No, weather itself does not fundamentally change your skin color. Skin color is primarily determined by genetics and the amount of sun exposure. While weather conditions can affect the appearance of your skin, causing temporary changes, it doesn't alter the underlying melanin production responsible for your base skin tone.
How Weather Impacts Skin Appearance:
-
Sun Exposure: Increased sun exposure in sunny weather leads to increased melanin production, resulting in a tan or darker complexion. This is a temporary change; the tan fades with reduced sun exposure. This effect is more about sun radiation than weather patterns. [Source: Skin color is primarily determined by genetics and exposure to sunlight. Numerous sources corroborate this.]
-
Cold Weather: Cold, dry weather can impact skin moisture levels, causing dryness, and potentially leading to changes in skin tone due to dryness or conditions like frostnip (early stage frostbite) which causes color changes in the affected skin. This isn't a change in melanin production, but rather a change in skin appearance due to environmental factors. [Source: Cold climates can affect skin moisture levels and may require additional skin care to maintain hydration and prevent dryness. Multiple sources support this.]
-
Extreme Temperatures: Extreme heat and cold can cause temporary changes to skin color, such as redness from sunburn (due to sun exposure, not the heat itself) or paleness due to vasoconstriction in cold weather. These are temporary changes in blood flow impacting the skin's color, not permanent shifts in melanin. [Source: In a typical attack, the fingers (or toes) become suddenly cold as the blood vessels constrict. The skin color changes markedly and may become... This excerpt refers to Raynaud's phenomenon, demonstrating temperature-induced skin color changes, but it is a reaction to vasoconstriction and not a genetic change.]
-
Humidity: Hot and humid weather can exacerbate skin conditions like Tinea versicolor, which can cause patches of lighter or darker skin. This is a skin condition, not a direct effect of the weather itself. [Source: Hot, humid weather; Oily... This mentions that hot, humid weather may worsen the condition, but it's the condition that alters skin tone, not the weather directly.]
In summary, while weather can influence the appearance of your skin through factors like sun exposure and temperature-related changes in blood flow, it does not alter your underlying genetic predisposition to a particular skin tone. The long-term adaptation of skin color to different levels of sunlight exposure across populations over many generations is a different process entirely. The migration of darker-skinned people to colder climates doesn't lead to a genetic shift in skin color over a few generations.