Every morning, millions of us perform the same quiet ritual: open a weather app, digest the hourly forecast, and then immediately look out the window to see if it’s true.
Despite having access to hyper-precise satellite data, our obsession with the skies isn't just about knowing if we need an umbrella.
The weather remains one of the few elements of modern life we cannot schedule, automate, or control, and while science shows it might not dictate our long-term happiness, temperature, sunshine, and wind shape our daily energy, comfort, and choices far more than we realise.
Then, funnily enough, we look out of the window to see whether the weather app is right.
More than just a forecast
A bright morning seems to promise possibility, and grey skies can make staying indoors feel like a good option. Rain permits us to slow down, while a perfect sunny day can create a desire to abandon whatever we are supposed to be doing and go somewhere.
But does the weather really affect how we feel?
A study involving more than 14 000 people in the Netherlands found no clear relationship between daily weather conditions and sadness or depression.
And another study of more than one million Americans found that most daily weather conditions had little or no meaningful effect on people's judgments of their overall life satisfaction.
But it does influence us
There is evidence that it can influence us in other ways, though.
Research has found links between weather and how tired, energetic or comfortable people feel. Sunshine, temperature and humidity can affect momentary wellbeing, while pleasant weather can encourage people to spend more time outside and change what they do during the day.
Researchers in South Africa interviewed 50 healthcare practitioners about the relationship between weather, climate and mental health.
All of them were aware of a perceived connection, with sunlight and temperature featuring prominently. Thirty-eight were able to explain seasonal affective disorder, while 36 believed increased temperature could worsen some mental-health symptoms.
What the day’s weather looks like affects people in different ways, though.
We all have our own weather
When I was living in Cape Town, I found the wet winters, late sunrises and early sunsets miserable.
Not to mention the South Easter. I never believed in a person having an aura but after a week of howling wind I would be the grumpiest person in the office.
Unless you had an inside braai room, it meant putting meat on the coals was almost impossible.
I like to wear shorts and a T-shirt. Having to rummage through the cupboards for jerseys and jackets is not something I enjoy.
My partner, on the other hand, likes it to be cooler.
After we had spent our holiday in the Richtersveld National Park next to the Orange River two years ago, with temperatures reaching 52 degrees on Christmas Day, her request, more like a demand, that the following year would be spent next to the ocean was not entirely unreasonable.
What’s that about happy wife, happy life?
Something we cannot control
Perhaps this is why we are so fascinated by the forecast.
The weather is one of the few things in our lives that we still cannot schedule.
A sunny day might make us happier because it gets us outside. Rain might make us miserable because it disrupts our plans. Heat might be wonderful when we're sitting next to a swimming pool but unbearable when we're stuck in traffic.
We can organise meetings, decide what time to have dinner, plan our routes and have almost anything delivered to the front door, but we can't tell the clouds what to do.
willem.vdputte@nationalmg.co.za