Now that you’ve read that headline, what kind of weather are you thinking of? I’m thinking of the stifling humidity and heat that comes to mind (and to the rest of me) when July rolls around.

This is the kind of weather that makes me remember former co-workers who’d get in arguments with me on afternoons like these. They’d told me it was “nice and warm” out, and I found 80 degrees and humidity “to match” at 80 percent. On other days, I’d told them it was too hot, really nasty out, and they said it was beautiful. (Editor’s note: It was still 80 or worse.)

As a cliche goes around my friends and family, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing.” A lot of the bad qualities of weather come from being too cold, too hot, or too soaked (see illustration).

I’m sure that my friend and fellow blogger Weather Girl will have more technical data about some sorts of bad weather, but I remember her posting wise advice about dressing for weather.

I own two sweaters that I haven’t worn in the past year or more because the weather has not been cold enough (and I haven’t been outside long enough) to make the sweaters usable. When the cold gets well below zero Fahrenheit (18 Celsius), then I get those sweaters out, one by one, and think “All right, cold weather, let’s roll.”

I have a long slicker for rainy weather and a billed cap — I won’t call it a baseball cap, although many people do, because it has the emblem of “my” Chicago Blackhawks on it, not one of the baseball teams. The cap’s fine for keeping the sun off during the summer and the rain off in the winter, but when cold and snow really set in, then it’s time for my tweed walking hat. Snowstorms, bright sun on snowdrifts, and Chicago’s coldest days have been little trouble since I got “the Hat” early in the century.

But all I can do to keep my head comfortable now, as the air reaches 85 Fahrenheit (30 C), is to put up my hair with combs and barettes. (I haven’t had a haircut since very early in 2020; one was due in March. Oh well!)

So if you want me to start writing or talking about bad weather, it’ll be easier for me to talk about fireworks and eggs-on-sidewalks heat, not blizzards and cozy sweaters.

It’s all in what you expect.