Question: Last night, I walked home from my bus stop (in Belgium). Since it was around 11 PM, it was quite cold, probably only about 4-5 °C. However, it didn't actually feel cold at all, and I didn't feel like I had to rush to get home for the cold. In fact, I didn't have headwear on, but I didn't get cold ears. It was about the same temperature as this morning, but the difference is that this morning felt a lot colder, probably due to the wind and drizzle.

I tried to describe it in English on Twitter, but I couldn't actually find a proper word to decribe it. I considered "a warm cold" or "a cozy cold", but I thought these were too poetic, more like something you'd use in a fairy tale than in a tweet to a handful of followers.

How can you describe that temperature without it becoming confusing or poetic?

Answer: 
In American English, we describe cold weather in a positive sense as *crisp*. As if the cold air hitting your face has a pleasant "breaking" to it.

A Google search for "define crisp" yields this definition, among others:

```
(of the weather) cool, fresh, and invigorating.

```
That sounds 'a bit brisk' to me.

[brisk](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/brisk)

> 
> (Of wind or the weather) cold but pleasantly invigorating:
> 
> 
> * *A cold, brisk wind fills the square on a grey Saturday afternoon.*
> * *Though the wind was brisk and chilly, the sun was bright and warm.*
> * *The September night was chilly, with a brisk wind picking up, but neither seemed to notice.*
> 
> 
> 

Here in the UK it's often (though not always) used as a form of humorous understatement, for example on the coldest day of the year you might say "*oooh, it's a bit brisk out, isn't it?*" c.f. "*Nice weather for ducks!*"

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If it's less cold than you expected then it's **mild**. As in, "*we had a mild winter*".

[mild](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mild)

> 
> (Of weather) moderately warm, especially less cold than expected:
> 
> 
> *Tropical continental air is very dry and tends to bring very warm weather during the summer and unseasonably mild weather during the winter.*
> 
> 
> *Plants suffer most when warm / mild weather is suddenly replaced with cold.*
> 
> 
> *October has come round again and the weather is still mild, with the cold snap we had last weekend coming as a shock.*
> 
> 
> 

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It sounds [reet](http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/voices2005/glossary/glossary.shtml) [parky](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/parky)!

Example usage: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/heandfi/4141559844/>