Russia vs. Canada: Which country has a bleaker climate? (place, season, humidity)

[eastyork]

Originally Posted by Ariete

Colder by square mile, colder by center of population, capital, tourist resorts or colder than what? They are two huge countries with annual temperatures ranging probably by 40C!

5 largest cities in both countries? Annual mean temp.
Moscow: 5.8C
St. Pete: 5.8C
Novosibirsk: 1.8C
Yekaterinburg: 3C
Nishny Novgorod: 4.8C

Toronto: 9.2C
Montréal: 6.2C
Calgary: 4.1C
Ottawa: 6C
Edmonton: 3.9C

Candada wins this one. Warmest place then?
Victoria: 10.3C (Is this the warmest?)
Sochi: 14.2C (Is this the warmest?)

I don't know. One has to be a bit more specific when you are talking about two countries that own most of the world north of the 49 parallel.

Good post!

Only sort of correction, Montreal annual average at downtown McGill weather station is 7.4C

To add to your list here are some other bigger cities,

Russia

Samara 5.6C
Kazan 4.6C
Omsk 2.1C
Chelyabinsk 3.2C
Rostov on Don 9.9C
Ufa 3.8C
Volgograd 8.2C
Perm 2.7C
Voronezh 6.9C
Krasnodar 12.1C
Vladivostok 4.9C
Sochi 14.2C


Canada

Vancouver 11.0C
Winnipeg 2.6C
Hamilton 9.3C (downtown)
London 7.5C
Halifax 7.2C
St. Catharines 9.2C
Windsor 9.4C
Kitchener-Waterloo 6.7C
Quebec City 4.0C
Kelowna 8.8C (downtown)
Kamloops 8.9C
St. John's 4.0C

Russia has Sochi but that is a tiny area of mild.
Canada's population on average is located farther south than Russia and is alittle milder.

IMO Canada has the edge as it's biggest cities, Toronto and Montreal, have nice warm summers,
and it's 3rd largest, Vancouver has mild winters.

[MrMarbles]

Russia looks better if you look at winter temperatures as opposed to annual means. For example, Moscow and St. Petersburg aren't really that cold in winter (by Canadian standards).

[eastyork]

Originally Posted by MrMarbles

Russia looks better if you look at winter temperatures as opposed to annual means. For example, Moscow and St. Petersburg aren't really that cold in winter (by Canadian standards).

Actually the OP is asking which is bleaker.

Russia's 2 largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg are definitely bleaker.

Moscow
average december sunshine hours is 18
average january sunshine hours is 33

St. Petersburg
average december sunshine hours is 12.4 very bleak!
average january sunshine hours is 28.8

Toronto
average december sunshine hours is 74.7
average january sunshine hours is 88.3

Montreal
average december sunshine hours is 80.7
average january sunshine hours is 99.2

As for temperatures you might have point, it's pretty close.

Moscow
Dec avg high 27.0F low 18.3F
Jan avg high 25.0F low 15.6F
Feb avg high 25.3F low 14.4F

St. Petersburg
Dec avg high 29.3F low 21.0F
Jan avg high 26.4F low 17.6F
Feb avg high 26.4F low 16.7F

Toronto
Dec avg high 35.2F low 25.3F
Jan avg high 30.0F low 18.9F
Feb avg high 31.6F low 20.7F

Montreal
Dec avg high 27.9F low 16.0F
Jan avg high 22.3F low 9.7F kinda cold!
Feb avg high 25.3 low 12.9F

Winter in Toronto and Montreal is shorter than Moscow and St. Petersburg
as november is a very winter-like month in Russia.

Moscow
Nov avg high 33.6F low 26.1F

St. Petersburg
Nov avg high 35.6F low 28.8F

Toronto
Nov avg high 45.3F low 36.0F

Montreal
Nov avg high 41.2F low 31.6F

Note that Toronto average november low is higher than Moscow's average november high.

Also Montreal and Toronto are much farther south with a much higher sun angle.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by eastyork

Actually the OP is asking which is bleaker.

Russia's 2 largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg are definitely bleaker.

Moscow
average december sunshine hours is 18
average january sunshine hours is 33

St. Petersburg
average december sunshine hours is 12.4 very bleak!
average january sunshine hours is 28.8

Toronto
average december sunshine hours is 74.7
average january sunshine hours is 88.3

Montreal
average december sunshine hours is 80.7
average january sunshine hours is 99.2

As for temperatures you might have point, it's pretty close.

Moscow
Dec avg high 27.0F low 18.3F
Jan avg high 25.0F low 15.6F
Feb avg high 25.3F low 14.4F

St. Petersburg
Dec avg high 29.3F low 21.0F
Jan avg high 26.4F low 17.6F
Feb avg high 26.4F low 16.7F

Toronto
Dec avg high 35.2F low 25.3F
Jan avg high 30.0F low 18.9F
Feb avg high 31.6F low 20.7F

Montreal
Dec avg high 27.9F low 16.0F
Jan avg high 22.3F low 9.7F kinda cold!
Feb avg high 25.3 low 12.9F

Winter in Toronto and Montreal is shorter than Moscow and St. Petersburg
as november is a very winter-like month in Russia.

Moscow
Nov avg high 33.6F low 26.1F

St. Petersburg
Nov avg high 35.6F low 28.8F

Toronto
Nov avg high 45.3F low 36.0F

Montreal
Nov avg high 41.2F low 31.6F

Note that Toronto average november low is higher than Moscow's average november high.

Also Montreal and Toronto are much farther south with a much higher sun angle.

I notice you are using Toronto avg temps for downtown. Then you should compare downtown Moscow. Toronto is quite a bit colder when you look at the airport.

[Humid Subtropical]

^Can you post your data? I doubt Pearson is colder than downtown moscow

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by eastyork

Good post!

Only sort of correction, Montreal annual average at downtown McGill weather station is 7.4C

To add to your list here are some other bigger cities,

Russia

Samara 5.6C
Kazan 4.6C
Omsk 2.1C
Chelyabinsk 3.2C
Rostov on Don 9.9C
Ufa 3.8C
Volgograd 8.2C
Perm 2.7C
Voronezh 6.9C
Krasnodar 12.1C
Vladivostok 4.9C
Sochi 14.2C


Canada

Vancouver 11.0C
Winnipeg 2.6C
Hamilton 9.3C (downtown)
London 7.5C
Halifax 7.2C
St. Catharines 9.2C
Windsor 9.4C
Kitchener-Waterloo 6.7C
Quebec City 4.0C
Kelowna 8.8C (downtown)
Kamloops 8.9C
St. John's 4.0C

Russia has Sochi but that is a tiny area of mild.
Canada's population on average is located farther south than Russia and is alittle milder.

IMO Canada has the edge as it's biggest cities, Toronto and Montreal, have nice warm summers,
and it's 3rd largest, Vancouver has mild winters.

If you look at just the annual averages, Vancouver and Toronto look fairly similar, and Windsor is even closer to Vancouver. But they are actually fairly different climates. Southern Ontario has appreciably colder and snowier winters than cool and rainy Vancouver, but summers are much warmer and even hotter than Vancouver. Just under 30C for most days in Toronto and Windsor, as opposed to 22-23C for Vancouver.

[Snowbird100]

Originally Posted by Humid Subtropical

^Can you post your data? I doubt Pearson is colder than downtown moscow

I and other posted the data in the other thread but here's summary ...

All data from Environment Canada:

Downtown Toronto:

Jan mean:
2012 -0.6C <-- Subtropical
2011 -5.2C
2010 -4.2C
2009 -7.0C
2008 -0.9C <-- Subtropical
2007 -1.7C <-- Subtropical
2006 +1.1C Yes, it's a PLUS, not a typo <-- Subtropical
2005 -5.4C
2004 -7.9C
2003 -6.6C
Jan mean (10 years from 2003 to 2012): -3.42C(25.84F)

30 years from 1971-2000:
Jan Ave High: -1.1C(30.02F)
Jan Ave Low: -7.3C(18.86F)
Jan mean: -4.20C(24.44F)

Toronto (Pearson airport, suburb): 30 years from 1971 to 2000
Jan Ave High: -2.1C(28.22F)
Jan Ave Low: -10.5C(13.1F)
Jan mean: -6.30C(20.66F)

Toronto (airport) is comparable to Moscow !

[pigeonhole]

Not taking the quality of living into account, Russia has the edge : besides the Black sea coast, the Caspian sea coast is not bad either (dryer and sunnier), and even the region around Vladiwostok is not that bad (like Toronto), heck , even southern Russia's climate north of Caucasus and East of Ukraine compares favourably to CND!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by eastyork

Winter in Toronto and Montreal is shorter than Moscow and St. Petersburg
as november is a very winter-like month in Russia.

.

I have noticed this as well- in news reports from Moscow in November it is very common to see a snow-covered Kremlin in the background whereas in November in places like Toronto and even Montreal it would be extremely rare to see snowy winter conditions like that.

[Snowbird100]

This might help:

Toronto: Most likely no white Xmas, most likely no snow on ground during the Easter weekend (could be earlier than the Easter weekend but I would need Torontonians to recall how early before Easter)