[bnegreve]

It doesn't make much sense to compare temperatures at latitudes from different sides of the Atlantic ocean. The Gulf Stream [1] makes the European cost a lot warmer at the same latitude. E.g. NYC is colder than North of Spain despite being roughly at the same latitude.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream

[ascorbic]

Fun fact: The Shetland Islands off the north coast of Scotland have the same USDA climate zone as south Texas (9a), but are around the same latitude as central Alaska.

[lucaspiller]

TIL Texas isn't as warm as I thought...

[ascorbic]

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.

[noxToken]

>British winters are similar to Texan winters

Hmm. That's not so bad. What does everyone complain about?

>but British summers are more like Alaskan summers

You poor, poor people. Though they probably say the same about our 100F (~38C) summers.

[TwiztidK]

Speak for yourself. Texas Winters with Alaska summers sounds awesome! The best summer weather I've ever experienced was 70-80 during the day and 60s at night. Absolutely perfect weather, until snow started to fall from November to June.

If I never had to experience 100F heat again (excepting saunas), then I would die a happy man.

[sandworm101]

I'd take the Alaska summers, but only without the Alaska bugs. What's the point of Sun if blocked by grey clouds of gnats?

Regardless of temp, Wet = bugs. Texas = dry.

[fao_]

> sounds awesome!

As someone living in Britain. Nope, not awesome. I can't remember the last time I saw sun. It's just cloud and cold wind. It feels nigh-constant (year-round) :/

[lucaspiller]

It depends on where you are in the UK, but in the south the average of a good summer is 80F (26C) in the day. It can get up to 90F (32C) in cities, though usually only for a few days to a week at most.

[carlob]

Then I guess you can move to San Diego…

[bryanlarsen]

> What does everyone complain about?

British winters have a similar temperature as Texan winters, but they have a lot more rain and a lot less sunshine (because of the clouds, and because the day is shorter).

[ascorbic]

Anything over 25C is a scorcher. Though nobody has AC in their homes, so we're less able to cope.

[icebraining]

Though they probably say the same about our 100F (~38C) summers.

Considering how many of them come to our Southern corner to enjoy our 38C summers, probably not.

(And they're very welcome, by the way! I'm quite happy to see tourists around.)

[knodi123]

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

[ascorbic]

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.

[ska]

Well, not in the winter.

[jamesblonde]

the outer Lofoten Islands at 68°N in Northern Norway are in zone 8, same as San Antonio, Texas!

[flexie]

Temperature is just a part of it. Light is another. And the populated part of Canada - being much more southern than most people realise - has light that compares to southern France, not to Scandinavia or Alaska.

Whenever I am back in Scandinavia I am struck by how dim it always is. Eternal dusk.

[xefer]

The idea that the Gulf Stream per se is responsible for climate changes in northern Europe has been called into question. It turns out that simply having prevailing winds crossing the ocean is by far the biggest factor. The same phenomenon is observed on the West coast of North America but the Kuroshio Current in the Pacific does not carry the same warm current as far North.

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2006/4/the-sourc...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-simulations-qu...

[Amir6]

Are we talking about north or weather being cold? I know for many regions one translates to another but assuming they are the same thing is what "doesn't make sense". In this post, the author is talking about NORTH.

[parennoob]

In popular culture and public consciousness, the two are equated very often.

See, for example, the latest hit show - Game of Thrones which shows a very cold, hardy North and a warm, indolent South. Now I know these specific books that the show is based on derive from the Wars of the Roses -- but have you ever a fantasy writer who put people on the Southern hemisphere of their planet and made the North warm?

[david-given]

I used to have a theory that you could tell where a fantasy author lived from the shape of their map. e.g. Maurice Gee's _The Halfmen of O_ --- good book, BTW --- has got the warm ocean to the north, with the snowy mountains to the south. He's a New Zealander.

Unfortunately, authors are way too aware of this now. I'm currently reading Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper quintet --- also really good --- and they're set on the west coast of a continent, called the New World, which was settled a couple of centuries ago by civilisations from across the sea to the East. She's American.

[kr7]

> but have you ever a fantasy writer who put people on the Southern hemisphere of their planet and made the North warm?

The Dragon Age series of games (and books).

[douche]

Also Pillars of Eternity

[johnjreiser]

The latitude is an analogue for habitability. The ocean currents do enable agriculture and thus historic patterns of stable habitation at higher degrees of latitude on the east side of the Atlantic, compared to the west.