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Being British, I'm often having to explain to people that the UK (at least where I live) isn't actually that rainy or foggy (although it is cool and cloudy most of the time, theres fewer places in the world with less annual sunshine hours so that might be something to do with it). Surprisingly, it does actually get quite hot in the UK sometimes and fog is pretty uncommon.
In my travel experience, I've been surprised by the weather in some places being different to expected. I'm not an ignorant traveller but here's some examples of times I was surprised by the weather and commonly held British misconceptions of weather around the world:-
- How hot it is in summer in the Northeast USA (NY, Boston, Washington DC especially). Often the media and movies shows NY either under snow or in the rain (Godzilla, The day after tomorrow, heck, even Home Alone shows a cold and grim New York). Many British people simply assume the weather there is similar to the UK so I was surprised at how hot it was when I arrived in June. Also DC was hotter than Florida when I was there. I know DC is bordering "the south" but I was still surprised by the heat there.
- In contrast, how cold the sea is in California (even in July, I refused to go swimming in the sea off Santa Monica) and the air was considerably cooler there, especially at night time than the muggy, humid East Coast (I know its down to the northerly Pacific currents in contrast to the warm southerly Caribbean currents in the Atlantic but still!)
- How cold the Mediterranean area can be outside of the summer season. I live in Italy now and friends at home often laugh at me when I tell them its cold here in winter, even in the south. In winter, temps can often feel similar to the UK especially with the humidity, Rome has more annual rainfall and Turin/Milan have colder winters than London. Likewise, a lot of British people seem to assume Spain is some kind of tropical country with year round heat just from their experiences of summer holidays on the Spanish Costas or Ibiza. While sunnier and warmer than the UK there, winter is often a totally different story. (The same applies to Greece and Turkey, the Greek islands can be shockingly cold, grey and miserable in winter and Istanbul regularly gets heavy snow)
- Australia isn't always hot and sunny (nor is it an entirely tropical country). While that might be true for the northern parts, a lot of British people assume its always hot and sunny in all of Aus. Tasmania has a similar climate to the UK and there were chilly/rainy days in summer in Melbourne (a city famous for it's bipolar weather) when I visited. I always kept a hoody and umbrella in my daybag when I was there as the weather was even more changeable than England's. Also, the outback can get very cold at night time and it frequently snows in the mountains in winter (they have a ski season ffs!). I was amazed by the amount of shivering British tourists wandering around Melbourne in shorts and T-shirts on chillier days having assumed all of Australia is always hot.
- Japan isn't a tropical country. Again, a lot of more ignorant Britons seem to think of Japan as a hot, humid and tropical country like Taiwan/SEA. Sure, summers are but winters can be bitterly cold with large amounts of snow being dumped by Siberian weather systems.
- Russia/Eastern Europe isn't always cold and grim. Being a large continental landmass, Russia gets extremes. Summers in Moscow can be hotter than London (despite being on the same latitude as Scotland).
In your experience, where do you think the climate is commonly misconceived or where were you surprised by the local weather when you visited?
1. Northeastern Turkey. I always thought Göle was the coldest Turkish city, as a good friend of mine always says that. Turns out there are several colder places, while the coldest is Ardahan.
2. Seattle. Seattle grows some subtropical species giving a false impression of the climate, as most of those species are protected every winter to escape cold and heavy snowfalls. Turns out they get snow from October to May and most people living there are off during 6-7 months. Seattle has even less sunshine hours and much more cool rain than central England has.
Being British, I'm often having to explain to people that the UK (at least where I live) isn't actually that rainy or foggy (although it is cool and cloudy most of the time, theres fewer places in the world with less annual sunshine hours so that might be something to do with it). Surprisingly, it does actually get quite hot in the UK sometimes and fog is pretty uncommon.
In my travel experience, I've been surprised by the weather in some places being different to expected. I'm not an ignorant traveller but here's some examples of times I was surprised by the weather and commonly held British misconceptions of weather around the world:-
- How hot it is in summer in the Northeast USA (NY, Boston, Washington DC especially). Often the media and movies shows NY either under snow or in the rain (Godzilla, The day after tomorrow, heck, even Home Alone shows a cold and grim New York). Many British people simply assume the weather there is similar to the UK so I was surprised at how hot it was when I arrived in June. Also DC was hotter than Florida when I was there. I know DC is bordering "the south" but I was still surprised by the heat there.
- In contrast, how cold the sea is in California (even in July, I refused to go swimming in the sea off Santa Monica) and the air was considerably cooler there, especially at night time than the muggy, humid East Coast (I know its down to the northerly Pacific currents in contrast to the warm southerly Caribbean currents in the Atlantic but still!)
- How cold the Mediterranean area can be outside of the summer season. I live in Italy now and friends at home often laugh at me when I tell them its cold here in winter, even in the south. In winter, temps can often feel similar to the UK especially with the humidity, Rome has more annual rainfall and Turin/Milan have colder winters than London. Likewise, a lot of British people seem to assume Spain is some kind of tropical country with year round heat just from their experiences of summer holidays on the Spanish Costas or Ibiza. While sunnier and warmer than the UK there, winter is often a totally different story. (The same applies to Greece and Turkey, the Greek islands can be shockingly cold, grey and miserable in winter and Istanbul regularly gets heavy snow)
- Australia isn't always hot and sunny (nor is it an entirely tropical country). While that might be true for the northern parts, a lot of British people assume its always hot and sunny in all of Aus. Tasmania has a similar climate to the UK and there were chilly/rainy days in summer in Melbourne (a city famous for it's bipolar weather) when I visited. I always kept a hoody and umbrella in my daybag when I was there as the weather was even more changeable than England's. Also, the outback can get very cold at night time and it frequently snows in the mountains in winter (they have a ski season ffs!). I was amazed by the amount of shivering British tourists wandering around Melbourne in shorts and T-shirts on chillier days having assumed all of Australia is always hot.
- Japan isn't a tropical country. Again, a lot of more ignorant Britons seem to think of Japan as a hot, humid and tropical country like Taiwan/SEA. Sure, summers are but winters can be bitterly cold with large amounts of snow being dumped by Siberian weather systems.
- Russia/Eastern Europe isn't always cold and grim. Being a large continental landmass, Russia gets extremes. Summers in Moscow can be hotter than London (despite being on the same latitude as Scotland).
In your experience, where do you think the climate is commonly misconceived or where were you surprised by the local weather when you visited?
True, we get far more hot summer days than snowy winter days. It might not snow every year but you are guaranteed heat at some point of every year.
1. Northeastern Turkey. I always thought Göle was the coldest Turkish city, as a good friend of mine always says that. Turns out there are several colder places, while the coldest is Ardahan.
2. Seattle. Seattle grows some subtropical species giving a false impression of the climate, as most of those species are protected every winter to escape cold and heavy snowfalls. Turns out they get snow from October to May and most people living there are off during 6-7 months. Seattle has even less sunshine hours and much more cool rain than central England has.
Once again, Most of the places in Turkey don't publish long term ''official'' averages ( provincial capitals publish long term official averages). Göle's long term ''official'' averages are not avaiable. According to measurements of Turkish State Meteorological Service, which is the official meteorological service of the country, Göle is colder than Ardahan throughout the year
If you take ''climate.data.org'' as a source, Kars has a colder January mean temperature than Ardahan according to ''climate.data.org''.
Bolivia: most people think it's hot because it's in the middle of South America. It can be hot in the lower elevations, but in cities like La Paz and El Alto the annual average is around 10ºC (50ºF) with occasional snowfall. More than 2 million people live in the metro area.
1. Northeastern Turkey. I always thought Göle was the coldest Turkish city, as a good friend of mine always says that. Turns out there are several colder places, while the coldest is Ardahan.
2. Seattle. Seattle grows some subtropical species giving a false impression of the climate, as most of those species are protected every winter to escape cold and heavy snowfalls. Turns out they get snow from October to May and most people living there are off during 6-7 months. Seattle has even less sunshine hours and much more cool rain than central England has.
Blatantly false re sunshine. Sunniest UK mainland averages about 1900 hours, similar or a little less than Seattle - central England has locations with less than 1300.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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People think Phoenix and all of Arizona is hot year round. When in actuality, places above 5,000ft/1,500m elevation don't even get hot, and the lowlands are mild during the winter, while the high elevations are downright cold in winter
I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, and people (from other regions) just do NOT understand our weather!! First, they tend to think "California = warm and sunny," forgetting that it's a ginormous state with hundreds of microclimates... especially in the summer, it can literally be 20-30 degrees warmer in San Jose than it is in San Francisco.
They don't realize just how much the coastal fog and wind impacts things, and that it's often COLDEST IN THE SUMMER. We can spot a tourist in the summer by their shorts, sandals, and newly-purchased "I love SF" sweatshirt - which they bought from a street vendor, after freezing off their butt while sightseeing.
Also, as you mentioned, the ocean here is freezing cold. Not to mention we've got sharks, so it's "swim at your own risk." This is how we dress for the beach (actually one of my friends in Pacifica):
Denver, Colorado, USA. People think we get snow all the time, as in 'constant blizzards'. We don't. We'll get a good snowfall, but typically it'll melt off in the next door or two, because we also get a lot of sunshine--about 300 days a year, typically.
We're also not in the mountains, we're on the plains, but that's another rant.
Venice, Italy is always depicted as dry and sunny exotic place when its annual sunshine hours are around 2,000. Meaning, it would get a lot of cloudy days. Notoriously cloudy places like Hobart and Melbourne are sunnier. Who'd knew?
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