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.
Well excuse me for not expecting you to take "freezing" literally. I have an idea. Show up in San Francisco in shorts and a t-shirt in June and July and then tell me what you think.
I would be perfectly satisfied (during the day), and enjoying the warm, sunny weather
If I arrived from somewhere else in the U.S, I'd find it cold.
If I arrived from far northern Canada, or from the southern tip of Chile, then I'd find it quite warm .
See I have a set mindset that there is specific temperature ranges for different descriptive words. Effectively what is warm for one person should also be warm for another anywhere in the world. That's because we all have the same body temperature.
Location: João Pessoa,Brazil(The easternmost point of Americas)
2,540 posts, read 2,004,663 times
Reputation: 644
Quote:
Originally Posted by arctic_gardener
You already mentioned it but Australia is the number one pet peeve of mine. It seems like everyone from the US, Canada and Europe imagines Australia to be like the Sahara Desert but with kangaroos.
How many Americans are aware that the hills of southern Australia (they call them "mountains" down under but they are really just hills by American standards, 4000' to 5000' at most) get snow in the summer months on a regular basis? Christmas Day snowfalls occur once every 3-4 years in the hills of NSW and Victoria. December 25th is well into summer. Can you imagine a June 25th snowfall in Denver every 3-4 years, and Denver is actually higher than any of those mountain peaks!
Also, if you look at the record lows in January in these Australian alpine towns and villages, they are all several degrees below freezing, like 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. To find record July lows like that in the US, you'd have to head to the highest points in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, several thousands of feet higher than the Aussie towns and farther from the equator as well.
Australia is bloody cold for its latitude, especially in summer, and especially the southeastern quarter of the continent.
You're right. Southern Hemisphere temperate zones have cool summers and lower "snow level" lcompared to Northern Hemisphere, you can see that by looking at satellite images, in Southern Patagonia, many places above 2000m of altitude keep snow on ground with periodic snowstorms even in the harsh of summer.
This all happen because of Antarctic, that even in summer still is very cold, allowing strong cold fronts year-round.
See I have a set mindset that there is specific temperature ranges for different descriptive words. Effectively what is warm for one person should also be warm for another anywhere in the world. That's because we all have the same body temperature.
We may have the same body temperature but that doesn't affect the perception of cold or heat. Acclimatization is a very real thing.
Vancouver has warmer summers than than both the UK and SF.
Average July maximum:
UK: 19.4C
SF: 19.1C
VC: 22.2C
Vancouver is slightly drier than the UK, average rainfall is 1153.1 vs 1154 mm for the UK.
It is true that people would not expect the sun to be as strong as it is in SF, the UV in July is 10. But you seriously wouldn’t be shivering with that strong sunshine
Well I was shivering because the air felt so damp and there was a strong wind. The sun didn't seem to provide much warmth right by the water. I know parts of the UK get colder than Vancouver in summer but some warmer too like London and Kent.
Being British, I'm often having to explain to people that the UK (at least where I live) isn't actually that rainy or foggy (although it is cool and cloudy most of the time, theres fewer places in the world with less annual sunshine hours so that might be something to do with it). Surprisingly, it does actually get quite hot in the UK sometimes and fog is pretty uncommon.
In my travel experience, I've been surprised by the weather in some places being different to expected. I'm not an ignorant traveller but here's some examples of times I was surprised by the weather and commonly held British misconceptions of weather around the world:-
In your experience, where do you think the climate is commonly misconceived or where were you surprised by the local weather when you visited?
United States, Pacific Northwest: it's not "always" raining, but looking outside today (two days shy of the Winter Solstice), you'd be hard pressed to say that's true: windy (typical early winter), raining light to hard (ditto), uniform gray skies and a bit dismal (also ditto).
That will be normal until April or May, or perhaps later. Spring is warmer, but still constant drizzle. There are occasional nice days, or weeks. The grass erupts, and mowers come out. Those are good years.
Almost every year, June to July, it dries up in a hurry. As in, nearly no rain for a month and typical blue skies, sunny, warm (70s F usually, sometimes hotter), low humidity. A paradise on Earth. I break out the Oakleys and they don't leave my head from July-October, pretty much.
The "warm, sunny, incredibly gorgeous" part wows visitors in July and September, especially. "usually" does not mean "always." Also, I have a room AC that works great for those maybe 10 uncomfortably hot nights per year, above 80F, though my house has exceptionally good insulation and doesn't give up or take in ambient temps too well. Warm, stays warm. Cold, warms up from furnace and stays that way all day.
Those who say, "don't need any AC (at least room level) in Seattle metro" are masochists, or young people who can sleep in tropical jungles w/o issue. The rest of us need some relief at night.
I would be perfectly satisfied (during the day), and enjoying the warm, sunny weather
Well I showed up in Arcarta CA in early September one year coming from mid 80'sF, and I was really cold. Within days I had a sore throat and bad cold. It was low 60's every day and low 50's at night. I felt almost as cold as in winter. I didn't bring the right clothes. No internet then. I assumed CA was warm in summer. Wrong.
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.
.
