Does Ireland have worse weather than the "cold" countries?

Ohio9

Just went through some common US and European cities off the top of my head and got surprised by places that are normally considered to have brutal/cold winters, now having warmer weather than Ireland. I guess they have a few months of really cold weather which is much colder than what we get in Ireland but overall we get more miserable days or it takes longer to warm up here than in these other places. I think I'd rather take -20 winters for a few months and have 15-20 degrees from the start of March. Even eastern European countries with low hardiness zones are same or warmer than Ireland (Kiev, Ukraine, 18 degrees).

So while we don't have brutal winters here, overall we have more chilly days 0 - 10c?

JCX BXC

Most of those US and European areas are inland, and hence get colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. We're by the Atlantic, which keeps us relatively warm in winter and cool in summer.

Ohio9

JCX BXC wrote: »

Most of those US and European areas are inland, and hence get colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. We're by the Atlantic, which keeps us relatively warm in winter and cool in summer.

Might be a bad comparison but why does NYC have such a dramatic change? They were way colder than Ireland recently and now have variation up to 24c? They're also beside the ocean.

JCX BXC

Ohio9 wrote: »

Might be a bad comparison but why does NYC have such a dramatic change? They were way colder than Ireland recently and now have variation up to 24c? They're also beside the ocean.

It's a few things, firstly the prevailing wind at our latitude is South Westerly, which suits the east coast of the US. The great body of land that is North America also plays a part here, whereas Ireland is simply an island, with the sea not far from anywhere.

New York's coastal ocation does play a big part in their climate however, in January you can get temperatures of 15°c just as common, if not more than, a temperature of -15°c.

0lddog

FWIW NYC is at the same latitude as Madrid

nthclare

If the Romans didn't want to assimilate us im sure that says enough, although it didn't stop the Holy see from ruining us...

boombang

I've been told that it has to do with the amount of humidity. We have not very cold, but quite wet air apparently. The dampness conducts the heat away from our bodies faster, even though it's not as cold as cold, dry places. I've heard scandis say they can hack -10 C at home, but can't deal with +5 C here.

SEPT 23 1989

The multinationals don't come here for nothing

Nabber

I think I'd rather take -20 winters for a few months

We have not built our infrastructure for extreme weather like that.
-20c is some serious business!!

Depends OP on your definition of bad weather. For our latitude we aren't too bad.

Danno

boombang wrote: »

I've been told that it has to do with the amount of humidity. We have not very cold, but quite wet air apparently. The dampness conducts the heat away from our bodies faster, even though it's not as cold as cold, dry places. I've heard scandis say they can hack -10 C at home, but can't deal with +5 C here.

Perfectly put. I remember meeting a friend who worked the ski slopes in Aspen CO for a while and came home to Ireland during a sleety February afternoon and found it "bitter" here as opposed to Aspen.

-14c in Aspen in a T-Shirt and a body warmer sleeveless jacket was do-able.

A duffel coat here was torture in comparison that day.

amadangomor

Danno wrote: »

Perfectly put. I remember meeting a friend who worked the ski slopes in Aspen CO for a while and came home to Ireland during a sleety February afternoon and found it "bitter" here as opposed to Aspen.

-14c in Aspen in a T-Shirt and a body warmer sleeveless jacket was do-able.

A duffel coat here was torture in comparison that day.

Yeh, a lot of the Eastern/Central Europeans report similar.

Was like this for much of February. Was cold and it was coming down from the NW Atlantic so was that moist cold that gets into your bones.

Never got a ridge of high pressure over us for long with sustained dry cold that is pleasant to get out in. Just remember one or two days with that "pleasant" cold.