Temperatures are dropping and so stepping into the icy cold world beyond the dorms is becoming a muddle of excessive outerwear, umbrellas and the inability to successfully hail a taxi. It’s a hassle. The seasonal struggle is real. Staying inside is far more appealing during the dingy Shanghainese winter and hence finding someone to snuggle up next to and hibernate with is now a top priority. Cuffing season is well and truly upon us.Yet another phenomenon thrust on the generation that has exhibited some questionable dating habits (hookup culture, anyone?), cuffing season refers to the correlation of the weather getting chilly and the increasing desire to be doing some netflix-and-chilling. The bae-sics are simple; the urge to be with someone never fades, but from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day, people are less willing to go out and be promiscuous. Instead they want to swap the sequins for sweatpants and get cosy with a cuddle buddy.I know what you are thinking, cuffing season does sound like it was coined by Buzzfeed. But there is some merit to this madness. The dating appHinge recently polled their users asking in which months they are most likely to want to find a casual hook up, a date, or a relationship. They found that men are 15 percent more likely to be looking for a relationship in the winter, whilst women are 5 percent more likely to be looking for something more committed during the freeze. Summer shows the exact reverse, thus we have cuffing season’s chirpier sister, the summer fling.The exact etymology of the term is unknown, but cuffing season was defined by Urban Dictionary in 2011, two years before rapper Fabolous popularised the phrase with his track “Cuffin Season.” The key lyrics being 'summer hoes turning into winter wifeys' and ‘you say you want to cuddle.’ Now in 2015, cuffing season may be entering the mainstream.So how does one cuff? Luckily google has the answer and overwhelmingly option A isTinder, the dating app that boasts ten billion matches that “have led to friends, dates, relationships, and everything in between.” Yes the people at Tinder HQ did really say everything in between and they truly meant it. Winter only increases the desperation of the perpetually single and frozen fingers start to get more liberal with the right swipes. Gone were the days where a grammatical mistake in the bio was a flat out no and multiple pictures of a pet lizard were creepy. (Because reptiles ARE underrated.)Navigate through the kaleidoscope of incompatibility and you might just secure yourself a tinder date. Alternatively do it the old fashioned way and drunkenly announce to a friend that you always thought they were cute. With any luck your uncharacteristic confession will be mutual one and let the cuffing commence. What next? Netflix-and-chill, the millennial code for something a little more than the kosher viewing of a documentary. Hailed as the murderer of modern romance, dinner and a movie has been replaced by just the movie, screened on the laptop of your new found bae. The jury is out on whether the movement to a Macbook is comparable to romantic death, but netflix-and-chill can still exude the awkwardness of a first date. The lines are blurry. Is Downton Abbey ever an appropriate innuendo? How do you know when buffering means ... buffering? It's difficult being chill before the chill. Some argue it is the ultimate companion test, more intimate than a traditional courting scenario, more equal than a man clutching a bouquet of flowers and throwing a pebble at the bedroom window of his beloved.Fast forward through the clumsiness of everything and a cuffing couple could be in creation. The next bit plays out something similar to an actual relationship, rules dependant on the two people that create them. Make it through christmas and cuffing has been a success. Make it through to Valentine’s Day and there’s an ultimatum to be dealt with. What if the cuffing was just bluffing? What if you’ve developed genuine feelings? Don’t panic. Commitment can be for summer too. But for now what should we be? Blizzard buddies? Pollution pairings? China chums? Because baby, it’s cold outside.This article was written by Stephanie Bailey. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Wyatt Fisher via Flickr