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Actually I've read of British people who've moved to Toronto who actually say they prefer winters there because of the longer daylight and higher sunshine levels, made even brighter from reflection off the snow. If you've spent winter in the northern half of Britain where midwinter days are completely dark at 4pm, still completely dark at 8am and you can go a week with no sunshine and there's no snow to reflect the light even a Prairie winter sounds appealing because of the sun and because urban environments are better built for the winters. Only thing I wouldn't like about a Toronto winter is it seems to drag on too long. Winter in Osoyoos looks fine, as March is recognisably a spring month.
I've got to go Russia for bleakest climate because the major population centres are at a higher latitude and get even less winter sun than us, plus cold weather drags on longer and the warm season is generally shorter. Yes, it has the subtropical belt around Sochi, but what use is that if you live in St Petersburg? I may be wrong but I imagine Russians being more attached to their city/region and moving to Sochi to escape northern winters would be a stranger concept to them than to a North American. For winter sun holidays I think Sharm-el-Sheikh is more popular among Russians than anywhere in their own country.
Well, I would chose Sochi obviously, but other than that, Canada. Most of the big cities are at a lower latitude (= higher sun, brighter light), and have much more abundant sunshine than their Russian counterparts : 75 in December in Toronto vs 18 in Moscow! I went to St. Petersburg in early November and didn't see a sun ray for the whole week. In addition, summers seems to be warmer in Canada (18-26°C in Toronto, 14-23°C in Moscow) AND the quality of life is, I guess, far superior.
Judging just on climate, and assuming that I can choose anywhere to live: Sochi, Russia.
Judging based on the larger chunks of the country as a whole and its largest cities: Canada.
Most people in Russian aren't living in Sochi, most people in Canada aren't living in Victoria or Osoyoos ( though I've had the luck to live in both ). I'd take a random selection of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver over Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod...
Both climates are pretty bleak. Sochi in Russia and places like Lytton and Osoyoos in BC are notable exceptions. If I was forced to live in one country or the other, Canada wins hands down for its overwhelming superiority with regards to so many of the other attributes defining quality of life.
Osoyoos is like a booby-prize for a Canadian heat lover.
Washington DC beats Osoyoos for every climate stat imho
and in the USA, Washington DC isn't even that mild in winter nor hot in summer.
DC is basically the winter mildness of Vancouver
coupled with the summer heat of the hottest Canadian summer climates while they are experiencing a "hotter-than-average" summer
and then if that wasn't unfair enough,
double the sun hours in the cloudiest season
and add another 30 minutes of daylight on the shortest day of the year.
Having lived in or near Osoyoos about eight years of my life and had family there for all of it, I'd say Osoyoos has a pleasant climate typically from the middle of April to the beginning of October ( and is prone to the odd freakish hot spell that has resulted in swimming days in all parts of that stretch - 1998 was really exceptional in this regard, with April swimming for the brave ).
That being said, the awfulness of November until the end of March needs to be emphasized. Okanagan summers are unique in that they tend to be dreadful both for people who hate winter ( cold, endless grey ) and people who love winter ( very little snow to speak of, frequent melt of both the ice and the snow that does form ).
Just to get a picture of how cloudy the typical Okanagan winter is, sunny Penticton's winters get 36.2, 39.5, 78.6 hours of sunshine for its winter months, comparable to Prince Rupert, Canada's cloudiest and rainiest major city, at 31.1, 43.7, and 64.8 hours for Dec, Jan, an Feb respectively. It's like living in a tomb!
Don't get me wrong, I'd rate the southern Okanagan second after downtown Victoria for cold-haters in Canada, but its winters are gloomier than most places in Canada.
Southern Ontario seems like an option too, if only it didn't have that enormous number of smoggy days in its best season.
wow, i cant believe a place with the weather of Sochi can exist in Russia!!!
Awesome catch!
I think, weather-wise, theres not a place in Canada that can beat Sochi!!!
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). I'd take a random selection of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver over Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod...
).
