Russia vs. Canada: Which country has a bleaker climate?
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It's a bit puzzling, though. One would think western Russia is exposed to more oceanic airflows than is eastern Canada. After all, this is the reason Moscow is much warmer than, say, Labrador. On the other hand, Russia isn't as humid and the ground/atmosphere don't contain as much thermal inertia. Not really sure though.
Something else to consider. Although Moscow is far away from the North Atlantic Current/Gulf Stream, the rest of Europe is not. The North Atlantic Current goes right to Europe's western coast, and even has some influence on the Baltic sea. Oceanic influences cannot get that far into Eastern Europe(except for the Baltic regions). However,on Labrador's coast, the waters are much colder than on Europe's coast. Labrador has no productive oceanic influences because the waters off of the Labrador coast are too cold. Because of this, Labrador is under the influence of continental winds, and Arctic winds. You must also understand Moscow is so far west. Alot of the cold air that hits Russia often comes from Siberia. It is strong and brings in very cold air, but it has to travel very far west. While this makes Moscow very cold in the winter, it doesn't make it as cold as it COULD make it. Labrador is basically surrounded by ice cold water to the east, and a cold land mass to the west.
It's a bit puzzling, though. One would think western Russia is exposed to more oceanic airflows than is eastern Canada. After all, this is the reason Moscow is much warmer than, say, Labrador. On the other hand, Russia isn't as humid and the ground/atmosphere don't contain as much thermal inertia. Not really sure though.
Usually higher latitude locations have less lag because there's a greater seasonal change in sun strength (I think ) England has less of a lag than much of southern New England. Places like Moscow are much further north than the populated parts of Canada, so that probably explains the difference in seasonal lag.
Usually higher latitude locations have less lag because there's a greater seasonal change in sun strength (I think ) England has less of a lag than much of southern New England. Places like Moscow are much further north than the populated parts of Canada, so that probably explains the difference in seasonal lag.
Well, yes, both. A high latitude and lacking a maritime influence are the reasons. Compare Moscow with Vilnius (both 55N), or Riga 56N for instance. On the other hand, the continental influence results in slightly warmer springs. If you compare Moscow with Stockholm, the latter has a warmer autumn despite the 4 degree disadvantage in latitude, but a chillier spring.
Well, yes, both. A high latitude and lacking a maritime influence are the reasons. Compare Moscow with Vilnius (both 55N), or Riga 56N for instance. On the other hand, the continental influence results in slightly warmer springs. If you compare Moscow with Stockholm, the latter has a warmer autumn despite the 4 degree disadvantage in latitude, but a chillier spring.
With Stockholm, the maritime influences could keep it from getting warmer in the spring by moderating temperatures at that latitude. With the warmer fall, well, that could be a matter of the Baltic Sea staying warmer after the summer ends, thus, affecting Stockholm
Another thing to consider is that Moscow, being inland, might get affected by air masses coming in any direction on land.
Well, yes, both. A high latitude and lacking a maritime influence are the reasons. Compare Moscow with Vilnius (both 55N), or Riga 56N for instance. On the other hand, the continental influence results in slightly warmer springs. If you compare Moscow with Stockholm, the latter has a warmer autumn despite the 4 degree disadvantage in latitude, but a chillier spring.
Sun strength does play a role. Vostok Station's warmest months are December and January (both at -32C), with February averaging -44C, which is much colder. November is actually warmer than February by 3C, so Vostok Station has quite a seasonal lead relative to the worldwide average. The warmest months are November, December, and January, as opposed to the more typical December, January, and February. It's no coincidence that the highest sun angles are found in November, December, and January. This is an extreme example, though. Farther equatorward in latitude, some places in northern Norway and even Greenland have quite a lag despite their high latitude, because there is a big maritime influence.
I think you are right as Easter is not on a fixed date. Hmm ... I think perhaps no more snow on ground at end of March in Toronto. Does anyone recall for the last 10 years ?
Last year I went for a 70km bike ride in shorts and t-shirt from Waterloo to Guelph to Cambridge. While in Guelph, I sat on a bench downtown to eat my lunch, and was still hot despite not moving so I went to get an ice cream. I still wasn't cold at around 6-7pm in Cambridge waiting for the bus. I didn't bother putting on sun-cream and got burned, and I'm not someone who burns especially easily. This was in mid-March when there was about a week of 70F/20C weather. By Easter (April 8) I think a lot of flowers like daffodils and magnolias were more or less done blooming. And Waterloo is 6F colder than Toronto on average.
Although there was an unusual wave of warm weather that spring (actually technically late winter), you can get these waves of warm weather in the spring, and sometimes some pretty warm weather even in the middle of winter. I remember having temperatures of around 60F/15C in January and February when I lived in Oakville near Toronto. You I remember in winter 2010 there was some 70F weather in March in Waterloo and 80F weather in April which I took advantage of to go biking. At the same time, you can get some snow in early April, although that's quite rare. As a kid, we often did Easter egg hunts outside, I remember one time there was a bit of left over snow, but it was melting, usually it's relatively mild, around 45F. Supposedly Toronto gets an average of 6cm of snow in April, but I think any snow it gets then would melt within a day or two. Even in the middle of winter, Toronto's usually doesn't have snow on the ground for more than a couple consecutive weeks, it gets close to 30mm in January.
Montreal is different, they typically have a white Christmas (Toronto usually doesn't, Waterloo is about 50/50). This year they had around 40cm on the ground when we visited in late December. Toronto had around 20cm too in late December, but it melted after a couple weeks. Montreal will usually have snow for much of the winter though, and it will stay quite a bit later into the spring. Ottawa is similar. It can get quite a bit colder too, the difference is pretty significant. Here in Southern Ontario, you won't get cold in the winter if you have a winter coat, gloves and a hat and are moving. In Montreal, I find that it happens quite a lot, so you might need double socks, leggings, scarves, etc if you plan on being outside for a long time.
Quebec City is a bit colder than Montreal, but even considerably snowier with over 10 ft of snow per year compared to 7.5 ft in Montreal and around 4.5 ft across most of Southern Ontario. Quebec City will have on average close to 30 inches of snow accumulation in the middle of winter compared to 3 inches in Southern Ontario and 7 inches in Montreal. So basically in Toronto it snows then melts completely then snows and melts. In Montreal, it snows then almost melts, then snows again and melts a bit, then snows again. In Quebec it snows and then it snows more and keeps pilling up and then lasts well into April.
Still, it's not Labrador which gets about as much snow in May as Toronto does in January or February. The winter temperatures are similar to those of the Arctic, but most of the Arctic is very dry, Labrador gets 15+ ft of snow per year and it lasts until Late May, as I witnessed when flying back from Europe last spring. However, very few people live in Labrador, especially on the coast which gets the most snow, less than 20,000 people on the coast and about 10,000 inland.
Prairies are pretty cold in the winter, but quite sunny and dry. They don't get that much snow, but it tends to linger. However, Prairie weather can be notoriously unpredictable, especially in Southern Alberta. In Pincher Creek, which I visited a couple years ago in the summer, a Chinook wind in November once brought temperatures up by 73F in one hour. The range of temperatures (record to low to record high) for Calgary in January is -48F to 62F and 31F to 97F in July.
Anyways, I personally would not like Vancouver winters. From my understanding, they're mild but certainly not warm, dreary and rainy. I would prefer the sunny, dry winters of Calgary or snowy winters of Montreal.
The thing that bothers me most about winter is the lack of sunshine, so I would prefer Canadian winters to Russian ones, and wouldn't really like Vancouver winters. I don't mind moderate cold, it's only once temperatures get down to around 10-15F that it bothers me. I also like snow, I think it looks nice, better than mud and rain and reflect light very well so that even at night it's not that dark.
Last year I went for a 70km bike ride in shorts and t-shirt from Waterloo to Guelph to Cambridge. While in Guelph, I sat on a bench downtown to eat my lunch, and was still hot despite not moving so I went to get an ice cream. I still wasn't cold at around 6-7pm in Cambridge waiting for the bus. I didn't bother putting on sun-cream and got burned, and I'm not someone who burns especially easily. This was in mid-March when there was about a week of 70F/20C weather. By Easter (April 8) I think a lot of flowers like daffodils and magnolias were more or less done blooming. And Waterloo is 6F colder than Toronto on average.
Although there was an unusual wave of warm weather that spring (actually technically late winter), you can get these waves of warm weather in the spring, and sometimes some pretty warm weather even in the middle of winter. I remember having temperatures of around 60F/15C in January and February when I lived in Oakville near Toronto. You I remember in winter 2010 there was some 70F weather in March in Waterloo and 80F weather in April which I took advantage of to go biking. At the same time, you can get some snow in early April, although that's quite rare. As a kid, we often did Easter egg hunts outside, I remember one time there was a bit of left over snow, but it was melting, usually it's relatively mild, around 45F. Supposedly Toronto gets an average of 6cm of snow in April, but I think any snow it gets then would melt within a day or two. Even in the middle of winter, Toronto's usually doesn't have snow on the ground for more than a couple consecutive weeks, it gets close to 30mm in January.
Montreal is different, they typically have a white Christmas (Toronto usually doesn't, Waterloo is about 50/50). This year they had around 40cm on the ground when we visited in late December. Toronto had around 20cm too in late December, but it melted after a couple weeks. Montreal will usually have snow for much of the winter though, and it will stay quite a bit later into the spring. Ottawa is similar. It can get quite a bit colder too, the difference is pretty significant. Here in Southern Ontario, you won't get cold in the winter if you have a winter coat, gloves and a hat and are moving. In Montreal, I find that it happens quite a lot, so you might need double socks, leggings, scarves, etc if you plan on being outside for a long time.
Quebec City is a bit colder than Montreal, but even considerably snowier with over 10 ft of snow per year compared to 7.5 ft in Montreal and around 4.5 ft across most of Southern Ontario. Quebec City will have on average close to 30 inches of snow accumulation in the middle of winter compared to 3 inches in Southern Ontario and 7 inches in Montreal. So basically in Toronto it snows then melts completely then snows and melts. In Montreal, it snows then almost melts, then snows again and melts a bit, then snows again. In Quebec it snows and then it snows more and keeps pilling up and then lasts well into April.
Still, it's not Labrador which gets about as much snow in May as Toronto does in January or February. The winter temperatures are similar to those of the Arctic, but most of the Arctic is very dry, Labrador gets 15+ ft of snow per year and it lasts until Late May, as I witnessed when flying back from Europe last spring. However, very few people live in Labrador, especially on the coast which gets the most snow, less than 20,000 people on the coast and about 10,000 inland.
Prairies are pretty cold in the winter, but quite sunny and dry. They don't get that much snow, but it tends to linger. However, Prairie weather can be notoriously unpredictable, especially in Southern Alberta. In Pincher Creek, which I visited a couple years ago in the summer, a Chinook wind in November once brought temperatures up by 73F in one hour. The range of temperatures (record to low to record high) for Calgary in January is -48F to 62F and 31F to 97F in July.
Anyways, I personally would not like Vancouver winters. From my understanding, they're mild but certainly not warm, dreary and rainy. I would prefer the sunny, dry winters of Calgary or snowy winters of Montreal.
The thing that bothers me most about winter is the lack of sunshine, so I would prefer Canadian winters to Russian ones, and wouldn't really like Vancouver winters. I don't mind moderate cold, it's only once temperatures get down to around 10-15F that it bothers me. I also like snow, I think it looks nice, better than mud and rain and reflect light very well so that even at night it's not that dark.
Last year I went for a 70km bike ride in shorts and t-shirt from Waterloo to Guelph to Cambridge. While in Guelph, I sat on a bench downtown to eat my lunch, and was still hot despite not moving so I went to get an ice cream. I still wasn't cold at around 6-7pm in Cambridge waiting for the bus. I didn't bother putting on sun-cream and got burned, and I'm not someone who burns especially easily. This was in mid-March when there was about a week of 70F/20C weather. By Easter (April 8) I think a lot of flowers like daffodils and magnolias were more or less done blooming. And Waterloo is 6F colder than Toronto on average.
Although there was an unusual wave of warm weather that spring (actually technically late winter), you can get these waves of warm weather in the spring, and sometimes some pretty warm weather even in the middle of winter. I remember having temperatures of around 60F/15C in January and February when I lived in Oakville near Toronto. You I remember in winter 2010 there was some 70F weather in March in Waterloo and 80F weather in April which I took advantage of to go biking. At the same time, you can get some snow in early April, although that's quite rare. As a kid, we often did Easter egg hunts outside, I remember one time there was a bit of left over snow, but it was melting, usually it's relatively mild, around 45F. Supposedly Toronto gets an average of 6cm of snow in April, but I think any snow it gets then would melt within a day or two. Even in the middle of winter, Toronto's usually doesn't have snow on the ground for more than a couple consecutive weeks, it gets close to 30mm in January.
Montreal is different, they typically have a white Christmas (Toronto usually doesn't, Waterloo is about 50/50). This year they had around 40cm on the ground when we visited in late December. Toronto had around 20cm too in late December, but it melted after a couple weeks. Montreal will usually have snow for much of the winter though, and it will stay quite a bit later into the spring. Ottawa is similar. It can get quite a bit colder too, the difference is pretty significant. Here in Southern Ontario, you won't get cold in the winter if you have a winter coat, gloves and a hat and are moving. In Montreal, I find that it happens quite a lot, so you might need double socks, leggings, scarves, etc if you plan on being outside for a long time.
Quebec City is a bit colder than Montreal, but even considerably snowier with over 10 ft of snow per year compared to 7.5 ft in Montreal and around 4.5 ft across most of Southern Ontario. Quebec City will have on average close to 30 inches of snow accumulation in the middle of winter compared to 3 inches in Southern Ontario and 7 inches in Montreal. So basically in Toronto it snows then melts completely then snows and melts. In Montreal, it snows then almost melts, then snows again and melts a bit, then snows again. In Quebec it snows and then it snows more and keeps pilling up and then lasts well into April.
Still, it's not Labrador which gets about as much snow in May as Toronto does in January or February. The winter temperatures are similar to those of the Arctic, but most of the Arctic is very dry, Labrador gets 15+ ft of snow per year and it lasts until Late May, as I witnessed when flying back from Europe last spring. However, very few people live in Labrador, especially on the coast which gets the most snow, less than 20,000 people on the coast and about 10,000 inland.
Prairies are pretty cold in the winter, but quite sunny and dry. They don't get that much snow, but it tends to linger. However, Prairie weather can be notoriously unpredictable, especially in Southern Alberta. In Pincher Creek, which I visited a couple years ago in the summer, a Chinook wind in November once brought temperatures up by 73F in one hour. The range of temperatures (record to low to record high) for Calgary in January is -48F to 62F and 31F to 97F in July.
Anyways, I personally would not like Vancouver winters. From my understanding, they're mild but certainly not warm, dreary and rainy. I would prefer the sunny, dry winters of Calgary or snowy winters of Montreal.
The thing that bothers me most about winter is the lack of sunshine, so I would prefer Canadian winters to Russian ones, and wouldn't really like Vancouver winters. I don't mind moderate cold, it's only once temperatures get down to around 10-15F that it bothers me. I also like snow, I think it looks nice, better than mud and rain and reflect light very well so that even at night it's not that dark.
I'd much rather have this
than this
London looks like the top pic currently.
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) England has less of a lag than much of southern New England. Places like Moscow are much further north than the populated parts of Canada, so that probably explains the difference in seasonal lag.
