Whenever I mention to anybody here in Florida that I’m from Illinois, the reaction is, “Ooh, it’s so cold over there!” It’s been 10-15 degrees hotter in Illinois than here during my entire vacation. I’m practically only here to escape from the heat. But people seem to think Illinois is somewhere on the North Pole.
Cold in Illinois
Clarissa's Blog 
I think when people think of Illinois they think of Chicago which has very windy cold, winters. I visited in January 2020, I grew up in New England, and it was very cold even to me.
I am surprised you experienced cooler weather in Florida because Florida is a hot muggy mess. We have a few Florida like days here every summer just due to humidity and it’s very unbearable.
I do understand the need to be by the water, however. In my experience, the body knows where it needs to be to be healthiest and heal. I myself live inland but grew up on the coast and I absolutely want to relocate to a coastal area because it is where my body feels the best.
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This reminds me of a story that I heard a while back about a professor from the US who went to Siberia in July. He only packed his warmest winter clothes and was more than a little surprised at the lack of snow and a complete uselessness of his wardrobe.
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My husband traveled to San Francisco in a floor-length fur coat. He had heard constant complaints about how windy and foggy the city is and interpreted “windy and foggy” as meaning “similar to St Petersburg.” St Petersburg is, indeed, windy and foggy but at a completely different level than San Francisco.
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I grew up in the Chicago area, but I moved to Wisconsin when I got married, and I got that reaction all the time. People in Illinois think Wisconsin is Siberia.
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In FL, you have huge variability in actual temperature, and in how hot it feels, depending on how close to the water you are. Right on the coast, with the onshore winds, it is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, than inland.
I admit though, that all my life, Illinois (and basically anything else north of central GA and AL) has seemed like the Great Frozen North. And I’ve lived up there!
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