Climate: cloudy and fogged up?

My timing stinks. Look out the window. This is not the day a sane and rational person posts a thought about Chicago's climate have a relative degree of moderation. Apparently I'm not that sane and rational person. So ignore all the white out there (and the lake effect that's supposed to follow). Think about Chicago's climate wholistically. I'll go out on the limb to say this (and perectly acceptably, too; perception of climate is highly subjective): CHICAGO'S CLIMATE IS NOT NEARLY AS EXTREME AS PEOPLE THINK. People in other parts of the country think we enter a deep freeze in the winter, buried in snow and parkas until March. That's never been my perception. I see the last 10-15 years of winter weather to be much more benign. I expect some freezing temperatures and get them, but I'm well aware of all those days in the 30's and even the 40's (and those occasional 50's), days that are not unexpected. The vast majority of the winter, weather has absolutely no effect on me or my enjoyment of being outdoors. Meanwhile, in summer, sure we get days in the 90's, but that is anything but the norm. There is lots of great weather, not only in the 80's, but 70's as well. And despite being a lover of cool rather than warm weather, there are days in the summer when even I put on a sweater or a jacket. Pacific air masses are not unusual, the oppressive and prolonged heat of St Louis, DC, FLA, etc, is not an issue. Look, I can be as much of a wimp as the next guy. But even I don't have a hard time getting through a year of Chicago weather. I think that much of the rest of the country gets it wrong on our extremities. Do you agree or disagree?>