avanapa

Canada does seem like an interesting place to live but I worry about the winter temperatures and how people cope. How long is the average winter in Canada? Is there anywhere in Canada where winter temps are on a par with say the UK? Conversely what will the summer months be like temperature wise?

Elaine B.

Which part of Canada do you plan to move to?

avanapa

well, We have relatives in Edmonton but we have never been at all and have no real idea of what its like. Maybe if you could use that region as an example

Cassie 10000

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caab0103

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton#Climate

I have found you a couple of links regarding the weather in Edmonton, thought it might help

Elaine B.

I think you'll get a few more response now, I'm in Toronto so can't really help. Good luck with your research and start planning a trip over to experience Canada first hand.

Lorna_D

My OH was snowed up in Edmonton last week it snowed and snowed and snowed. This is our first winter/spring so don't know if that is normal.

Judy in Calgary

The only part of Canada in which the winter temperatures are on a par with the UK is the coastal part of British Columbia. Most of the BC coast gets more rain in winter than the UK does, but the temperatures are relatively mild most of the time. Yet there is skiing on nearby mountains. The summers on the BC coast are lovely.
x

drifter

We're currently on the 7th month of snow in Pringe George, BC.

Personally, I found the dark nights and long winter this far north pretty rough, but that's after 4 years in the Swiss mountains (shorter nights, better skiing). My advice would be to go to somewhere where you can still have fun in the winter (namely by going skiing), and also accept that the first winter will be spent learning how to drive, what to wear, how to keep family happy, all that kind of thing.

FWIW, this winter is pretty exceptional in terms of temperatures and snowfall. There's not been a winter like it for a good few decades, so take what you hear with a pinch of salt. But it's not blighty.

snorkmaiden

I've been in Edmonton for about ten months now and I have to say, I was surprised how mild the winter was. Before we moved (and we'd been living in Texas for the previous four and a half years) everyone told us how unbearably cold it would be and all that kind of stuff.

In actual fact, I found the winter to be far more pleasant than a British winter as it's not damp, so the cold doesn't seem to seep into your bones. Plus, even when it's cold and snowy, it's often sunny too, so it's actually quite nice.

I thought it was exciting when I shoveled my neighbours snow for an hour and my eyelashes froze, -40 was nowhere near as cold as I thought it would be!

The only time I had trouble driving around was this last week when we had an unusual amount of snow all in one go, and they did say on the news that it was the worst April storm in 20 years. Even then I didn't actually get stuck, I just had to have a few attempts at getting in and out of some side roads, and I was driving a minivan, so not exactly a car suited for snow, and it has all season tires on it.

The summer was hot and the autumn was lovely.

Alberta_Rose

We first arrived in May 2003, in Calgary, in a snowstorm ..... I just searched to see if I could find an online reference to it and found this:

(from http://www.notmydog.com/2003_05_01_archive.html )

Friday, May 09, 2003
Weekly Roundup:

Monday: Snow. Bad cravings for Theo, hound of my heart.
Tuesday: Snow. Head out to Costco in evening. Buy two tons of potting soil. Make Fearless carry them up three flights of stairs.
Wednesday: What a surprise, snow. The Canucks are making me very worried.
Thursday: Il neige comme un vrai bâtarde. [Translation: Golly, more snow.] Odd: at noon, like someone flipping a light switch in my head, I get the classic visual cue of impending migraine. A quivering band of distortion snakes and whip-cracks across my field of vision. Uh-oh. Soon, whenever I try to focus on something, my right eye goes "black." The pills put the pain on call forward. I am zonked.
Friday: Snow. Right eye feels like a BB in a knothole. Buy plane ticket to Santa Cruz for that fateful day next month, should I survive. R.I.P. Vancouver Canucks. See yez next year.

The hell? I buy a bottle of red wine as a thank-you to the Creative Director for sharing his, and the bastard doesn't even open it! It's Friday evening and I am completely sober. How wrong.

Posted by Jane Farries at 7:10 PM | Link | Throw me a bone


Tuesday, May 06, 2003
"...snow had fallen
snow on snow
on snow on snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
and not very long ago.

[fr. "O Little Town of Gimmingham," by The Kipper Family]
EVERY YEAR it snows in Calgary in May and EVERY YEAR it's bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch. Every year someone attempts to put out bedding plants before the Victoria Day long weekend, and every year there's a snowfall after the Victoria Day long weekend. Howls and protests abound. But wait, you say, are not the farmers happy with the recent precipitation? Nay, no, for it has been said by the wise that the cry of the Canadian farmer is "Not enough not enough TOO MUCH TOO MUCH," and so the moisture merely means the ground's too wet to seed. Sigh.

Incidentally, the Victoria Day long weekend is 17/18/19 May this year .......

The snow is a regular feature just now..... Sat am we still had about 8 inches .... by Sunday it was all gone ..... this morning, snow again!!