in a similar vein rainforests do not have to be tropical, there are several temperate rainforests in europe of which the southwestern norwegian coast is apparently one
And I'm sure I would have laughed at that cowboy had I seen him while I was wearing actual winter clothes. People's brain just freeze come winter time and they become too dumb to dress properly.
Cowboys are... prepared to exist outside - whatever could they have been thinking!? :-P
Seriously, each of those elements was intelligently designed for the purpose that cowboys had for them. I use many of those same elements myself, while people prepared only to sprint from car to indoors have a whole other thing going on.
What makes it dumb is that the clothing described wouldn't have been what kept them warm and unfazed, that would be the layers underneath the made up cowboy's attire.
What makes it silly is that cowboys exist across the very snowy north and have since cowboys have existed anywhere.
Not American but doesn't central America get cold as fuck at night? I would assume that's what cowboys dressed for since you can always remove clothes but you can't exactly create them from thin air at night.
I'm not an expert, but I believe it's more of a North American thing (Canada, U.S.A., Mexico) due to the mountain systems along the three countries. The Rocky Mountains, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Velt, etc. are all part of the North American Cordillera. This, and the occasional deserts.
I'd guess ponchos, jorongos, and similar pieces of clothing were adopted by non-native settlers (Spanish, English, etc.), including non-native cowboys, because they are good against the changing weather during the day and the cold nights, as you said.
I mean, Central America must have cold spots along their own mountains and South America has the Andean Mountain Range (enormous system), but I do not know about their traditional clothing, except they share the poncho, and I do not know which of their clothing we still wear to this day.
It's just called wilderness, looks beautiful, arguably more deadly.
Parks in AZ on the border of Phoenix(for example) don't have notices that cars left in the lot will have immediate search and rescue operations started to find them at dusk. Parks on the northern edge of Vancouver do.
You can have that weather in northern Arizona though.
The closest thing we've had in a game to the temperate rainforests of the pacific northwest that a lot of the cowboys of the region had to fave would be the thick tropical jungles of Crysis and Far Cry.
And the leather soles get mushy...and the salt used to melt the ice absolutely shreds the leather just above the stitching when it dries out. Western boots suck in the snow, and it's a quick way to ruin them. Even rubber-soled ones like some of Ariat's don't last, but they're better on wet surfaces.
Those are riding boots, or dress boots. They also make Western style boots with rugged soles for work. I have a pair and they're outstanding on all terrain, including snow. Here's an example:
I got them because we decided not to wear shoes inside our house, and unlacing my work boots several times per day was a real PITA. These take about two seconds to take off or put on.
