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Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Partially discharged
(Post 12483511)
I live in Ottawa and have for 23 years. I spent about 13 years in Toronto/Waterloo and from a weather perspective I prefer Ottawa. Not a popular opinion on this forum although there are some rather nesh people posting.
Winters in Ottawa are I believe snowier than Calgary and definitely snowier than Toronto. Summers are warmer and more humid than Calgary and I believe definitely warmer overnight than Calgary. It is probably wetter overall in Ottawa but in the summer the precipitation tends to be in thunderstorms which can be hit and miss and it rarely rains slightly all day (aka Scotland). In winter in Ottawa you can do things...ski, snowshoe, skate on the canal. Winter in the 416 is often a slight bit of snow, snirt (snow and dirt mixed together), and brownish grass peaking through the snow. If you believe that running shoes/trainers are an appropriate method of footwear for sub zero temps and that your feet won't get soaked then the 416 lifestyle may suit. Less of that in Ottawa. I think Ottawa and Toronto summer temps are fairly close. Winter is definitely colder in Ottawa than Toronto. Since I've been here I think I've seen -32 c on the car temp thingy but don't recall much below about -25 in Toronto and when that happens it is the end of the world in Toronto. Once you get away from the great lakes in the winter the temps drop. Algonquin Park is a prime example of that. This of course shows the value of climate data over anecdote. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Anecdotally...I've visited Ottawa in winter and summer. It strikes me as one of those places that is nice in the spring and the fall but could otherwise be too hot or too cold. But people seem to thrive there, including my S-i-L and family so it is possible to deal with both extremes.;) I quite like Ottawa as a city. It feels compact and yet has most everything you need. Mind you I live in the far flung fringes of the North Atlantic so everything feels urban and sophistimicated to me.
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Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Novocastrian
(Post 12483521)
I can't strongly disagree with any of that, but I would remind you of our former mod IainK (from Belleville, on Lake Ontario) who often posted a snap of his thermometer showing +40C in a summer and -40C in a winter.
This of course shows the value of climate data over anecdote. I've been in Ottawa for 23 years and I think my temps range from about -32 to about +36. Neither are very pleasant. Living in the Cote D'Azur would be pleasant as it is never blistering hot by the coast and if you want to go skiing that can be done in the day or weekend but then you can forget about it. Plus I could eat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissaladi%C3%A8re every day. Unfortunately the beer is bland and lagerish. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Novocastrian
(Post 12483521)
I can't strongly disagree with any of that, but I would remind you of our former mod IainK (from Belleville, on Lake Ontario) who often posted a snap of his thermometer showing +40C in a summer and -40C in a winter.
This of course shows the value of climate data over anecdote. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Novocastrian
(Post 12483521)
I can't strongly disagree with any of that, but I would remind you of our former mod IainK (from Belleville, on Lake Ontario) who often posted a snap of his thermometer showing +40C in a summer and -40C in a winter.
This of course shows the value of climate data over anecdote. It rarely goes below -30 and +30 is usually only for a couple of days (typically July). It can get humid in Summer. Bugs are not really a problem where I live, unless I go for a walk in the woods/swamp around dusk. Then again, we can get shedloads of snow, freezing rain (my personal favourite), violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, earthquakes, plagues of locusts etc. Often all on the same day. There is also the mounting rate of gang-related shootings. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
OP
I lived in Calgary for the first 6 years I lived here. I now live 15 minutes south of Calgary. Calgary doesn't really get that much snowfall, present winter excepted, and, when it does, the chinook winds usually get rid of it within a week or two. I don't believe that Ottawa has any such effect. If you wish to access snow for activities such as skiing, it is 90 minutes away to the location of the alpine events for the 1988 Olympics and another 90 minutes or so to Lake Louise/Sunshine for what is amongst the best skiing in the world. Calgarians are not really affected by the snow, as it usually doesn't stay around for long enough to affect them. When it falls, the city does an OK job of clearing it so that, for the most part, travel times are not really impacted. I imagine that, on a day to day basis, the difference in temperatures in Ottawa and Calgary are unlikely to be a determining factor in winter or summer. However, it is very rarely so humid in Calgary that it becomes uncomfortable and the fact the nights are cooler means that most in Calgary do not require air conditioning in the summer. I have never been affected by bugs in the summer either. I believe that such things cause issues in Ottawa but, having never lived there, I don't know. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
I moved to Ottawa from Glasgow in 2016 so I can maybe be of some help with this. Coming from a place where summer means maybe a couple of weeks of actual sunny days if you're lucky, I find the summers here pretty glorious as long as you have at least one well air-conditioned room in your house where you can hide out when it all gets a bit much.
As people have said earlier, you can look at climate charts until you're, no pun intended, blue in the face but that won't tell you what it's like to try and cope with the weather here. Before I moved here the idea of a day where the mercury goes to -20C was pretty scary but having been through two winters now I will say that I'll take a -20 day with little wind over a -5 day with nasty wind chill or an ice storm with freezing rain like we've had over the past couple of days. The other thing about the winters is that they really drag on and in my experience will start to get you down unless you can escape to somewhere warmer for at least a couple of weeks. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by mcdanger
(Post 12483592)
I moved to Ottawa from Glasgow in 2016 so I can maybe be of some help with this. Coming from a place where summer means maybe a couple of weeks of actual sunny days if you're lucky, I find the summers here pretty glorious as long as you have at least one well air-conditioned room in your house where you can hide out when it all gets a bit much.
As people have said earlier, you can look at climate charts until you're, no pun intended, blue in the face but that won't tell you what it's like to try and cope with the weather here. Before I moved here the idea of a day where the mercury goes to -20C was pretty scary but having been through two winters now I will say that I'll take a -20 day with little wind over a -5 day with nasty wind chill or an ice storm with freezing rain like we've had over the past couple of days. The other thing about the winters is that they really drag on and in my experience will start to get you down unless you can escape to somewhere warmer for at least a couple of weeks. Don't even get me going on freezing rain! |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by dbd33
(Post 12483496)
While I do agree with this, I think there is also value in opinion. I might, for example, not notice the average wind speed in a weather chart, but someone saying "that's a windy spot" would catch my attention.
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Re: Ottawa Info Required
Thanks for the responses, some great and on the ball of the post, some very not so, unfortunately the way a BE forum can go. I personally will be closing this post down, and wont be replying again on this post, but thank those who kept the replies on the post.
Thanks again |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Aviator
(Post 12483653)
Local knowledge has some uses I agree. When we moved here, we found a house, a work colleague told me it was in the floodplain. That put us off and we gave it a wide birth. We later found out something like 80% of the Lower Mainland is in the floodplain, as it where we live now. To avoid it, one has to pretty much live on a hillside.
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Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by rsbhj
(Post 12483726)
Thanks for the responses, some great and on the ball of the post, some very not so, unfortunately the way a BE forum can go. I personally will be closing this post down, and wont be replying again on this post, but thank those who kept the replies on the post.
Thanks again Thx. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by Souvy
(Post 12483566)
Ottawa has never in recorded history hit +40 or -40.
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Re: Ottawa Info Required
so looks like I need to continue on this thread the jobs worth at BE demand this and rules must be obeyed at all times.
I am looking to hear from families living in Ottawa, and how they find it. We are family of 4, kids are 5 and 3 just now. We live in Scotland, and looking for a change, and with Australia now not possible, and my wife having Canadian citizenship we are looking further into this option. Toronto/Vancouver were for us unaffordable. Calgary is an option but its remoteness really puts me off. Next on list Ottawa. Looking to hear what family life is like in Ottawa, what's some good suburbs to look at, generally and honest what you like and don't like about Ottawa. Suburbs we would be looking to buy a house for around $550k-650k ¾ bed. I know I cant dictate who replies etc and everyone is free to post whatever they want but I am really looking to hear specifically from families currently or previously living/lived in Ottawa. |
Re: Ottawa Info Required
Originally Posted by rsbhj
(Post 12483948)
so looks like I need to continue on this thread the jobs worth at BE demand this and rules must be obeyed at all times.
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