The Absolute Worst City to Live in (for either cold, hot, humid,stormy, etc. wether)

[RWood]

Originally Posted by deneb78

Yes, my bad you are right but very few if any people live that far south. An exception would be Punta Arenas in Chile which is at 53S and has 120,000 people. I imagine it must be very gloomy there. All the subantarctic islands which are pretty much uninhabited (for good reason) would definitely be among the gloomiest if not the gloomiest places in the world.

Actually Punta Arenas is partly in the Patagonia rainshadow and while rather cold, averages only 425mm rainfall. You have to go further round to the southwestern flanks of Chile and the southern Andes to get the higher rainfalls and gloomier skies. Punta Arenas averages about 1900 hrs/annum.

[deneb78]

Originally Posted by RWood

Actually Punta Arenas is partly in the Patagonia rainshadow and while rather cold, averages only 425mm rainfall. You have to go further round to the southwestern flanks of Chile and the southern Andes to get the higher rainfalls and gloomier skies. Punta Arenas averages about 1900 hrs/annum.

Yes, Punta Arenas is partly protected from the rain for sure. I guess that's lucky for them I wasn't sure about the overall cloudiness though (I guess it was my false assumption) as sometimes places with little precipitation can seem exceedingly cloudy without much rain actually falling. I did read somewhere I think, correct me if I am wrong that Punta Arenas is one of the windiest cities in the world.

[MrMarbles]

Southern Ocean and adjacent waters have some of the strongest winds on Earth. Winds circle Antarctica and there are few landmasses to slow them down.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

Seattle is not cold and rainy the entire year...where did you come up with that?

I asked myself the same question.

Seattle was actually very hot and dry this summer. Temperatures in the 80s, 90s, and even a few 100s for several days. I think typical summers are sunny and pleasant though.

[deneb78]

Yes, I live in nearby Vancouver, BC and we get the same reputation. Our summers are typically drier than most other cities in Eastern Canada and in some years there are near drought conditions. I guess it's the length of the rainy season which throws some people off who haven't spent much time here but it's really a misnomer.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by deneb78

Yes, I live in nearby Vancouver, BC and we get the same reputation. Our summers are typically drier than most other cities in Eastern Canada and in some years there are near drought conditions. I guess it's the length of the rainy season which throws some people off who haven't spent much time here but it's really a misnomer.

Which just goes to show that ignorant parochialism can lead people to believe things that are not just incorrect, but laughably wrong. Seattle-to-Vancouver is not one of the relatively sunnier regions of North America, but managing 1900+ hours of annual sun is a better result than that from a large swathe of northern Europe and northen Asia, as well as some parts of the tropical zones.

[RichardW]

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Anyway just to add that I would have thought that to most people the worst climates are ones that are too far one extreme or the other, and therefore expensive in terms of heating/cooling. Anywhere with a very hot climate or very cold climate.

In that case most people would be better off with a warm temperate climate or Mediterranean climate like southern Italy or such like.

I personally like change and variation so a continental climate with every kind of weather and unpredictable temperatures would be the absolute best best best.

[MrMarbles]

Richard, you might like NYC then. We have all kinds of weather - cold and snow in the winter, heat and humidity in the summer, an everything else in between. Extreme temperatures (below -15C or above 38C) are rare, though.

[dubfan]

Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90

I asked myself the same question.

Seattle was actually very hot and dry this summer. Temperatures in the 80s, 90s, and even a few 100s for several days. I think typical summers are sunny and pleasant though.

Yes, Seattle broke their all-time record high this summer.

I was in Bruges, Belgium in July and the weather was pretty miserable. It was cool and cloudy with the occasional downpour. People were dressed in fall/winter clothes, in the middle of July. Maybe I was just there at a bad time?