Ottawa-How cold/chilly is it?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by sunluv

I love the way you're writing this as if you've actually got facts behinds this, when it's just you speculating. How long did you live in NYC? I lived in NYC and Ottawa for decades. NYC climate is definitely balmier than Ottawa, and warmer than Vancouver a good part of the warmer months, plus it doesn't have Vancouver's dreary skies. NYC's weather advantage over Canada is part of why someone would move there actually, and makes the Fall season longer and more enjoyable compared to that what is experienced in Canada.

Just a tad hyper-sensitive are we? If you reread my post the main comparison I was making was between Ottawa and Toronto, and did not involve New York City. And yes, I do know that summers in New York are a lot warmer and nicer than in Vancouver. As for winter (which is what we were mostly talking about), for cold and snow-haters at least, Vancouver is a nicer place to be than New York.

And although I personally know quite a few people from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal who have moved to New York, no one has ever mentioned the weather as a a reason for going there.

[ExtremeMan8]

Does anyone know how much different Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are in terms of climate? Are they similar with a few degrees cooler or warmer or are they totally different on average for the most part with temperature, precipitation, etc.?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ExtremeMan8

Does anyone know how much different Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are in terms of climate? Are they similar with a few degrees cooler or warmer or are they totally different on average for the most part with temperature, precipitation, etc.?

Summers in all three cities are very very similar. Not much of a difference.

Winters in Ottawa and Montreal are almost exactly the same. Montreal is maybe a teeny bit warmer than Ottawa because it is much bigger city and has an urban heat effect more.

Toronto is milder in winter than the other two. It varies but generally the difference is 3 to 5 degrees C warmer. Sometimes it can be a lot bigger difference though, and sometimes all three are very close in temperature.

Generally in the winter in the daytime in Toronto the maximum is around -2C, whereas in Ottawa and Montreal it is about -5C. Of course, it is variable and any of the three cities can sometimes get maximums of only -15C (more frequent in Ottawa and Montreal) or of +5C.

Montreal and Ottawa average about 220 cm of snow per winter, while Toronto averages around 140 cm. Once again, this is quite variable, and any of the three cities can get a lot more or a lot less in a given year.

I think it's mostly Canadians who would notice the difference and find Toronto ''warmer''. For people from other (warmer) countries, all three cities are probably very cold to them and they wouldn't see much of difference.