Who here lives in a very harsh climate? Where?

The weather here can be very harsh at times, even if it is supposed to be a fairly safe and enjoyable holiday destination.

Our heat waves can reach as high as 46c, each year a few people die from it. Also, over the last 20 years or so, our winters have got much colder. There would still be people swimming this time of year a couple of decades ago, now you would die after 10 to 15 minutes of being in the water.

While the winter does not really get much colder than say 0c to 5c, our houses and buildings are built for a steady warm climate. This is a problem, because recently, over the last 15 years or so, we have been getting surprise storms, strong enough to uproot trees.

These storms also cause some deaths each time they happen, be it trees falling on cars or hitting houses, or just plain increased traffic accidents.

The harshest part is by far the heat waves, they just make being alive a chore.

I think so, yeah. The snow is blowing around my ears, when I go out and it’s storming, freezing cold, very, very dark all the time. I don’t really know exactly what latitude means, so I can’t tell you about that. But winter has started and I feel like I’m turning into ice every time I go out. The mornings are dark, the afternoons are dark too… But no dramatic weather like hurricanes, tsunami, earthquakes and stuff like that.

I live at 56˚ North and close to the Gulf Stream. The weather here is very variable but we don’t tend to get great extremes. It is pretty cold just now and the snow which fell a couple of days ago has thawed and then refrozen making walking difficult. I prefer this to the wet and windy weather which is common in winter. The summers here are cool and can be wet. I have got used to the weather here and I like the variety.

@tups: At 18, this is information you should know.
Latitude and Longitude

@gailcalled Oh yes, of course. I actually do know that. My mind was just too lazy to translate it.

I live in South Carolina, where it goes up to 110 degrees in the Summer and hardly ever snows in the Winter. Today it was 76 degrees…in December.

This is probably not “extreme,” but it certainly sucks…

I live in a quite harsh climate at certain times of the year. It was 40 Celsius (104 Farenheit) yesterday. It is often very humid. We are in a very high fire danger phase at the moment.

Certain quarters of fluther perhaps? Haha, i’m so amused I may eat some ice-cream.
I live in the far north of england town where rain & brass monkey weather abides aplenty, that’s okay though.

@poisonedantidote: 46˚ C wasn’t a typo? That’s almost 115 ˚ F. This is in Spain?

The temperature in Perth can reach 116 @gailcalled. According to Wikipedia the highest temp recorded in Spain was 116. I think that would be a day to not move from within sight of the air conditioner. Brisbane’s hottest is 110 apparently.

Would a Boston Winter be considered “harsh”?
Excluding last year’s poor showing.

@Bellatrix: I know how difficult it is for me to stagger around here when the temp reaches the high nineties. I cannot imagine what 116˚ F feels like. How do you manage? Do you dress like the natives in the equatorial African countries?

@gailcalled – thankfully I haven’t expereinced it reaching 116. I have experienced temps of 45 (113) and I go to the cinema/shopping centre/wear as little as possible and crank up the air con. The other day when it went to 104 plus, I stayed at work until the worst had passed.

It really does depend on the type of heat though. Brisbane is humid but nothing like North Queensland, that’s like walking into a wet blanket in summer. I really don’t like that sort of humidity because it saps your energy. If it’s dry heat it’s much more bearable. When you go the centre of Australia the heat is dry and it feels hot but it isn’t so exhausting.

Mostly where I live it’s temperate. There are a few weeks of hot weather but the rest of the time it’s lovely.

And as to dress, Queenslanders are pretty laid back. Even when dressing for business it’s rare to see men with suit jackets and many don’t wear ties. Shirt and trousers is acceptable.

@gailcalled No typo. It is not constantly 46, it is normally about 30 to 40, but every once in a while you get a real punishing day.

Brrrrrrr, it’s getting cold in here!

@gailcalled sent this to me so I’ll respond, however, I wouldn’t say I live in a harsh climate at all. I’d say 9 months of the year are from 20–35 degrees, the summer ones getting very hot. Some rain in the winter – today in fact – but it’s no London. No snow. Pretty great. Need beach.

I witnessed many hot days when I was growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have a picture of myself standing on my porch, next to my best friend and a thermometer that was reading 120F, in the shade! We did a lot of swimming and staying indoors on days like that. I don’t remember the heat bothering me all that much, but I know I would hate it now if I had to live in such a climate.

I live in Canada (Ontario). We have very short humid summers and long, dark, numbing-cold winters. My city falls within the coordinates to be considered a subarctic climate (you read that right folks). An average day in the heart of winter here is around -30°C and can get even colder. Even still, I would never trade our snow for sun any day :)