It’s harder on the upswing for me. Maybe it’s because January and February seem to stretch on after the holidays, but I don’t really get tired of winter until later (luckily).
Absolutely, but unless you're in Antarctica, it can get much more extreme in the North than South. Tierra del Fuego is south of Australia and South Africa, but it's closer to the equator than the southern tip of Norway.
By like 2° latitude... But yeah... Nobody lives below Tierra del Fuego all year (scientists maybe?) but plenty of people live North of there (Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Finland etc.).