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I work with a guy who spends every February at his friends in Toronto, and he is adamant that a sub zero sunny day there, feels nicer than a damp and miserable typical day here.
Obviously there are times when the cold there is a bit much though. And the fact remains that Toronto is significantly colder than here, but maybe does feel like there's such a difference.
Toronto isn't that sunny in the winter — averages 30% or below sunshine from November to February. The Great Lakes are gloomy, even if not as bad as the UK, together with much colder weather it feels much worse.
What good is sunshine when the temperatures are sub-zero? Yes I know that the summers are wonderful, but they are short. I don't think a 17th century Englishman would have found Canada to his liking, they had enough difficulty dealing with Virginian winters, with their vicious cold-waves.
It is true that when it is really cold and windy, say 20F with 20mph winds it feels really nasty to me. Sunshine doesn't do much, especially in the morning or evening with low sun or no sun at all.
However, sunshine on a saturday or sunday in winter when I step out at noon time, with wind less than 10mph and say 30F, doesn't feel half bad. I did spend time in London in winter, and though I didn't feel the need to wear a hat and gloves like here in winter, I remember my hands getting numb just from the dampness and chilly temps. And I remember when I returned home it didn't feel a lot colder on a sunny non windy day.
Something else to keep in mind is the stronger sun here. Take note of the sun today in London because the elevation of the sun today at solar noon in London is the same as our sun on January 29th. February sun here is equivalent to Sept in London.
If you can prove to me that London's climate is better than Paris's (where I live) -which is miserable half of the year- I 'll change my negative opinion of the English climate...
If you can prove to me that London's climate is better than Paris's (where I live) -which is miserable half of the year- I 'll change my negative opinion of the English climate...
Why would the climate of London only change your negative opinion of the climate of England??
There are plenty of parts of England that have different climates, not hugely different no, but some places are sunnier, some get more rain, some get decent amounts of snow...
And one plus factor for me with regards to how the climate of London is better than the climate of Paris, is that winter minimum temperatures are much milder in London. Central London rarely drops below freezing & a whole range of exotic plants, including various palms can be grown outside year round in London, that wouldn't survive in Paris...
Why would the climate of London only change your negative opinion of the climate of England??
There are plenty of parts of England that have different climates, not hugely different no, but some places are sunnier, some get more rain, some get decent amounts of snow...
And one plus factor for me with regards to how the climate of London is better than the climate of Paris, is that winter minimum temperatures are much milder in London. Central London rarely drops below freezing & a whole range of exotic plants, including various palms can be grown outside year round in London, that wouldn't survive in Paris...
Good to see there are some of us weather followers that enjoy gardening as well. The two are tied very closely together imo. Same for agriculture. My weather and gardening interest go hand in hand.
Good to see there are some of us weather followers that enjoy gardening as well. The two are tied very closely together imo. Same for agriculture. My weather and gardening interest go hand in hand.
Yep for me they both came around at the same time. I was always interested in the weather but I only started to keep records with my own weather station once I started growing palms, while still living at home too. It helps to find the different micro-climates even within the same garden & certainly with some of the palms I have grown over the years it can help others know what can or cannot be grown too...
Even now I'm in Malta I am still pushing my luck with regards to plants I am trying outside, I am growing some tropical stuff that is thriving & it helps having my own PWS as I now know that winter temperatures & minimum temperatures in general are higher here than the official stats for Malta (taken from Luqa airport) would have me believe
Toronto isn't that sunny in the winter — averages 30% or below sunshine from November to February. The Great Lakes are gloomy, even if not as bad as the UK, together with much colder weather it feels much worse.
I don't know, like I said before I have spent a february there and it didn't strike as gloomy at all, sure it wasn't a Nice (no pun intended) winter but I remember a lot of sunny cold days and some sunny days where it wasn't that cold. Also, the snow on the ground makes everything look brighter, less grey than it would on a non snowy landscape.
Also, Toronto is at 43N, same as Southern France; so it's not like the sun is super low on the horizon either.
I remember walking one day and finding the weather really mild, so i had my coat and pile fleece wide open (on top of a long sleeve shirt and tshirt), without a hat or gloves, and believing it was around 10c untilI found out it was only 0c. 0c in France or here feels already pretty cold.
The sun and dry air made me feel warmer than it actually was (don't read that Joe90 and Don't know what to put here).
I also spent a week in London once right before christmas on a high school trip and it definitely felt a lot milder than home. Most of the time it was 12-13c, it felt like the weather around Halloween time. That said I don't remember seeing a lot of sunshine.
1) It is extremely cloudy, even by European standards. The majority of the country records under 1500 hours of bright sunshine annually, which is lower than practically all of France, Germany, Switzerland and even Belgium, the Netherlands and a good chunk of Scandinavia, let alone Med Countries. In fact, aside from Ireland, Iceland and southern Alaska, there is scarcely another part of the world which is simultaneously quite populated and as cool and cloudy as the UK. Parts of northern southeast Asia and South America are equally cloudy, but they're far warmer.
2) It is more often than not stuck in limbo temps. Aside from London and its somehow acceptable warmish 23°C average high in July, most of the country struggles to get past 20°C as their warmest monthly average high, which is lame for high summer and outdoor activities (yes, I know it can get to 30°C in the UK); while winter average lows exceed 0°C, resulting in the general winter conditions being dark, grey and wet, rather than snowy (yes I also know it does snow in the UK, it's just not the common winter theme).
3) Summer, in addition to being coolish, is unreliable. Showers, sub-20°C highs, wind and cloud are common occurrences. And yes I know the UK gets less total precip than say Nice or Sydney, but it comes in the form of long, annoying drizzle rather than spectacular downpours.
4) It is extremely gloomy. The combination of high latitude and time zone do not help. Winter sun angle is extremely low, days are short and the 12AM solar noons (or earlier in the east) result in 3.30pm-4pm sunsets. No thanks.
5) It is very uneventful. Aside from Ireland, pretty much every country has something more distinctive and interesting to offer than the UK in terms of climate, even more northern countries. France has more sun, more intense heatwaves and coldwaves, etc. Iceland has midnight brightness. Scandinavia has auroras. Canada has tons of snow. Etc. The UK has, well, nothing. ****ty gloom and showers.
It is pretty gloomy though, especially away from the SE and south coast. SE and south coast are not terrible though, IMO, as I showed earlier the sunniest parts are only a couple of hundred sunshine hours from Chicago and NYC
Why would the climate of London only change your negative opinion of the climate of England??
There are plenty of parts of England that have different climates, not hugely different no, but some places are sunnier, some get more rain, some get decent amounts of snow...
And one plus factor for me with regards to how the climate of London is better than the climate of Paris, is that winter minimum temperatures are much milder in London. Central London rarely drops below freezing & a whole range of exotic plants, including various palms can be grown outside year round in London, that wouldn't survive in Paris...
Before anyone tries to refute that last point, the averages for Paris on wiki are for the very heart of the UHI, and should be compared with the figures for London's UHI, not Heathrow. Compare Heathrow to Orly or CDG, and Heathrow has notably milder winters.
Paris is slightly sunnier (about 2-3 extra sunny days per year), and London is slightly drier.
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