General Chat Thread 3 (climate, snowfall, warm, averages)

[Razza94]

Originally Posted by Ariete

Comparison of suicides? Most of the top 10 countries have low suicide rates.

I'm comparing developed nations to one another, he makes no sense to compare them to "third world" nations.

Notice how among developed nations, some of those with the highest rates, are also supposedly among the "happiest".

[lommaren]

Originally Posted by Warszawa

The climate in the Nordic countries would probably drive me insane. Malmo does seem decent enough, can't be much worse than Upstate New York

The warmest one though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lund#Climate

Stockholm in the last 15 years has had 24/15 and 0/-3 too, not that bad in its UHI.

Northern Öland is also alright:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96land#Climate

[Warszawa]

Wtf, apparently the highest rate of suicides in the world is in...Guyana??? And Suriname is number 5. What the actual hell. These seem like the countries that would have extremely low suicide rates, not the highest in the world. Wonder why Hungary is so high too, it's significantly higher than all the surrounding countries

[Ariete]

Originally Posted by Razza94

I'm comparing developed nations to one another, he makes no sense to compare them to "third world" nations.

Notice how among developed nations, some of those with the highest rates, are also supposedly among the "happiest".

Well it's a trivial argument. If 700-800 people in Finland commit suicide a year that doesn't mean that the other 4 million adults can't be happy.

Italy has very low suicide rates, but is not among the happiest nations.

[ben86]

Originally Posted by lommaren

The warmest one though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lund#Climate

Impressed! Those are the only climate stats I've ever seen for anywhere in Scandinavia where March and November don't look like winter - something I've always had to bear in mind when people just quote the January and July figures for places at a higher latitude, even if Lund is actually further south than parts of NE England.

Actually I'd happily take this climate. I know it's not the full 30 years but I'm pleasantly surprised how warm and sunny April is in particular. I'd give it a C+.

[Razza94]

According to the most recent survey, the top 10 happiest nations are:

Norway (7.53)
Denmark (7.52)
Iceland (7.50)
Switzerland (7.49)
Finland (7.46)
Netherlands (7.37)
Canada (7.31)
New Zealand (7.31)
Australia (7.28)
Sweden (7.28)

Iceland, Finland, Australia & and Sweden all appear as orange on your map, which means that they are in the higher bracket for suicide rates in terms of developed western nations. Finland has a very high suicide rate by the standards of a developed western nation.

Iceland, Canada, Denmark, Australia & Sweden despite being among the ten happiest countries, make up the top 5 in terms of anti-depressant usage. With Finland at number 8.

It's pretty obvious that the people answering the surveys were doped up with happy pills, whereas the sad people couldn't take part because they killed themselves after their meds ran out

[Razza94]

Originally Posted by Ariete

Well it's a trivial argument. If 700-800 people in Finland commit suicide a year that doesn't mean that the other 4 million adults can't be happy.

Italy has very low suicide rates, but is not among the happiest nations.

700-800 people committing suicide is irrelevant. But a handful of people filling out self-reporting surveys isn't?

Many psychologists seriously question the concept that somebody can accurately measure their own happiness levels.

[Razza94]

Originally Posted by lommaren

The warmest one though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lund#Climate

I could live with that climate, it's one of the few Scandinavian climates I've seen where warmth survives well into September. Most seem to decline quite sharply, beginning as early as late August, and winter is upon them by October.

[lommaren]

Originally Posted by ben86

Impressed! Those are the only climate stats I've ever seen for anywhere in Scandinavia where March and November don't look like winter - something I've always had to bear in mind when people just quote the January and July figures for places at a higher latitude, even if Lund is actually further south than parts of NE England.

Actually I'd happily take this climate. I know it's not the full 30 years but I'm pleasantly surprised how warm and sunny April is in particular. I'd give it a C+.

Here March and November are transitional part-winter months but this is my nearest station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norrk%C3%B6ping#Climate

Actually a rather decent five-month period between May and September, with roughly four months averaging above 25C in highs in a normal decade as well. No month averages highs below freezing here and winter nights typically average -4C. It's the winter rawness and humidity that's the main issue, not necessarily temps.

Lund is a bit of a special case because it's inland and far south and also helped by Denmark to its west to create a lowland hinterland with greater use of that effect in summer. I've not found 1981-2010 averages for Lund, but I'd reckon July is above 23C then too.

April has quite warm days all around here, back in 2011 we recorded 15C avg highs here Hoping for a repeat this year, but not that hopeful

[Razza94]

Originally Posted by lommaren

Here March and November are transitional part-winter months but this is my nearest station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norrk%C3%B6ping#Climate

Actually a rather decent five-month period between May and September, with roughly four-five months averaging above 25C in highs in a normal decade as well. No month averages highs below freezing here and winter nights typically average -4C. It's the winter rawness and humidity that's the main issue, not necessarily temps.

Lund is a bit of a special case because it's inland and far south and also helped by Denmark to its west to create a lowland hinterland with greater use of that effect in summer. I've not found 1981-2010 averages for Lund, but I'd reckon July is above 23C then too.

That also sustains warmth into September, winter seems to kick in during late October. Although what you and I consider to be winter temperatures will clearly differ.