Before You Complain About the Heat, Remember This Past Winter

Hot in the summer, cold in the winter.

ByABC News
August 26, 2014, 12:16 PM
Morning commuters bundle up against the cold on the morning of Jan. 7, 2014, in New York.
Morning commuters bundle up against the cold on the morning of Jan. 7, 2014, in New York.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images

— -- A heat wave is scorching much of the country this week, sending temperatures in the Midwest, Northeast and South soaring into the 100-degree range.

In other words, it's going to be hot.

PHOTO: Heat Index: Forecast heat index (feels-like) temperatures for Tuesday afternoon.
Heat Index: Forecast heat index (feels-like) temperatures for Tuesday afternoon.

But before you get too comfortable complaining about the heat, remember what it was like when it was freezing?

PHOTO: A woman falls on the ice and snow along 5th Avenue on Jan. 22, 2014 in New York.
A woman falls on the ice and snow along 5th Avenue on Jan. 22, 2014 in New York.

A Polar Vortex swept the country in winter 2014 and sent Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis plummeting into freezing temperatures. For weeks on end, Americans groused about having to lace up snow boots and button up parkas just to go walk the dog. Transportation came to a standstill in cities like Boston and Atlanta because of the snow.

A driver reaches out to clear their windshield of snow and ice while navigating storm snarled traffic in Boston on Dec. 17, 2013.
A driver reaches out to clear their windshield of snow and ice while navigating storm snarled traffic in Boston on Dec. 17, 2013.
PHOTO: Mist rises from Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach as temperatures dipped well below zero on Jan. 6, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.
Mist rises from Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach as temperatures dipped well below zero on Jan. 6, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.

In other words, it was really, really cold.

So there you have it: very cold in the winter, very hot in the summer. Always something to complain about.