I wasn’t aware of FSS until very recently. But, after reviewing the symptoms, I am sure that I’m a victim of this dreaded condition.

Here are a few of the symptoms of FSS.

• Opening your front door to what feels like a blast from a furnace.
• Sweating so much when you walk from your car to an air-conditioned store that you feel the need to shower as soon as you go home.
• Racing home with groceries so you can get the perishables in the house before they spoil.
• Feeling like the air is too thick to breathe—at 7 a.m.
• Being grateful that the evening temperatures are only in the mid 70’s.
• Buying ice cream at the drive-through window and sitting in your car with the air-conditioning running so it doesn’t melt before you lift it to your mouth.
• Refusing to go to the beach (even though it’s one of your favorite places) because it will be too hot and sunny to enjoy it.
• Having feverish heat-dreams even though the air conditioning is on.
• Or having to burrow under blankets in bed because you have to lower the A/C to “frigid” in order to sleep.

If you suffer from any of these symptoms, you probably have FSS—Florida Snowman Syndrome which causes you to melt like a snowman when you attempt to emerge from an air-conditioned space in July, August or September ( one of the worst months) while living in Florida.

There is no known cure except to escape to a cooler northern city during these months.

( Thanks to Sue Kuchler, a native Floridian, for naming this syndrome.)