[E. McKie]

What do Americans really think the climate is like in Canada? Specifically, winter/summer temperatures (please state metric or imperial units), amount of snow/rain. In addition what percentage of the Canadian population do you think owns dog sledding teams? This question stems from both personal and second-hand experiences with American visitors to Canada. In the spirit of this site people from nations other than the United States are quite welcome to respond, but please state your country of residence and where you did your childhood education.

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Name : E. McKie, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Thunder Bay, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Geography/GIS Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Frank25172]

I was raised in Toledo, Ohio (very close neighbor to Ontario) so I know that places on the North side of Lake Erie(ie. Ontario) are not much different that on the South side in Ohio. Some people undoubtedly think nearly everyone in Canada uses dogsleds, just like they think nearly everyone in Alaska does. Surely, you do not expect many people in the US to understand temperatures in Celsius, do you? If you think they would, you need to learn more about the US. The bottom line is we (in both the US and Canada) probably have a lot of misconceptions about the other. Every time I go to Canada, I am surprised how similar we seem to be. If only we would get a U.S. equivalent of a Loonie so I could use a vending machine without having to carry so many quarters around.

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Name : Frank25172, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 56, City : Orange Beach, State : AL Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Steve27869]

Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, I believe that Canada's climate is probably, on average, colder than Ohio. I would guess 25 to 30C degree weather in summer, mostly freezing or below in winter. However, given Canada's size and straddling the continent like the US, while there is certainly no San Diego like areas, the weather likely varies quite a bit. My guess, seriously less than one in one thousand Canadians own dog sleds.

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[Dan27369]

I was born in north Los Angeles and have lived within 15 miles north of my birthplace my entire life. My idea of snow is going up to the mountains on a snowboarding trip and then coming back home before 9 p.m. where it's nice and warm. As for my perception of Canada, I guess it's warm enough in the summer (judging from the 3 days I spent in northern Idaho) but in the winter it gets down to anywhere from 30 degrees (0 C) to -30 (-50 something C, I think), on down to -80 (???). There's freezing ice storms, blizzards, 3 to 15 feet of snow, ice wherever there's pavement, etc. etc. I guess that would consitute a particularly bad winter, because that is based on real bad winters in South Dakota and Montana and New England. As for rain... a lot more than here in Southern California, that's for sure. The reason Americans think like this, I think, is because a lot of the Canadian lore we've heard takes place in the Yukon or Nunavat/Northwest Territories, or in the wilderness in the northern central portion (Yukon Jack, the Mounties, Nanuk of the North, etc.). I know that someone who lives in Detroit or Vermont would know a lot better than a California boy like myself.

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[Brian-B]

I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in southwestern Indiana. I imagine that a country as large as Canada has very diverse climates, though they're probably all colder than Indiana. While I can't really give exact numbers on precipitation, I would say that those parts of Canada which lie along the coast get as much rain/snow as the American states on the same coast. The further north you go into Canada, the more snow there is, until it gets too cold for precipitation. For the record, I doubt that many Canadians have dog-sled teams.

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[Stacee27901]

I can't respond exactly as you wanted, with exact units, because I don't normally give much attention to exact tempretures outside my own area. I would imagine most of Canada has four distinct seasons, perhaps with longer, harsher winters, like some of our northern states, like Washington state. (Keep in mind that when I talk about harsh winters I'm coming from a Texan perspective. Its January here, and we are in the upper 70's F) I believe small portions of Canada are closer to the polar regions, and so would be extremely cold. Canada is such a large country, it is hard to generalize. I would think that less that 1% of the population owns dog sled teams! That's like thinking everyone in Texas owns oil wells!

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[Robert L. Reed]

Most people think of Canada as a very cold place. We think that it is like -40C with wind blowing snow around in the winter. We think that it is very cool, like 10C in the summer time. We tend to think that the snow is 1 to 2 meters deep. We also tend to think that around 25% of Canadians use dog sleds.

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[Emily]

I'm from Minnesota, and I think that we and Canada share a lot of stereotypes. I've told people that I'm from Minnesota and they just say 'brrr.' I think I visualize Canada as moderately cold (0-20'F) with a lot of plains, and Toronto as large and gray. I also think that you're all into cultural studies because I had a Canadian teacher of that subject once. And I love your television shows (Red Green, Newsroom)!

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Name : Emily, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 18, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Honeylamb]

I'm originally from Wisconsin, so I'd imagine the weather is similar to ours, cold and wet in the winter with lots of snow; hot with some humidity in the summer, perhaps a heatwave or two. Thunder Bay, I would imagine, gets a lot of lake effect snow from Lake Superior. Of course, if I'm wrong, I'd like to know. I get a lot of cracks about Wisconsin weather too, if people ask where I'm from.

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[Shawn]

I was born in England but went through all of my primary and secondary schooling in the United States. I have never been to Canada but am looking forward to it. I've heard it is a very beautiful country. As Canada is a rather large country, and located in a temperate area, I would imagine it has a rather diverse climate, but I am assuming you want a generalization. I would imagine that Canada has mild summers (with temperatures averaging 65-75 degree F) and fairly cold winters (with temperatures averaging from below freezing to 40 degrees F). It would be very hard to generalize the precipitation. Coastal areas would be much more prone to precipitation than inland areas. As for dog-sledding teams, I doubt they are common occurances in urban/suburban areas, and are probably seen only slightly more in rural areas. (Perhaps as often as rodeo teams in Texas?)

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[sylphide]

Moderate, mild summers? Maybe in the Northwest Territories, but where I live, and even in places over 8 hours north of me, the average temperature throughout the summer is somewhere around 80 degrees, and it's not at all uncommon for it to reach over 100 degrees occasionally. You say you're not buying into stereotypes, but when you make 'generalisations' without even having been to the country, you're doing just that.

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Name : sylphide, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 18, City : windsor, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : student, Education level : High School Diploma, 

[Mike20424]

Ok, for starters, I have to address the 'metric or imperial units' thing. As an American, I have been taught that metric units, while being infinitely more simple and logical, are not worth using. I spent 2 years at one of America's top engineering schools (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue), and all of my physics classes used metric measurements because they make SO MUCH more sense mathematically. The funny thing is, I have NO CONCEPT WHATSOEVER of a kilometer or a kilogram. So I learned all this great knowlege of physics that means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to me. A falling object accelerates at 9.8 meters/seconds squared (my eyes slowly glaze over...) 'pssst...hey...that's also 32 feet/second squared.' OH! Now, as for Canada, as soon as you cross the border into Canada, the ground is covered in snow year round and all the architecture resembles either that of 19th century England or contemporary France. Nobody drives dog sleds though. That doesn't happen until you cross the border into Canada. Now, logically, I know that these perceptions are TOTALLY WRONG, but I can't shake em. These are my gut instincts when I think of Canada and Alaska.

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[Robert]

I had to chuckle when I heard the response of '0-20 degrees.' From personal experience, I can tell you that where I am the climate is moderate (slightly below to above freezing in the winter to 70 - 90 degrees in the summer). When I lived in Alberta, the extemes of temperature are much more noticeable (up to -30's in winter to 80 - 100+ in the summer). You have to remember also that the average province such as British Columbia or Alberta is very large (they would hold several states within their borders), so the variances will be large from the south to the north. By the way, the only place I have ever seen a dog sled team is in Alaska. I prefer my Ford Mustang.

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