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Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

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Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#91

Post by dasil003 »

mfoy_ wrote: post #47
Ensorceled wrote: post #17

This is missing the point. People think of Canadians as tough hardy, northerners because it's -8C in Toronto and we've been having really nice February, last year it was like -20C all month. It's -12 in Montreal right now. It's still interesting to think about it but don't try to imply that it's not actually cold, bitter and rough sledding here because we're "south" of London. Because it's 8C in London right now.

-14C in Ottawa right now, it's the wind that makes it nippy, though.

Incidentally that's the coldest temperature ever recorded in London.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#92

Post by ascorbic »

knodi123 wrote: post #79
ascorbic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little misleading, because climate zones are just based on minimum average temperatures. British winters are similar to Texan winters, but British summers are more like Alaskan summers.

But don't british winters usually include snowfall? Because Texas winters rarely include snowfall.

Not in much of the country. There have been a few unusually snowy winters in the past few years, but in much of the country you can go for years without snow. I've had no snow this winter, and it hasn't been below -2C. As someone else mentioned though, Britain is much wetter than Texas, so it's not surprising there'd be more snow.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#93

Post by codingdave »

For Americans... yes, they do. With a few exceptions, Canada is north of the USA. So your average person who is not living in the northern US is perfectly correct in assuming that Canadians live in colder climate than they do.

For those Americans who do live in the northernmost tier of US states, Canada's climate is more comparable to their homes. But most Americans also think people in those states are living in the Arctic north.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#94

Post by logfromblammo »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #53
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #35

Saw a population map of Canada once. There's a thick line right along the US-Canada border. Its as if Canadians want to be Canadian, but really don't want to live there. They go as far south as possible while still technically being in Canada. (Not counting big coastal cities).

Or how about the other way around -- Americans just didn't want to be part of the old dominion anymore, and split off, leaving a chunk of population separated by a border? The settlement patterns existed before the American revolution. We settled where the land was good and the resources and fresh water and trade routes were.

Only about 12% of George III Loyalists moved to Ontario or New Brunswick after 1783, and some of them later moved back to the former colonies while they still had the opportunity.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#95

Post by jeromegv »

sebtoast wrote: post #72
herge wrote: post #9

The northernmost french community (of appreciable size) in the world is the remote mining town of Fermont ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermont ), in Quebec near the border with Labrador. It has ~3000 inhabitants, and is based around a large bunker/building containing housing, shops, schools, etc, which let's people live their lives in the winter without having to go outside. The second northernmost French communit…

From Wikipedia: The town is notable for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool which shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its leeward side. I had no idea. I'm kind of ashamed I didn't know that being from the same province.

Same for me, had no idea even if I'm from Quebec.

Cool photo here: http://images.lpcdn.ca/924x615/201111/05/408611-selon-consul...

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#96

Post by cmrdporcupine »

logfromblammo wrote: post #94
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how about the other way around -- Americans just didn't want to be part of the old dominion anymore, and split off, leaving a chunk of population separated by a border? The settlement patterns existed before the American revolution. We settled where the land was good and the resources and fresh water and trade routes were.

Only about 12% of George III Loyalists moved to Ontario or New Brunswick after 1783, and some of them later moved back to the former colonies while they still had the opportunity.

You missed my point. I'm not talking about the loyalists who moved. I'm talking about the people who stayed. The settlement along the great lakes was already here before the American revolution, both in English/French settlements, and the natives who were here in high concentrations before that.

Modern day settlement along the border reflects a continuation of patterns that were already here.

Though Toronto being a huge population centre instead of Hamilton or Niagara area apparently has to do with the need to be some distance from the border with the expansionist militaristic 19th century Americans.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#97

Post by epimetheus »

jp555 wrote: post #27
jsingleton wrote: post #20

Canada also isn't as big as you think, as hinted at in the article. It's still big though. Try asking people which they think is bigger, Greenland or Brazil. Brazil is of course much, much bigger but projections can be deceiving if you've only looked at flat maps.

South Africa is about the size of Alaska, but it doesn't look like that on most flat globe-projections. Draw a shape around SA in Google's MyMaps, and then drag that shape up to Alaska. The shape grows about 3x bigger.

http://mapfight.appspot.com/us.ak-vs-za/alaska-us-south-afri...

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#98

Post by epimetheus »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #76
jsingleton wrote: post #20

Canada also isn't as big as you think, as hinted at in the article. It's still big though. Try asking people which they think is bigger, Greenland or Brazil. Brazil is of course much, much bigger but projections can be deceiving if you've only looked at flat maps.

Second-largest, longest coastline, but borders one country.

Canada has the most lakes in the world too. I recall reading that they have more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#99

Post by the_fury »

mfoy_ wrote: post #47
Ensorceled wrote: post #17

This is missing the point. People think of Canadians as tough hardy, northerners because it's -8C in Toronto and we've been having really nice February, last year it was like -20C all month. It's -12 in Montreal right now. It's still interesting to think about it but don't try to imply that it's not actually cold, bitter and rough sledding here because we're "south" of London. Because it's 8C in London right now.

-14C in Ottawa right now, it's the wind that makes it nippy, though.

A balmy -6C in Toronto.

Re: Canadians don’t live as far north as you think

#100

Post by typon »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #35

Saw a population map of Canada once. There's a thick line right along the US-Canada border. Its as if Canadians want to be Canadian, but really don't want to live there. They go as far south as possible while still technically being in Canada. (Not counting big coastal cities).

I wonder what you'd say about all the Americans living near the US-Mexico border.
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