By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

As most of the nation suffers through some of the hottest temperatures on record this summer, people are asking the question of how exactly does weather impact our mood. For instance, how does hot weather affect our mood? Does it make us more aggressive — or even more violent?

Does rain make us sad? How about cold temperatures… do they make us feel more like wanting to hunker down, hibernate, and isolate ourselves from others?

Let’s revisit how weather affects our mood and impacts our lives.
I last covered this topic a few years ago, taking a broad look at the research to see all of the different ways weather impacts our mood. It wasn’t surprising to me to see all the different ways that weather impacts our mood.

One of the findings I want to emphasize from the research, however, is that the weather’s impact on our mood may not be as great as we sometimes believe it to be. A lot of the research in this area has found variable, sometimes-conflicting results. So broad, general take-aways are not always to be had.