[foobarian]

It's actually surprising how north the famous EU countries are. Already south France and Italy are about the same latitude as New England; Norway must be like Alaska as far as daylight goes. If it weren't for the warm Atlantic current the place would be a glacier.

[jackcosgrove]

In the northern hemisphere the prevailing winds come from the west, which is why west coasts are more moderate than east coasts. Winds coming from the ocean are more moderate than winds coming from the interior of a continent.

This is why New York is on the same latitude as Lisbon yet is much colder. Same for Tokyo and San Francisco.

Western Europe is about as far north as people can live in large numbers.

[input_sh]

The example that blew my mind once and I've been repeating it since: New York is as north as Madrid. Like, almost exactly, 0.3 degrees difference (or 20 miles, or 33 kilometres).

[VBprogrammer]

London is further north than St John's Newfoundland.

[coob]

His bless His Majesty’s Gulf Stream.

[NLips]

The entirety of Great Britain is farther north than the entirety of the contiguous 48 USA states.

[ethbr1]

So that's why they held onto Canada...

[snowpid]

The south of Alaska starts in Northern Germany.