12 Ways to Tell If It's Arthritis or Just Winter — How to Tell the Difference and When to See a Doctor

3. Pattern and duration of pain: temporary vs persistent

How long the pain lasts tells you a lot. Weather-related pain often arrives around a cold snap or pressure change and eases within hours to a few days after the weather stabilizes. If symptoms return only with similar weather patterns, a non-arthritic cause is more likely. Arthritis-related pain tends to be ongoing or steadily progressive. You might notice slow worsening over weeks, months, or years. Watching the timeline helps: brief, repeatable weather-linked flares point one way; steady or worsening pain that interferes with daily life points another.

4. Morning stiffness and how long it lasts

When and how long joints feel stiff after rest is an important clue. Inflammatory arthritis often causes morning stiffness that lasts 30 minutes to several hours. During that time, joint movement is noticeably limited before it improves with activity. Osteoarthritis can also cause morning stiffness, but it usually clears within 10–30 minutes. Weather-related stiffness often feels like a brief tightness that eases as you warm up and move. Measuring stiffness duration for a few days can be revealing: if you consistently need a long time to get moving each morning, ask your clinician about inflammatory causes (Harvard Health).