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There are a number of places like these that have a global "endless summer" image that is inaccurate.
Places like Sydney, and also the south of France, southern Spain, cities in South Africa. They all have mild winters for sure, but it's not really summer weather according to most people's definition. More like spring.
Even Los Angeles to me is borderline for qualifying as "endless summer". Though Miami definitely is.
That's actually one of the biggest misconceptions of Portugal. Many people (especially in Northern Europe) have the image that Portugal is hot and sunny all year round to the point that you can spend Christmas on the beach! In addition rain and wind are very frequent, especially in winter. Northern Portugal has one of the highest precipitation rates in Western Europe.
That's actually one of the biggest misconceptions of Portugal. Many people (especially in Northern Europe) have the image that Portugal is hot and sunny all year round to the point that you can spend Christmas on the beach! In addition rain and wind are very frequent, especially in winter. Northern Portugal has one of the highest precipitation rates in Western Europe.
I don't think there is anywhere in Europe that qualifies as an "endless summer" climate, where you can really count on spending Christmas at the beach with the appropriate weather. Unless you count Tenerife off the coast of Africa, the warmest places in Europe average a max of about 18C in winter. So you may get warm spells there where it's over 20C, but also cool days where it's only 10-12C.
I met Quebecers who thought a city like Marseille has no winter at all (they had never been there)..
I think one of the reasons is that to us, "le Sud" (the South) means endless summer places like central and southern Florida, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic. These are all places that average 25C or more in the winter, so basically the same weather as we have at home in the summer.
So when they hear people talk about the French Riviera and the Costa del Sol as "southern" places people escape the winter to, they expect it to be largely the same weather-wise.
Yes. I know a number of people who here who will say the coldest winter they ever lived through was in France. It's perhaps not so much about the temperatures, but rather how things are built to resist the cold over there vs. here. (I am never truly cold or even cool indoors in the winter here.)
The formatting is horrible, but if you search with "chien de porte" on this page you'll find an interesting article on this.
I assumed it was also because of the higher humidity overall and relative lack of sun compared to Quebec. Most French people spending a winter in Canada feel it's like going up on the Alps (well that's how I felt in Ontario).
That said, my old flat in downtown Lyon had very bad insulation and on windy days the windows would open wide during my absence, causing the electricity bill to go up. Winter 2009/2010 was really quite cold by our standards with many snow days and I think it may have been around 15c at home pretty often. Also, in the summer it often reaches 30c indoors because of the big windows and poor insulation as well.
The article is interesting, but I think it mostly applies to older homes in big cities' centers.
Also, I can relate to this, I think I discovered cold here in Italy, everytime I go outside from now to April pretty much it feels cold at some point. I have felt cold on rainy spring nights when the fog lingered. I have never experienced that in Canada where the car's windshields remained surprisingly devoid of ice even though it was often below -10c in winter nights.
My parents' home in the suburbs can be quite chilly too. In my room in the winter it is often around 17c. I don't really pay attention to it but my gf wears like 3 sweaters when we go there even if I feel colder here (outside). I guess everyone has different ways to feel the cold.
I think one of the reasons is that to us, "le Sud" (the South) means endless summer places like central and southern Florida, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic. These are all places that average 25C or more in the winter, so basically the same weather as we have at home in the summer.
So when they hear people talk about the French Riviera and the Costa del Sol as "southern" places people escape the winter to, they expect it to be largely the same weather-wise.
Except Marseille has a january mean around 8 or 9c. Sure it is warmer than anywhere in Canada, but it is hardly summer, especially when the Mistral blows. And it snows once every decade
I think one of the reasons is that to us, "le Sud" (the South) means endless summer places like central and southern Florida, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic. These are all places that average 25C or more in the winter, so basically the same weather as we have at home in the summer.
So when they hear people talk about the French Riviera and the Costa del Sol as "southern" places people escape the winter to, they expect it to be largely the same weather-wise.
Except Marseille has a january mean around 8 or 9c. Sure it is warmer than anywhere in Canada, but it is hardly summer, especially when the Mistral blows. And it snows once every decade
If anything, southern France would be more similar to inland northern California.
It appeared that besides the usual culprits (USA, Australia, NZ) the ones up there in car ownership are Italy, Greece and Spain. Finland, Sweden and Norway are up there too, but there's a big difference. City people always bike or use public transport, while rural people always use their cars. My stepdad's office is 500 metres from their home, and he drives every day to work, which my mom and me always tease him about.
I think the car ownership reflects the home ownership which is very high in these countries. The image of public transportation in Italy is often that it is unreliable. Here in the north it is pretty good, trains are efficient, arrive on time, are pretty cheap, and there are many buses lanes in this city. I can easily take a train to go to the beach for instance, or to visit one of the numerous cities of the area (Ferrara, Mantova, Verona, Venice, Ravenna, Parma, Modena, etc.).
I have also travelled with my bike on the train for instance to go to work in nearby schools, but it started to be tricky because it is a bit complicated to hop on the train with a regular bike (once I could not get out because the bike wagon -at the end of the train - was too far from the very small station and I would have had to ride on the train tracks !!!)
In the south it becomes extremely complicated to use public transportation, even driving by car is tiresome because roads are really not that great. Places like Calabria, Puglia, etc, have a really weak road network and it can take 3 hours to do 80 km. Sometimes there is not even a train network.
As a result many people use their cars everywhere, even when they come here because they simply have no idea how to take a bus. I have met people using their car for a 1.5 km distance. By bike it would take less than 10 minutes.
Add to this the fact that many bus drivers are southerners so they drive those big buses like they would drive a Vespa, and the people inside feel like they are cattle waiting to go to the slaughterhouse. And Bologna is a medieval city, so it is not like every part of the city has a perfect asphalt. So, fast driving in narrow non-asphalted roads with people who don't know how to behave inside a bus (like leaving space, walking towards the center and not block the doors, etc), all of that make that taking the bus here is not always the most comfortable experience (I prefer not to take the bus directly after eating a plate of pasta, it could be dangerous), in the end many people prefer ride with their Panda (and then complain about the traffic) or like me take a bike (and complain about the pollution and careless drivers).
For Brazil is that all cities including big Southern cities are inside the jungle and monkeys, spiders and snakes are found in all places! May be only Manaus is really inside the jungle.
That all Brazilian population are black (like the players of our national soccer team)!
That our culture is only carnaval and beach and whole country is like Rio de Janeiro and Bahia.
That whole country is ‘’endless summer’’! ok most part is but southern area is very subtropical weather.
That people walk naked in the streets as in the carnival shows!
Except Marseille has a january mean around 8 or 9c. Sure it is warmer than anywhere in Canada, but it is hardly summer, especially when the Mistral blows. And it snows once every decade
I agree totally but I tend to look more at daytime maximums, so Marseille is around 12C for an average in the winter. I think Nice-Cannes are around 13-14C.
I think one of the reasons is that to us, "le Sud" (the South) means endless summer places like central and southern Florida, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic. These are all places that average 25C or more in the winter, so basically the same weather as we have at home in the summer.
So when they hear people talk about the French Riviera and the Costa del Sol as "southern" places people escape the winter to, they expect it to be largely the same weather-wise.
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