Californian thinking of moving to Canada

[Shawnski]

The one nice thing about coming out of a nasty cold spell... BBQ'ing in below freezing temperatures with a T-shirt and shorts on (once you are acclimatized!) because it feels so warm compared to what you just experienced. It's like summer in winter.

Hope you make the trip up to the Great White North landshark. Although you might not be used to the cold, don't worry, it grows on you.... one icicle at a time.

BTW, you know it is REALLY cold when...
.... Your tires have flattened out (froze solid) just on the bottom and it takes a few miles for them to warm up and become circular again.

(CP'ers add more to this line if you are so inclined.)

[MelBridgeman]

the weather sucks period in canada, so hopefully thats not a huge prority. If it's not deep freeze temperatures, its cool cloudy and rainining year-round on the coast.

Personally i think Southern Alberta as the best weather of all the places i have lived, although Victoria is a close second - the weather in vancouver sucks big time don't believe the hype...unless you live way out in the burbs like white rock or chilliwack it isnt as bad.

Southern Alberta has the right amount of everything and the winters are alot milder than most think
________
MERCEDES-BENZ W111 SPECIFICATIONS

[Shin Pad]

My neighbour just moved here from California last year. She said she'd never go back.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by landshark

So can I stay at your place and and go to a game with you in one of your lower bowl seats? Hell, I'd even wear red (if only I could find a red Sharks shirt :-))

Really... great suggestions folks - all pretty obvious...

One other little thing I read... I was waiting for service work on my car at a toyota dealer. The only reading material was an ancient Motor Trend. Found an article about driving in rural ontario. This is americans writing mind you - they said all was going well on the little two lane road when they cought up to a gigantic motor home. THey figured like most americans would, that they'd be stucj behind the motor home forever.

BUT it pulled over at the first turnout. This doesn't happen in the states.

It's a lot of little things that are adding up to a very big thing.

BTW - I'd only consider the west. I'd like to know calgary and edmnonton, but I think it would take years to adjust to the weather.

Calgary and Edmonton are vastly different for weather. Edmonton is farther from the mountains and so does not get the benefit of all our nice warm chinooks, hence their winters are pretty cold and miserable. Really, I grew up in the middle of the prairies and winter in Calgary is a piece of cake compared to there.

[cgy2london]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

the weather sucks period in canada, so hopefully thats not a huge prority. If it's not deep freeze temperatures, its cool cloudy and rainining year-round on the coast.

Personally i think Southern Alberta as the best weather of all the places i have lived, although Victoria is a close second - the weather in vancouver sucks big time don't believe the hype...unless you live way out in the burbs like white rock or chilliwack it isnt as bad.

Southern Alberta has the right amount of everything and the winters are alot milder than most think

lol thats exactly how i feel. The constant rain and lack of run really gets to yah. No one believes me though when i mention vancouver having crummy weather, for some reason ppl tend to think bc is just canadas version of califorina

[stuck_in_chuk]

I've met many people from tropical places who now live in Calgary and are fine with the weather. I used to ride the bus with a neighbour from Bangladesh, and he said that he moved here in the middle of winter. It was tough for him, but now he loves it. He just wears a lot of clothing when it is really cold.

I moved out here from southern Ontario, and the weather here is really so much better.

You mentioned "I haven't voted FOR a candidate EVER (only against)" - seems to me you'd fit in here pretty well.

I seem to recall reading that Calgary is the Canadian city with the highest percentage of Americans. Just an interesting stat (if it's actually true).

[Vulcan]

When I moved to Calgary from the wet coast around Vancouver the first winter was pretty tough, especially working outside like I usually did, but my blood seemed to change and the cold didn't bother me as much after a year or two. In fact it was kind of invigorating and almost surreal.

[zukes]

If you move to Southwestern Ontario you get far enough away from Toronto, Detroit and Buffalo to avoid the crime and most of the pollution. We have warmer summers than Northern California and our winters are tolerable. We have maybe a week or two below 20F. We get lots of snow but it's usually on in the 20's. Lot's of golf, beaches (not the ocean mind you but Great Lakes aren't bad beaches) and for hockey you have Toronto, Buffalo and Detroit (all under two hours from London where I am)where you can go for weeknight games and Columbus and Chicago are only 5 hours away!

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

.......

BTW, you know it is REALLY cold when...
.... Your tires have flattened out (froze solid) just on the bottom and it takes a few miles for them to warm up and become circular again.

(CP'ers add more to this line if you are so inclined.)

You know it's cold when you take a deep breath and your nostrils freeze shut.

[Cowperson]

Coincidentally, stats in the paper the other day revealed 23,000 Canadians moving to the USA and 10,000 Americans moving to Canada in 2006.

There are about 85,000 American citizens living in Calgary . . . .8.5% of the population.

I've seen SO many great little movies with 'Film Board of Canada' or something like that as one of the funders.

Jeezus Christ, stay away from us!!!

Cowperson

[TheDragon]

Apparently, -20F is about -29C, which is usually about the coldest it gets in Winter here in Calgary. It's not freezing cold, by any means. At least not to someone who grew up in Saskatchewan, where it would routinely stay below -40C (which is also -40F) for a week at a time, and that's often without the Wind Chill factor.

Like mentioned before, we do get Chinooks in the wintertime, too, which is a weather phenomenon that can raise the temperature from -20C to -12C in an afternoon. They're lovely.

It's been a pretty hot summer this year, too. It's been hovering around 30C, (which according to my Celsius to Fahrenheit converter is 86F). It's dry heat, though. We don't have a large body of water to provide us with the humidity places like the West Coast or Toronto get via the Great Lakes.

Hopefully you'll find your answer, soon.

Originally Posted by Shawnski

BTW, you know it is REALLY cold when...
.... Your tires have flattened out (froze solid) just on the bottom and it takes a few miles for them to warm up and become circular again.

(CP'ers add more to this line if you are so inclined.)

-When your eyelids are prone to being frostbitten after 30 seconds of exposure because they're the only unprotected place of your wardrobe.
-Or, in related context; When your eyelashes freeze together when you blink, after your eyes tear up from stepping outside for the first time in anything colder than -35.

[JerzeeGirl]

Also landshark, you might want to think about options within Alberta - Medicine Hat is just 2.5 hours SE of Calgary and they are consistently a few degrees warmer, winter or summer, close enough to get to easily for some games, have a kick @ss WHL team in the Tigers, are benefitting from the economic boom in the province now, is a cheap place to live (under 80,000 people) and also get the chinooks that Deadmonton doesn't.

Keep in mind that in the past decade we've had more brown Christmases than white and that while it may snow it never seems to last anymore.

Also you know it's cold when your hair freezes white cuz you're exhaling on it and you've only been out for a couple of minutes.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I've seen SO many great little movies with 'Film Board of Canada' or something like that as one of the funders.

Jeezus Christ, stay away from us!!!

Hey, NFB films rule! Besides, why would you pay to rent an HD DVD from Blockbuster when you could borrow an NFB filmstrip from the public library for free?

[Sample00]

I moved from Calgary to a small community halfway between Edmonton and Jasper, biggest thing that I found is that, yes I miss the chinooks calgary gets. it breaks up the winter and cold temp a bit. BUT the biggest thing I noticed about living here rather than in Calgary is the lack of wind. I didnt realize it living in Calgary but Calgary always seems to have a wind/breeze blowing.
The wind kinda bugs me now as it seems to be constant. We dont have that here.

[Scrambler]

As far as weather goes, my recommendation would be White Rock/South Surrey BC. It's a lot drier down there, in fact about two times less rain than North Vancouver about 100kms north. Reason being that the closer you get to the North Shore Mtns, the rainier it gets. Even Richmond is a lot less rainy than Vancouver.

You're also only a couple miles from the USA and depending on the border wait, only a couple hours drive from Seattle. The summers there are nothing short of spectacular too.

[zukes]

Originally Posted by Sample00

to a small community halfway between Edmonton and Jasper

Hinton? Edson? Cadomin I will inherit property in Cadomin.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by zukes

Hinton? Edson? Cadomin I will inherit property in Cadomin.

Edson! Hinton's a dump!. Cadomin is beautiful!

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

BTW, you know it is REALLY cold when...
.... Your tires have flattened out (froze solid) just on the bottom and it takes a few miles for them to warm up and become circular again.

(CP'ers add more to this line if you are so inclined.)

...when you wake up to this on the weather network:

[zukes]

Originally Posted by Sample00

Edson! Hinton's a dump!. Cadomin is beautiful!

My great grandma had a place right by the Legion, now my grandmother and my dad and aunt all share it as a place to get away (I would too, but it's about a 4 day drive). My sister, one cousin and I will inherit. As a matter of fact my dad is heading there Thursday for the weekend.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

...when you wake up to this on the weather network:

I got cold just looking at that....

Honestly though I would day +5 in Victoria/Vancouver feels about the same because the wet cold chills you right to the bones, at least in Calgary with the dry cold you just have to cover your skin and you feel fine.

I hate the west coast winters!

I would take -40, sunny and snow over +5, gray and rainy any day!