Oh, okay, got it...I actually thought you meant 40C...implying that you might be accustomed to experiencing that...and I just about had an aneurysm!
Mind you, 40F is only slightly less unrealistic for us than 40C at this time of year....
How’s the weather?
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
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Mind you, 40F is only slightly less unrealistic for us than 40C at this time of year....
I know that summer temps in Canada can get quite high and winter temps get ridiculously low. I was wondering where Canada would fit in the global scale of temperature "range".
A bit of research came up with a small town in Eastern Russia, Verkhoyansk. In Feb 1892 a winter temperature of -67°C (-90°F) was recorded and in Jun 2020 a summer temperature of 38°C (100°F) was recorded, giving a temperature range of 105°C!!!
Given the dates I have no doubt that climate change has played a bit part in these figures, especially the summer temperature recorded only 2 years ago, but still, that is one hell of a swing between summer and winter.
The Verkhoyansk example is a bit extreme I know, because they are record temps hot and cold. Canada will also have record highs and lows too but where would parts of Canada fit into this from a modern average season to season perspective? Are we talking around -40°C winter to 30°C summer, giving a range of around 70°C, which would still be a helluva fluctuation?
Blighty, I would say, is around the 0°C to maybe 30°C, so a paltry range of around 30°C, lol.
A bit of research came up with a small town in Eastern Russia, Verkhoyansk. In Feb 1892 a winter temperature of -67°C (-90°F) was recorded and in Jun 2020 a summer temperature of 38°C (100°F) was recorded, giving a temperature range of 105°C!!!
Given the dates I have no doubt that climate change has played a bit part in these figures, especially the summer temperature recorded only 2 years ago, but still, that is one hell of a swing between summer and winter.
The Verkhoyansk example is a bit extreme I know, because they are record temps hot and cold. Canada will also have record highs and lows too but where would parts of Canada fit into this from a modern average season to season perspective? Are we talking around -40°C winter to 30°C summer, giving a range of around 70°C, which would still be a helluva fluctuation?
Blighty, I would say, is around the 0°C to maybe 30°C, so a paltry range of around 30°C, lol.
Here in AB not only can summer to winter be extreme, but in the winter, we can also experience chinook winds. Not common this far north, but every once in a while, we get a break. As an extreme example, further south of us, in 1962, Pincher Creek saw a record temperature rise of 41 °C from -19 to 22 °C in just an hour.
The problem here is one of scale. I found this interesting little snippet on Google a few moments ago:
"At its widest the United Kingdom is 300 miles (500 km) across. From the northern tip of Scotland to the southern coast of England, it is about 600 miles (1,000 km). No part is more than 75 miles (120 km) from the sea"
So when you are situated on a charming little island in the North Atlantic, with an area of just over 94,000 square miles and spanning roughly 9 degrees of latitude, its seems perfectly reasonable to talk about "the weather in such-and-such country". I live in Manitoba, which is just over a quarter million square miles...and it is one of ten provinces, plus three huge northern territories. When we moved to Manitoba from Ontario...i.e. moving over just one province...the distance as the crow flies was something like 1100 miles. In total, Canada comprises well over 3.8 million square miles and stretches across roughly 40 degrees of latitude. To speak of the weather in England is already covering a pretty broad range of potential conditions. To try to do the same with Canada is completely futile.
The other issue IMHO is time. When I was working up north, the jobsite was roughly 4 degrees of latitude further north than my home...and even that difference resulted in some much more challenging conditions. It's not that the extreme was that much colder up there, but rather that we spent so much more time near that extreme than we do at home. We would still experience occasional temps exceeding 30C up there during summer...but, on the other hand I don't believe we ever, in the 7+ years I worked there, had one complete month with no snow. Balmy 20C summer temps somehow seem less balmy when you know that the mercury will drop below freezing that night; it really messes with the average.
Talking about extremes...in anything...is amusing, but largely meaningless.
I picked our dogs crap up in the back garden first thing this morning. There was a hard frost and it was jolly well cold. When I got in the car it said -1°C.
However, i've come to the conclusion that in the uk when people start talking about frost and snow and how cold it is because the temperature gauge is nudging -1°C or something, that we just sound soft and foolish, lol.
Spare a thought for our Canadian comrades who, for the next few months will be lucky if it gets any warmer than -20°C....during the day!
No!
Well...maybe a little...
...okay, you're right.
-26C on the porch right now, wind chill -34C...but the forecast is actually calling for high temps of -3C on both Saturday and Sunday! That's...how would you put it?...bloody torrid!
Woohoo!
By the way...I don't think you are giving a thought to the wonderful advantage of 4+ months of hard frozen dog turds to pick up.
The lowest I've ever endured was a good few years ago now. We had a particularly savage couple of winter days and the night time temps fell to -10°C.No!
Well...maybe a little...
...okay, you're right.
-26C on the porch right now, wind chill -34C...but the forecast is actually calling for high temps of -3C on both Saturday and Sunday! That's...how would you put it?...bloody torrid!
Woohoo!
By the way...I don't think you are giving a thought to the wonderful advantage of 4+ months of hard frozen dog turds to pick up.
I imagine that me using the word "savage" is one of those occasions where you snort coffee down your nose again, lol, it makes me sound like such a pussy, but it was actually quite bone numbing....to me anyway, lol.
And yes, picking hard dog crap up in the garden is so much more fun than the awkward messy soft ones, lol.
I admit that -10C will feel like a tropical beach by the time next March rolls around...but, for me at least, the first cold snap of fall or early winter always "feels" uncomfortably cold. It takes some getting used to before your body accepts the cold temps easily. Our cold temps hit us a couple weeks ago and I am just now starting to feel like I may survive another winter.
One thing that still amazes me, especially at this time of year, is watching the birds around our feeders. A human being suffers frostbite quickly if unprotected in temps like this...and yet the feeders are crowded with Chickadees, Blue Jays, Grosbeaks and other "winter" birds. Chickadees (typically called "Tits" in the UK) in particular astound me; they are tiny birds, weighing perhaps a couple ounces, wrapped in a thin insulating layer of fragile feathers...and they survive throughout the winter with no shelters like burrows or other protection. They may huddle together in nestboxes during the night, but a small uninsulated wooden box is not exactly the height of cold-weather comfort. The melee of small birds around the feeders looks peaceful and tranquil, but in reality it is harsh struggle just to survive another day...and these tough little guys do it.
edited to add: I will take a picture later today for you, Esox, that you may find amusing.
One thing that still amazes me, especially at this time of year, is watching the birds around our feeders. A human being suffers frostbite quickly if unprotected in temps like this...and yet the feeders are crowded with Chickadees, Blue Jays, Grosbeaks and other "winter" birds. Chickadees (typically called "Tits" in the UK) in particular astound me; they are tiny birds, weighing perhaps a couple ounces, wrapped in a thin insulating layer of fragile feathers...and they survive throughout the winter with no shelters like burrows or other protection. They may huddle together in nestboxes during the night, but a small uninsulated wooden box is not exactly the height of cold-weather comfort. The melee of small birds around the feeders looks peaceful and tranquil, but in reality it is harsh struggle just to survive another day...and these tough little guys do it.
edited to add: I will take a picture later today for you, Esox, that you may find amusing.
I'll tell you what though. Those cloudless clear night skies, the ones which are typically the most brutal temperature wise, are excellent for one thing....star gazing. I love getting my coat on and spending a while in the back yard gazing skyward looking at the "usual suspects" that adorn the vastness of space.
Shooting stars, planets, satellites, star systems all accompanied by the sound of a lone owl. It takes some beating.
But then my admiration and pure wonderment is stopped dead in its tracks when I realise I can't feel my legs because of the cold, lol.
Shooting stars, planets, satellites, star systems all accompanied by the sound of a lone owl. It takes some beating.
But then my admiration and pure wonderment is stopped dead in its tracks when I realise I can't feel my legs because of the cold, lol.
