You know how as a kid you used to stand peering out the door wondering whether or not to wear a coat, and then your mom would shout that yes, you definitely need to wear a coat, because it's brisk out there. But then you'd get outside and it was too hot, so you wrapped the coat around your waist where it was this hateful bulky thing and you wished you could have had some correct source of information that was not your mother.
Well, now we have the Internet, which is always right. Case in point: Is It Iced Coffee Weather? Demanding and capricious at once, it's an ether-mom for coffee-addicted adults. Yesterday we typed in our ZIP code and were relieved to see that yes, yes it is iced coffee weather! No more standing in the Dunkin' Donuts line like a fool, trying to figure it out! Today, however, the Web Site of Power says "no." But we want iced coffee! Who is in charge of this thing? There is no "about" button, and no contact info. Who are you, iced coffee diva?!
Is it iced coffee weather in Alaska? Chicago? Florida? Why not in 90210, whose Starbucks-slurping residents are surely enraged by that fact? We want an authoritative chart, but it's not like we're, uh, bloggers -- we can't sit around all day typing numbers into a Web site. So report back: Visit the site and for the love of all that is holy please take our poll and hit the comments to tell us the answer to this burning question.
4-29-2009 @4:39PM Alex Van Buren said... I'll start:
NO, in Brooklyn, New York, where is currently 59 degrees (yesterday was 85, so I suppose that MIGHT make sense). Hmmph.
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4-29-2009 @4:48PM Pearl said... You do know that it's just some Javascript thrown together that'll give a "Yes" if the temperature in your area is over a certain temperature, right? (By the way, I think the threshold is at 70 deg. Farenheit, in case you were wondering... but I determined that very unscientifically.)
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4-29-2009 @4:50PM Kat Kinsman said... I also heart: http://isitchristmas.com/
http://shoulditweetaboutswineflu.com/
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4-29-2009 @4:52PM Sara Bonisteel said... For me, it is always iced coffee time. I prefer the toddy but make do in the North with (a surely blasphemous) four shots of espresso on ice that I cut with skim milk. Sweet elixir of caffeine.
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4-29-2009 @4:53PM Monika said... I'm impressed -- I put in a Canadian postal code, which wouldn't give me results, but it did say "EH?"
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4-29-2009 @5:00PM Pearl said... Also, if you really wanted, you could just search for the domain on Whois.net, which would reveal that your iced coffee diva is some person in Birmingham, Alabama. Where it /is/ currently iced coffee weather.
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4-29-2009 @5:20PM Kat Kinsman said... Also: http://doihaveswineflu.org/
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4-29-2009 @5:26PM Suzanne said... iced coffee weather is a state of mind. when you feel like iced coffee, then it's iced coffee weather.
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4-29-2009 @5:26PM Alex Van Buren said... Pearl: Thank you for your computer wisdom (as an English major, I had a feeling it had to do with temperature, but that's as far as I got)! This Javascript creation of which you speak -- how can we find out what this Birmingham lass or gentleman set as the degree marker for her or his site?
Here's hoping the Is It Iced Coffee Weather Person will also come forward! (Unless it is you, Pearl, in which case, well-played :)!)
Alex
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4-29-2009 @9:04PM joshua.finnei said... I have to say that I feel it is iced coffee weather ALL THE TIME! I love iced coffee way more than hot coffee and will drink iced coffee in the dead of winter.
And boy do I get weird looks when I order iced coffee when it is 10 degrees out!
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4-29-2009 @10:06PM Bryan Price said... No, in Wasilla, AK where I'm visiting my son and daughter-in-law. Not surprised, it was freezing this morning.
Yes, in Jacksonville, FL where it's currently in the 70's currently, where I live.
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4-29-2009 @10:28PM tim said... It seems to have been built by a gentleman named Ryland Wharton, who lives in the Bay Area -- perhaps Berkeley, which explains the 94705 area code default?
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4-29-2009 @11:58PM Pearl said... Alex: I basically just came up with cities on Accuweather.com, saw what temperature it was in that location, and tried it on the site. As I said, very unscientific. I tried looking for something in the source, and after some more examination by my boyfriend (who was a Comp Sci major), it was determined that the actual mechanism is on the back end somewhere where we can't see it. I think it's safe to assume it's around 70 degrees, though.
Tim: Ryland Wharton must have moved after registering the domain name or something (as Ry Wharton). The Whois lookup gave me a Birmingham, AL address, but you're probably right because 1. the zip code thing you mentioned is probably indicative, and 2. a website that mentions his location in the Bay Area comes up as the first result when you Google his name. If I realized he had put his full name in the source code, I probably wouldn't have found the Alabama address.
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4-30-2009 @12:28PM Alex Van Buren said... @suzanne: You're right; I should liberate myself!
@monika: That is Awesome.
@ tim & pearl: Thank you for continuing to untangle the Iced Coffee Person Mystique.
@ joshua: That is hardcore. Where do you live that it hits ten degrees?
@bryan: Thank you for reporting back!
@sara: Four shots of espresso?! but you seem so chill.
@kat: Thanks for the new obsessions.
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5-01-2009 @5:32PM Mark Ramos said... I think that in my neck of the woods, which is texas, it always happens to be iced coffee weather, which is why I love it so much! I've tried making coffee ice cubes actually. http://www.thecoffeebump.com/blog/2009/04/tip-for-summer-coffee-drinks.html
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5-05-2009 @8:21AM Gobo said... I'm just glad I live somewhere (New England) that actually understands iced coffee. In Ohio, if you order iced coffee (even on a 100 degree August afternoon), they'll look at you kinda funny and proceed to pour hot coffee over a glass filled with icecubes.
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5-12-2009 @4:20PM Kiwi Carlisle said... Coffee gives me migraines. It's never coffee weather for me in any way, shape or form.
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5-22-2009 @1:34PM sarah said... I'm in Boston and here as long as it is above freezing it's iced coffee weather for me!
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