Yes, you can build tolerance to cold temperatures by slow gradual exposure to them. Using cold water at the end of showering and wearing one Layer of clothes less to feel slightly cool (but not freezing) works well. Aside of cold tolerance, the benefits include boosting your imune system, turning your white fat into Brown fat, which is able to burn calories (and make heat from them, that's why you feel warmer) and lowering inflammation in your body.
You can definitely build tolerance. So long as it’s above 50°F, I’m likely to be shirtless while hiking or running. Wim Hof may be onto something in terms of what’s possible.
You can build up resistance. I live in WA, when I visited Spain everyone was shocked to see me perfectly fine in just a t-shirt when it was 55 american degrees out
Be careful about the limits of adaptation. You can certainly adjust to temperatures that are colder than you’re used to. You will still die if you are inactive outside without protection below 50 degrees F (10C).
That never worked for me. I used to run in the early morning before dawn and if it was warm I could warm up and feel good. If it was cold (yes sometimes it gets cold even in Florida) I had to run wearing layers to be able to warm up enough to feel safe running. Sweatpants over yoga pants, tank, long sleeve running shirt, jacket.
I have seen people adapt to the heat here though, and my brothers who grew up in warm climate and moved to the northeast certainly adapted.
Approach with healthy skepticism. That page and its links to other studies are not enough to support its stated claims or implied benefits. sciencebasedmedicine.org/wim-hof-the-iceman/ does a better job than I can when it comes to the details. Looks like snake oil to me.
Oh, I wouldn’t ever suggest that the method does everything its author does - the claims of helping in cancer cases and such are wee bit too “optimistic”.
But the question was concerning the possibility to build up cold immunity. And the answer is “yes”. The method I mentioned absolutely will build up cold’s immunity (or resistance, or tolerance if language purism is a factor) in everyone who will attempt it.
There’s no magic hocus-pocus in it. It’s very simple concept used in many “methods” - Buteyko comes to mind, so does Russian Siberia.
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