I'm with the dark/gray crowd... I hated winter in Chicago and it was even worse the year I lived in Grand Rapids MI, but it wasn't the snow or cold it was the awful, relentless lake-effect GRAY. I couldn't wait to move back to the northeast for the comparatively SUNNY winters.
In fact, winter might be my favorite. A brisk, cold, SUNNY day really gets me going. I especially love it when there's snow and it's sunny, with the snow reflecting the light everywhere. I walk over a mile and half each way to work and with layers, in the sun, the cold is just invigorating. I want to break into a sprint!
So... not to derail things but does anyone here hate summer like me? This is the season I dread most here in the Northeast. (I live/work in Center City Philadelphia.) Winter is quiet and contemplative. Summer is loud and oppressive. I cannot stand humidity. Everytime I'm in Atlanta or Orlando in the summer I think I'm going to just die from the thickness of the air and wonder how anyone can be happy there. As soon as the dew point hits 60 I'm feeling it, 65 I don't want to leave the house and if it goes over 70, I'm a shut in, perhaps more miserable than most here seem to be made by winter. In the summer, it can be 81 with a dew point of 69 and I'm dripping in sweat by the time I'm halfway to work. I can't even consider going for a hike. It's too humid. The constant change from crazy hot/humid to bitter cold a/c makes me buggers. I have to layer more at work in the summer than the winter because the damn office and places of business are so cold. I can never open a window if there's a break in the heat/humidity because people are out and about, holding noisy backyard parties, stumbling drunk on the sidewalks and blasting clown car stereos. Everything stinks more, there's nasty odor everywhere. I detest listening to my neighbors' rattly, old, energy-hogging a/c units. The list of reasons why I hate summer just goes on and on! Some of this is just the nature of city living but the city living provides my big fat corporate income, FIRE goals and MMM lifestyle. So I guess I should just shut up. ;-)
Can't wait to FIRE and move to a rural area of my beloved Colorado Plateau. Hot *dry* summers and cold *sunny* winters among beautiful red rock canyons and mountains with few neighbors. ~ 5 years until bliss!