emilid

When did you live in Woodford? We moved to Katoomba in 83, and I left Australia in 97.

Winters too warm? Hah! I hope you met your match in Canberra. When I go home down I am amazed by the temperature difference in the evening when simply going from Katoomba to Blackheath.

Of course, every time I have returned to Oz over the past ten years I have been there during April or May. I am anxious for my trip in November/December to enjoy those WARM Blue Mountain evenings!

Thanks

emilid

You would think I would learn to proof what I said. I'm sure you can figure out what I was trying to say!

(8:36 am and not a cuppa in sight!)

Neil_Oz

We were there from 1977 to early '84, so a small overlap. The comparison with Canberra is interesting and a good example of why simply looking at average high and low temps can be very misleading. I've felt much colder and more miserable on a winter's day in Melbourne than in Canberra, even though the temperature is say 12C in each case. One is a still, sunny 12C and the other damp and windy 12C - no comparison. Same, of course, goes for Katoomba. And you might have a 35C max in both cities in summer, but with the difference that due to Canberra's altitude and inland position the evenings usually cool down enough to sleep comfortably at night.

If I remember rightly you're somewhere in the US midwest? If so, I guess you'd agree that winters in Australia are pretty tame stuff wherever you go.

longhorn55

Neil, I love your comment about winters in Australia being pretty tame stuff. We lived in Canberra for three years and I don't think I ever wore more than a sweater or light cloth coat in winter. (That's my idea of winter--not the down jackets and snowboots I have to wear here on the East Coast of the U.S.!) Anyway, everytime we meet someone from Australia and they learn we lived in Canberra, they invariably say, "Oooh, wasn't it cold there?" Ha!

Neil_Oz

Hi, longhorn. Yes, many Australians have a fixed view that Canberra isn't just cold, but UNIQUELY cold. Colder than the towns around it, colder than NSW towns like Bathurst, Orange and Armidale which are all in the same sort of climatic range. And in summer, despite all evidence to the contrary, it's UNIQUELY hot. This belief can't be shaken, no matter how many weather stats you trot out.

One of the first people I met after we moved to Canberra was a former German, who told me "Listen, don't tell those buggers back in Sydney how good this is, or they'll all want to move here!" What about the winters, I asked? "Winter? This here isn't a winter," he replied, "this is a spring!"

Contrast that with a New Yorker on the US forum who listed as one of the pluses of her city its "comfortable" climate. I can think of lots of advantages of living in NYC, but - the climate? She must be out of town for six months of the year.

emilid

Neil:

Well, Melbourne is just a bloody cold, bloody hot city. You can't win there in winter or in summer. I suffered through many years at the Aussie Open with 38-40 degree temps at the court.

Yes, I live in Indianapolis, Indiana. The coldest it's been here for me was -16 deg C, and the hottest it has gotten is about 36 C. The worst thing about being here in summer is the humidity. Sydney at least has the ocean breeze, but the humidity is unbearable some days! As far as snow, I like to joke that Katoomba has one day of snow a year, it's one-inch, and is melted by lunchtime but all the schools close down anyway. We had a big snow come down in early December last year right around knocking-off time, and quickly dumped about eight-inches. It took me four hours to go and pick up my children and get home, in what normally is a 30-35 minute drive.

Of course, Indianapolis has nothing on the heat of the south, nor the snow they have in the north-east!

Neil_Oz

emilid, having grown up in what is now the NW fringe of Greater Sydney, and lived in several parts of the city, I can tell you that the ocean breeze only penetrates so far. The demographic centre of Sydney is about 22 km west of the CBD, and by definition half the population lives west of that point - and the temperatures out there are a far cry from the coastal and harbourside suburbs. This is a fact that Sydney-boosters often conveniently ignore. Admittedly, most tourists don't get out into the "real" Sydney.