Both hot and cold days can feel miserable as you experience them, but new research shows that not all temperatures are created equal. canonical: https://time.com/4172187/temperature-weather-hot-cold-preferences/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-07T23:43:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:54:31.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Here's What Temperature Makes People the Most Miserable, According to Science og:description: Hot and cold days aren't created equal og:url: https://time.com/4172187/temperature-weather-hot-cold-preferences/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Temperature Makes People the Most Miserable, According to Science twitter:description: Hot and cold days aren't created equal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's What Temperature Makes People the Most Miserable, According to Science ## Video: Winter Weather Pileup on Ontario Interstate [Watch (HLS stream): Winter Weather Pileup on Ontario Interstate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/B7ZlnxPT.m3u8) (0:13)  _Published 2015-01-01. Winter Weather Pileup on Ontario Interstate_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 7, 2016 11:43 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 7, 2016 11:43 PM UTC **Correction appended, Jan. 8** Both very [cold](http://time.com/3682240/weather-forecast-nyc-boston-snow-blizzard/) and very [hot days](http://time.com/4147776/warm-east-coast-weather/) can feel miserable as you’re experiencing them, but [new research](http://ei.haas.berkeley.edu/research/papers/WP265.pdf#page=1) shows that not all temperature complaints are created equal. A working paper, released by researcher Patrick Baylis at the University of California, Berkeley and [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/07/clear-evidence-that-cold-days-are-better-than-hot-ones/?tid=sm%5Ftw) by the Washington _Post_, suggests that while people’s happiness declines as temperatures rise above 70°F or fall below 50°F, the decline in happiness is stronger as weather gets hotter. In order to get that conclusion, Baylis evaluated more than a billion posts on Twitter for a connection between temperature conditions in the geographic area in which they were posted and the use of positive and negative words. The method leaves room for error on the individual level, but the aggregate is likely more reliable. Baylissays his research has implications for economic productivity in the faced of continued climate change. Global [temperatures have risen](http://time.com/4171513/2015-temperature-record-us/) by more than 1.5°F since 1880, a pattern scientists expect to continue in the coming decades. Future changes to temperature due to global warming could have the effect in some areas of “replacing every Saturday and Sunday in a year with a Monday,” he writes. _Correction: This story originally mischaracterized how happiness declines with the weather. 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