Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The parts that are outside the antarctic circle don't have a winter, the rest is okay. I would HIGHLY recommend it to someone looking for a place with all four seasons. I really don't understand how people can possibly enjoy winter if the sun comes out and you aren't freezing your ass off.
1. Regular maxima below 10C (ie can be expected at least a couple of times a year)
2. Regular air frosts (as above)
3. A marked increase in rainfall compared to summer, combined with temps at least 5C lower
4. A marked decrease in sunshine, by percentage of possible, with the same lower temps.
So the following Australian cities qualify:
Hobart (1)
Canberra (2)
Perth (3)
Adelaide (3,4)
Melbourne is marginal for 1 and 4: it does seem to get maxima below 10C on occasion but I'm not sure it gets them every year. It doesn't get frost regularly enough. The sunshine does decline, but not by the same amount as e.g. western Europe. On balance I'd say Melbourne does have one; it's almost never over 20C in the cooler months and although it gets those cold outbreaks in summer, they are still warmer than an average winter day.
Sydney doesn't make any of them. It never freezes, hardly ever gets sub-10C maxima, has summers that are just as wet as winter, and the sunshine percentages are around the same. Sydney seemingly can easily be 21C in mid-afternoon in either December or June, just like Northern Scotland (with no summer) can be 10C in either. So it doesn't have a winter, just a time of year with no 35C heat waves possible.
And at zero the weather is very mild if it is in the winter. I have gone from where I live at minus 20 to Toronto where it was minus 10 and was cold due to the humidity. Some who visit us say we do not have real winters because we get several periods of above zero days during the season and our snow melts.
Toronto's cold felt very dry to me, being from Europe ! 0c there felt like 12c here.
In that definition, our 2.5c January is not winter, yet it sometimes feels colder than Toronto because of the humidity
About Australia, maybe Hobart and Canberra have winters, but really weak ones. Any month with an average above 8c is more like early spring or late fall to me.
Some Australian cities have a cool season that can be defined as winter, but that would not be a real winter to me, it would more feel like Halloween weather, just like our winters don't qualify as such for someone from Siberia or Saskatchewan.
Sydney doesn't make any of them. It never freezes, hardly ever gets sub-10C maxima, has summers that are just as wet as winter, and the sunshine percentages are around the same. Sydney seemingly can easily be 21C in mid-afternoon in either December or June, just like Northern Scotland (with no summer) can be 10C in either. So it doesn't have a winter, just a time of year with no 35C heat waves possible.
At least Sydney is persistently warmer than Melbourne in the summer. Sydney gets 40C heatwaves (not just 35C ones). They're just more shortlived and not as prolonged as Melbourne's. Why is having a high of 21C in June and December a bad thing to you? Even California experiences this. And this has nothing on Scotland experiencing 10C highs in summer and winter. At least we go down to 21C rather than 17C, which is a bit wintry for summer weather.
1. Regular maxima below 10C (ie can be expected at least a couple of times a year)
2. Regular air frosts (as above)
3. A marked increase in rainfall compared to summer, combined with temps at least 5C lower
4. A marked decrease in sunshine, by percentage of possible, with the same lower temps.
So the following Australian cities qualify:
Hobart (1)
Canberra (2)
Perth (3)
Adelaide (3,4)
Melbourne is marginal for 1 and 4: it does seem to get maxima below 10C on occasion but I'm not sure it gets them every year. It doesn't get frost regularly enough. The sunshine does decline, but not by the same amount as e.g. western Europe. On balance I'd say Melbourne does have one; it's almost never over 20C in the cooler months and although it gets those cold outbreaks in summer, they are still warmer than an average winter day.
Sydney doesn't make any of them. It never freezes, hardly ever gets sub-10C maxima, has summers that are just as wet as winter, and the sunshine percentages are around the same. Sydney seemingly can easily be 21C in mid-afternoon in either December or June, just like Northern Scotland (with no summer) can be 10C in either. So it doesn't have a winter, just a time of year with no 35C heat waves possible.
That criteria doesn't make sense considering many continental climates have a spring and summer precip peak. Adelaide having more of a winter than Canberra and Hobart is silly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
