gryphea

Well you do live in the deep south

Steve_P

I think if you check the Environment Canada daily highs and lows for those months you'll likely find the poster was stretching the truth just a tad.

iaink

How many here work outside in the winter I wonder. (other than clearing the drive)

Half a day once or twice a week skiing with the kids is OK, but having to do it for a living would get old pretty quickly, especially somewhere with a longer cold season that where I am. You tend to forget its still cold in some places here once the daffodils are up...

R I C H

I did 4 winters of it, in the relatively mild BC interior climate. When the wind blows and you're sitting on open machinery for 4 hours at a time it's very difficult to stay really warm. Physical labour makes it more bearable, but then you're contending with sweating and cooling down very fast when you take a break.

The worst jobs were dealing with anything frozen/wet, or that required gloves to be taken off - fiddly electrical work at -25 on frozen water troughs was never any fun.

crusheduk

Love snow/cold/ice etc...ok UK has about 2-5 weeks of it max in winters so i guess it might be different with 4+ months of it. We'll see.

ann m

To be fair, using the same data/website (and no, I did not have anything better to do ) - the mean temperatures (and they really were mean ) between 16 February 2011 and 11 March 2011 were COLD - 20 days colder than -10C, of which 5 were colder than -20C.

And if we factor in the minimum temps - which I will do because my husband works shifts at all bloody hours, outside in it - then 15 of those 24 days were colder than -20.

7th to 20th January weren't great either.

If you are daft enough to have to work outside, you remember those weeks!

In Jan, Feb and Mar this year, there were 35 days with mean temps colder than -10, of which 12 were colder than -20.

(Takes off geek hat and goes back to work)

Steve_P

No argument from me Ann but what "the undutchables" was patently untrue.

It may have felt that way and there is no doubt it has been a miserable winter but lets not make it any worse than it actually was.

Removes anorak

Szimpla999

I've only experience one Canadian winter so far and genuinely didn't find it too bad, everyone had prepared me for much worse. March/April have actually been the worst part just because of the handful of teasing spring-like days and all the rain!

Lilipuddlian

Gah. Can't believe all the happy smiley messages promoting what is literally hell on earth : the Canadian winter. I've lived here all my life and I cannot continue to live somewhere with weather that so severely restricts my lifestyle and that of my spouse and children. Even the cat is miserable for five months of the year. I do not enjoy the Canadian winter, and before you recommend ice skating and skiing and snowshoeing: remember: I AM CANADIAN, got over all those novelties a long time ago. I do agree that the sun is nice, but I would much rather go outside than look at sunlight from behind a window. After all that moaning, I will admit that I live in Ottawa, which is not known for its nice winters. We will be moving to a better climate as a top priority as I cannot afford to waste any more of my life sitting indoors waiting for it to warm up. Please don't flame me if you live in the UK, BC or south of Kingston!!!

P.S. I know my message sounds very harsh, but this is my 39th winter here and it really does get old. I am just one of those people who cannot handle the cold. I don't like the slush, the rust, the snowtires, the shoveling, the boots, slipping and falling on ice (trips to ER), the frozen nostrils. In fact, I think it's ridiculous. IMO, people weren't made to live in this climate and I really struggle with each and every winter. I have a passionate dislike for the winter. Everything else I love. I am not bashing Canada -- but I hate her winters.

ToonarmySK

I live in Saskatchewan which has some of the worst winters in Canada. I don't mind them. I'd rather have -40 and bright sunshine than a grim day looking through the fog to catch a glimpse of the North Sea.

firefox

I live in Calgary and I hate the snow and cold cant wait to retire to asia in ten years time
firefox

Dave n Ailsa

I'm loving this thread, thanks to the OP for starting it

I have no idea how we will feel after the novelty wears off, but if we don't go, we never will.

I used to get incredibly depressed here (Glasgow) with around 3 months of the year never actually seeing the sun. Just constant drizzle, not even proper rain, just minging dampness, lol.

I've got over that now. I'm car mad, as you may have read in another posts, so planning car events in Scotland was always a gamble. However, I have been off-roading for about 7 years, and off course the weather for that matters not a jot

My point is, adaptability, and a sunny disposition

Steve_

The main problem you won't be expecting coming from the UK is how dry the winters are, weather never gets that dry in the UK or I'm suspecting anywhere in Europe, except maybe up the mountains. Humidifiers are not optional, bear it in mind if you're thinking of buying a house.

Winters are colder in Alberta than in southern Ontario but we don't get the snow because there are no large lakes. We get snow but nothing like back east. It's a bit deceptive because it doesn't melt so you think there's more than there is, it just accumulates gradually over the winter in layers of ice.

It is really cold, one thing I've noticed since I've lived here is that people seem to develop psychological coping mechanisms to get through it, because you get people who tell you that it's not that bad, etc. It's bad, you will live though. And bear in mind you can go to places like Hawaii and Phoenix during the winter quite easily. Or you can just buy an RV and go to Yuma...

Steve_

One thing about Calgary is that it's so dry during the winter there is little cloud cover, so it can be -25 outside and be a fantastic day. I remember getting sunburnt walking around downtown during the winter and it was bitterly cold outside. (Since then I've discovered the +15).

Steve_

Buy a condo in Phoenix, they're almost giving them away at this point.