Calgary Weather is GREAT / Calgary Weather SUCKS

[killramos]

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As a born and raised Calgarian I don't suffer from this, the people that I know suffer aren't from here natively, I always wondered if that's the one of the reasons

As far as Calgary weather goes, I side on the sucks, I hate winter and cold. Even in the summer when it's warm, having to wear a jacket at night time is dumb
One of the guys I manage lives in Vancouver and this past winter had amazing weather, I'll take 5 days of rain and cloudy over 5 days of -40 temps and not being able to go outside without 10 layers

5 days of rain? Have you met Vancouver?

Also, are you a pimp!?!

[adam c]

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5 days of rain? Have you met Vancouver?

Also, are you a pimp!?!

Yes I've been to Vancouver many times, including the winter where the humidity goes through your clothes

I will take green and rain over not having to warm up my car, scrape off snow and ice, etc. I am not a winter person - skiing snowboarding snow cold, isn't for me

[Tik-Tok]

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As a born and raised Calgarian I don't suffer from this, the people that I know suffer aren't from here natively, I always wondered if that's the one of the reasons

My wife has lived here her entire life, and gets chinook migraines.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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It's less, but not all the way to dramatically less. They still get a shit pile of rain. 5+ consecutive days of solid rain more than once per year. That's worded poorly... Edit - it rains for five solid days with zero visible sun at least twice per year, in combination with the usual terrible amount of annual rain.
And it snows virtually every February, albeit for only 1-3 days.

I was just looking at the historical data and it does suggest it's dramatically less (nearly 2.5 times less):

http://victoriaweatherandclimate.blo...couver-or.html

[max_boost]

Got them for the first time two years back, very annoying but it was just a one time thing and I hope it stays that way

[bjstare]

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My wife has lived here her entire life, and gets chinook migraines.

My wife and I were both born and raised Calgarians, and we both get migraines from chinooks as well.

RE: OP - Calgary weather sucks. I think the okanagan is pretty ideal.

I thought weather on the west coast was better the first year I lived out there (Victoria), but by the time I was in my third year out there I was over it. I had to dress just as warm for +5deg winter weather as I did for -15 weather in Calgary. Also missing the sun entirely for like 5 months blows. Lastly, everything was always damp and mildew-ey. It was horrible. The west coast is a great place to spend a bit of time, and be able to leave when you want; living there is another story.

Also, Victoria gets considerably less rainfall than Van, but it's still always misty - enough that you have to wear a rain coat anyways. It might be "2.5x less precipitation" but, in reality it's not that different.

[revelations]

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One of the guys I manage lives in Vancouver and this past winter had amazing weather, I'll take 5 days of rain and cloudy over 5 days of -40 temps and not being able to go outside without 10 layers

Um, its the 6 months of grey and misery that get to a lot of people there. They have months with, literally, no fucking sun at all - talk about depression.

Also, its super fucking dark there at night in the winters thanks to the constant overcast and the water on the roads etc. absorb all the light. And I mean cant see your hand in front of your face.

Here with snow on the ground, you can see pretty much everything at night.

We dont get -40 here anymore thanks to climate change.
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Having said that, you have to like where you live. If your lifestyle is anti-snow/cold, then the west coast is more for you.

Also - I know people whose favourite weather condition is overcast - they LOVED it. Said it felt 'comfy' or 'cozy', among other descriptors. They loved the winters there.

[pheoxs]

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Um, its the 6 months of grey and misery that get to a lot of people there. They have months with, literally, no fucking sun at all - talk about depression.

Also, its super fucking dark there at night in the winters thanks to the constant overcast. And I mean cant see your hand in front of your face.

Here with snow on the ground, you can see pretty much everything at night.

We dont get -40 here anymore thanks to climate change.
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Having said that, you have to like where you live. If your lifestyle is anti-snow/cold, then the west coast is more for you.

Yeah, 5 days of rain and cloudy? Clearly never actually been to Vancouver.

And as for Calgary the last time we hit actual -40C was 1954 ...

Lowest Calgary temperatures (YYC airport reading) in each of the recent years:

Date Min °C
March 02, 2019 -31
February 09, 2018 -31
December 31, 2017 -31
December 08, 2016 -27
January 04, 2015 -26
March 01, 2014 -31
December 07, 2013 -30
January 18, 2012 -33
March 01, 2011 -30
November 23, 2010 -31

Most years we barely hit -30C here (ignoring BS windchill numbers that just sound scary)

[A790]

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Yeah, 5 days of rain and cloudy? Clearly never actually been to Vancouver.

And as for Calgary the last time we hit actual -40C was 1954 ...

Lowest Calgary temperatures in each of the recent years:

Date Min °C
March 02, 2019 -31
February 09, 2018 -31
December 31, 2017 -31
December 08, 2016 -27
January 04, 2015 -26
March 01, 2014 -31
December 07, 2013 -30
January 18, 2012 -33
March 01, 2011 -30
November 23, 2010 -31

Most years we barely hit -30C here (ignoring BS windchill numbers that just sound scary)

I mean we can split hairs re: the lowest temp, but the real point I think people are making is that Calgary has several weeks of deep freeze every year and that it sucks.

And it does.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Wasn't 2020 the worst year in a long time for extended cold? I feel like it was -25 to -35 or whatever for 2 weeks straight, but maybe it just felt like it haha.

[killramos]

Mid to late January and early feb was properly bad.

[adam c]

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I mean we can split hairs re: the lowest temp, but the real point I think people are making is that Calgary has several weeks of deep freeze every year and that it sucks.

And it does.

pretty much this

if we actually had 4 defined seasons, the weather here would be a lot more tolerable for me anyways

If grey, overcast, raining etc was trully as bad as people say, the coast of most countries wouldn't be as populated as they are, however places that do get cold are less likely to have population

[revelations]

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pretty much this

if we actually had 4 defined seasons, the weather here would be a lot more tolerable for me anyways

If grey, overcast, raining etc was trully as bad as people say, the coast of most countries wouldn't be as populated as they are, however places that do get cold are less likely to have population

Honestly, I dont know what you are on about. Its fine to dislike cold/snow, but lets be real here.

They do NOT have 4 seasons there. The west coast Canada is a mix of green and grey. Coniferous trees mainly. Ontario is a place that gets full on 4 seasons.

Its either raining/overcast for 6-10 months or sunny/drought/fires for 2-3 months with a mix in between.

For eg. In 1999 we literally had no summer in Vancouver as it was warm, but mostly overcast.

And people in GVRD complain about rain all the time, but very few do anything about it.

[pheoxs]

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Wasn't 2020 the worst year in a long time for extended cold? I feel like it was -25 to -35 or whatever for 2 weeks straight, but maybe it just felt like it haha.

Yeah, February set a record for the most days below -20 or something like that. But most of the days were in the -20 to -30 range. I was just trying to show that -30 is very rare and -40 is basically non-existent yet people often tout we have a lot of days like that.

Most of our 'cold snaps' are in the negative 20's.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Yeah, February set a record for the most days below -20 or something like that. But most of the days were in the -20 to -30 range. I was just trying to show that -30 is very rare and -40 is basically non-existent yet people often tout we have a lot of days like that.

Most of our 'cold snaps' are in the negative 20's.

That record cold snap was Feb of 2019. I'll talk about that for the rest of my life. Horrible!!
Feb 2020 was also shitty, but nothing in comparison to '19.

- - - Updated - - -

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I was just looking at the historical data and it does suggest it's dramatically less (nearly 2.5 times less):

http://victoriaweatherandclimate.blo...couver-or.html

Whatever. If we say the Indian Ocean is dramatically less volume than the Pacific, it's still an ocean.

[pheoxs]

One last piece to add. Vancouver averages 165 days per year of rain. So roughly half the year is rainy days, sounds pretty miserable. Though the recent decade has been a bit under average.

https://vancouver.weatherstats.ca/ch...in-yearly.html

[ExtraSlow]

Calgary is the sunniest large city in Canada, with average of 333 days of sun per year.
https://westernfinancialgroup.ca/The...aces-in-Canada

[firebane]

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One last piece to add. Vancouver averages 165 days per year of rain. So roughly half the year is rainy days, sounds pretty miserable. Though the recent decade has been a bit under average.

https://vancouver.weatherstats.ca/ch...in-yearly.html

Sure but of those 165 days how much rain actually falls that is substantial? And how much rain falls in say Burnaby? Coquitlam? Langley? Abbotsford?

People keep saying Vancouver.. but do they mean Vancouver city or the GVRD? Because there is a difference.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Calgary is the sunniest large city in Canada, with average of 333 days of sun per year.
https://westernfinancialgroup.ca/The...aces-in-Canada

I had to quit trusting weather stats years ago when I read that Victoria has whatever amount WAY the eff more sunny days than Edmonton. Or maybe it was hours of sunlight?
At any rate, it was laughable for someone who's lived in both places. The sun is barely around for MONTHS in Vic.
I find similar difficulty declaring atmospheric conditions for new project sites. There should be a resource that's rock solid, govt mandated accurate, but I don't know what it is.

[ExtraSlow]