Weather and Latitude are not allies

There is a popular assumption that if you move to higher latitudes (poleward), you can escape the heat, and moving to lower latitudes (toward the equator) can escape the cold.

The equation is simple. But is it true? If not, then the most northerly capital, Reykjavík, is also the coldest ... at least until they establish a country in Antarctica. Yes, it appears that latitude is slowing down and unable to keep temperatures in line.

This was brought home to me during the preparation of a radio interview in Dublin, Ireland. February had just roiled and I sat comfortably back in my good old Ottawa, scraping ice toes. I was giddy with enthusiasm for our hot spell, which has touched a peak of less-5 (which is about 20 degrees American). I always ask questions the day before an interview, learn a bit 'of my audience, so I asked the producer: "So what is the weather forecast in Dublin?" he asked.

"Oh, it's horrible," he told me. "People are preparing for a deep winter freeze that is supposed to hit tonight. You could also get cold as minus-5!"

This blows me away, that the people of Dublin would be worried about the thermometer falls as low as our high peaks. After all, it is not Dublin about the same latitude as Ottawa?

I pulled out my atlas of confidence. We live almost exactly on the 45th parallel. If we lived exactly on it, we should share our bed with a cow and a dozen chickens across the road - which is how close we are.

I turned the pages to find Ireland. I could have been mistaken? Dublin is actually south of us? No, it turns out that Dublin is on the 53rd parallel. Hey! They should be slightly cooler weather than us. This is not right.

The time is not right. Dublin is well north of us, so why not get all the cold?

I decided to take a peak at a few other pages of my atlas. And now Venice is also the 45th parallel. Let me tell you that ever the weather forecast calls for Venice buried in snow for three or four months of the year. In fact, the average temperature in January is +1 (which is about 34 degrees American).

Hmm. I was wondering what lay along the 45th parallel. The French Riviera. Not too much ice there. Portland, Oregon. I checked the weather forecast Portland. Yup, like Venice in January. Sevastapol, Urkaine, even in January temperatures near Venice.

Indeed, no other well-populated area of the world endures so much cold (except parts of Russia, but many of those people can not afford the taxi fare to go somewhere else).

Why do so many people with so much wealth to live in an inhospitable climate? I do not know. Perhaps we are waiting for latitude to correct this anomaly shortly.

Or maybe our brains are simply frozen. Or maybe that's why so many people around here in the south to enjoy the weather Orlando.