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Enjoy them while you can... though the cold is no excuse for some to give up their shorts. From 2013:

Blustery weather is no reason to ditch shorts, some say
Dustin Racioppi, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press Published 11:06 a.m. ET March 20, 2013

TINTON FALLS, N.J. — In freezing temperatures, sleet and snow, they walk, teeth rattling but bare legged.

While the number of year-round shorts wearers is relatively small, their commitment is unwavering and their wardrobe an established component of cold-weather fashion.

"When I walk into work sometimes, my boss is like, 'Jim, it's 20 degrees outside. What are you doing?' " said James Gill of Tinton Falls, N.J. But "it's the best comfort feeling."

Comfort is a consideration, but most simply do not mind the cold.

Pants — particularly jeans — make 20-year-old Tyler Gejo sweat, he said. Unless it is arctic outside, he is in shorts.

John Maneri, 18, of Jackson Township, N.J., goes to school in shorts, goes to work in shorts, and "I go to church like that, too," he said.

"Not only does it feel free, I just don't get bothered" by the cold, Maneri said.

For many, freedom starts at the knee: Pants are restrictive; shorts are liberating.

"As much as I can not be in pants, the better," said Scott Hughes, 43, an educator from Bergen County.

A longtime soccer player, Hughes thinks his athletic background got him into the habit of wearing shorts year-round. His three children have followed suit, he said.

Old habits die hard

Joseph Aulisi developed his shorts-only habit in the late 1980s as a football coach at Brick Township High School in Brick, N.J. Since then, he has been "a shorts guy, period."

An Ocean County Prosecutor's Office detective, Aulisi can be found in pants only while on the clock. He sleeps with the window open, wears shorts to shovel snow off the driveway and dons a coat and hat only when necessary, such as on ski trips in Vermont.

After all, he said, "It's kind of hard to ski without a coat and a hat on."

And when he got married 13 years ago, Aulisi changed into tuxedo trunks for the reception.

Jay Stafford, 59, did not even wait for the after-party. When he was married in May on Deal Lake in Deal, N.J., he made the dress code clear to his guests.

"I told them, 'Anybody who wears a suit is going to be escorted off the property,' " Stafford said.

This is extreme even for the staunchest of shorts fans, who have slacks on standby specifically, and only, for such occasions.

"I always tell my friends, 'Weddings and funerals, that's it," Scott Churchwell of Bayville, N.J., said of pants.

He's bare legged the rest of the time, sometimes just to rankle others.

"I get flak from people all the time — my friends, (or) just walking down the street. People are like … are you crazy or something? I laugh. I say no," said Churchwell, 46. "Some people get annoyed by it. They're like what are you doing?"

Vinny Contino, 19, of Howell, N.J., said shorts signify two things to him: basketball and freedom. He loves both.

"There could be snow on the ground," he said. "I'll make a snow angel in shorts. It doesn't matter."

Health risk in cold?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not take an official position on wearing shorts in the cold. In the colder months officials recommend that people stay warmly dressed in a hat, a scarf, sleeves that are snug at the wrist, several layers of loose-fitting clothing and mittens because they are warmer than gloves.

The CDC also says hypothermia is most likely at "very cold temperatures" but also can occur at about 40 degrees if a person is chilled from rain, sweat or submersion in cold water. Prolonged exposure to cold can deplete a body's stored energy, resulting in hypothermia.

The risk of frostbite is increased among those not properly dressed for cold temperatures, according to the CDC.

“People are like … are you crazy or something? I laugh.”
Scott Churchwell, Bayville, N.J.

Most shorts wearers are unfazed.

"You go from a car to a house, a house to a store, a car to a store. You're never playing in the snow," said Steven Cohen, an insurance broker from the Morganville, N.J., who claims to have shoveled 30 inches of snow in shorts during a blizzard in 1996. "People were like, 'Oh my God, you're in shorts!' I'm like, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' "

Lee Siegfried of Keansburg, N.J., a Minneapolis native and cold-weather shorts wearer, said New Jersey does not know what cold is. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds — "a polar bear," he said.

"I'm used to 30 below zero for like two weeks," said Siegfried, 44. "I definitely think people in the Northeast are wimpy about the cold."

But for many across this sometimes-icy stretch of the East Coast, shorts have no alternative.

Bruce Blattner, a retired postal worker who lives in Belmar, N.J., said he does not think he even owns a pair of pants. He does not usually get cold, but when he does, he will put on a jacket, a skullcap and gloves — but not pants.

"I've been like that all my life," said Blattner, 67.

And beyond: "They're going to bury me in a pair of shorts," he said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/20/winter-short-pants/2002391/