Here comes the rain again

Today was an amazing day. The sun was shining. Big, bright and yellow! I was driving around lunch time, window down, on a 11th of January. For me, this is so cool! I like it so much, I was laughing in my car. Probably because I know back in Quebec it is at least -10C. Here is a picture of today, at 1pm.

Photo from www.katkam.ca - great webcam site

I was so happy that I had to post a quick status update of Facebook about it.  Quickly I got jokes about the rain from east coast friends.  Yes, it does rain a lot during the winter saison and fall... and spring... and even summer.  Some people prefer the cold days of winter with more sunlight, some prefer warmer temperature with rain.  In the end, it is a question of preferences.

But I prefer Vancouver weather for 4 main raisons

Less extreme temperature

Over a year the temperature is more constant. Some people joke that Vancouver has only 3 saisons: summer, fall and spring.  It's kind of true. When you look at the Vancouver climate charts, you see that the temperature varies on average from 0C to 22C.  Where the Montreal climate chart shows a variation over a year of 42C (27C - -15C). I prefer less heat and less cold. 

Less drastic change of temperature

It seems like we see more wide change in temperature within 24 hours during winter in Quebec than it used to.  It could rain at 0C and the next day it would be -20C. Then it is icy everywhere. Terrible for roads and structure. Here is an example of the temperature over 24h the day we move from Quebec this past December 28th 2011.  I tried to find statistics to back this up, but I couldn't, except that TripAdvisor.ca mention 'Québec City is one of the top world cities for the variation in temperature observed within the same day in wintertime'.

Less humid during the summer

I hate humidity! All sticky and sweaty. Yuk! There is an average of 4.5 days with humidex above 30 per year in Vancouver compare to almost 45 days in Montreal. Way too many for me!

I go to the snow.  It doesn't come to me
I like snow and I don't mind the cold that much. But I definitely prefer going to the snow when I feel like skiing or snowshoeing rather that having to deal with it everyday.  When I want to have fun in the snow, I go to the North Shore mountains like, Cypress, Grouse or Seymour for some nice snow conditions or to Whistler for some amazing!

And to put things in perspective in regards to the rain, some interesting facts and statistics about the rain

• Montreal has a constant average of 80mm of rain throughout the year.  While in Vancouver the average is under 100mm, but it has 4.5 months, under 80mm, with 2, July & August, below 40mm, which make Vancouver's summer dryer than Montreal!
• There is also on average 1928 hours of sunlight per year in Vancouver, compare to 2028 in Montreal.  So there is only 5% more hours of sunlight in Montreal.

In the end it is a question of preferences and what is more aligned with who we are, what we like. And the older I get the more I know who I am and what I like.