November 18, 2015tinyexpats

Expat weather impressions or why I love Czech climate

There’s no way around it, I have to say it – climate in Czech Republic, and in particular in Pardubice, is amazing! (In my humble opinion, but it is my blog in the end, so I can say whatever I like here ;). If you feel like experiencing proper seasons with hot summer, cold winter and proper spring and autumn – this is the right place! So far I got to experience some rather different climates, let’s compare:

  1. I love London as a city – lots to do, great atmosphere, beautiful architecture and parks. London weather – meh. It’s not like it’s very difficult to deal with, you just need wellies and umbrella, but I can’t say that such amount of clouds and rain is something I would gush about.
    I’ve got to say, though, that I love spring in London; it comes early and with a lot of blooming trees around. Or maybe it’s just me being romantic – when we started dating with my husband, we used to go for long walks in St. Johns Wood with magnolias and jasmine lining the streets.. Ok, I do have a special place in my heart for London, rainy or not.

2. Hamburg, I would say, has similar weather conditions to London. Although, we got lucky and the last two winters we spent there, out of 4, were really snowy and beautiful, that was considered very unusual by all the locals. Those were the 2 winters we already had our first baby with us, so it was really cool to be able to take her sledging and walking knee deep in snow. Otherwise – quite often rainy and grey. Didn’t experience any weather shock after moving from UK.

3. Shanghai. You can describe Shanghai’s weather with two words – humidity and smog. Smog is not exactly a weather condition, but it is an unavoidable condition of life in Shanghai. I tried not to think of what our lungs looked like after breathing all that grey residue for a while.
There’s a rainy season in summer and a very windy season in winter. It gets very very hot in summer and not so cold in winter, not below 0, but add to that strong winds and high humidity and you get what feels like an extremely chilly winter. Plus no central heating. Plus single glazing.
If you plan a visit to Shanghai – go there mid autumn or mid spring. Otherwise, good luck surviving in an oven or trying to keep warm with air con (my eyes hurt just remembering how the air feels, when you heat up the room with air con; floor heating – the best, but available only in some apartments).

4. Moscow. I’m sure many of you would think of a long and cold winter, when hearing the name of this city. And you would be right – our first winter in Moscow started right at the beginning of November (snow, below 0 temperatures – full package) and ended in April. The snow did not melt for 5 months at all, no warmer spells. While we were happy to play with the snow for the first couple of months, the novelty lost its appeal by end of March.
However, cold winters are something I can be ok with as I’m coming from Ukraine, so it’s not like I’m not used to them. It was long spells of grey days that really got to me. Summer, autumn, winter or spring – does not matter which season, it would get really cloudy and last like that for weeks. Trying to feel positive and upbeat was getting pretty hard at times.

5. Pardubice. I fell in love with CZ weather from the start. We arrived here in May and everything was already green and blooming. The summer, although, with some cold spells, got hot and really felt like summer! Winter was very mild with just a bit of snow, but they do get plenty of snow in the mountains, just a short drive away from pretty much any point in CZ. And autumn.. We had some rainy days, but apart from that – just take a look:

It’s not like you would choose your expat destination based on weather, of course, there’re more important aspects to consider. But let’s face it, it always helps to have beautiful days outside :)

Expat Life Linky

14 comments

  2. I am all about the weather affecting how much I really like a place! #CaliforniaProblems
    I’ve become more adaptable to cold since moving to Europe, but I’m always at my best with a sunny sky and 20 degrees! Love the photos, and amazed at how beautiful your part of CZ is!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I remember fantastic distinct seasons when I lived in Prague as a kid, you’re right the CZ Rep has a good climate. Where I live now has the most amazing climate, 300 days of sun and very rarely bad weather for more than a few days at a time and very rarely the greyness you speak of in Moscow and London. The Côte d’Azur is rightly famous for its beautiful light and blue skies all year round. At the moment the temp is hovering around 18°c with plenty of sun and yet autumn colours in the trees. Can’t get much better than that! #expatlifelinky

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. I always think the weather is a very underrated issue for expat life. I don’t mind the tropics (NIgeria, Venezuela, Malaysia) but the lack of seasonal variation does get dull after a few years. There is wet/dry but that is about it and in Nigeria and Malaysia at least the dry season is not much drier than the wet! Here in Malaysia we have the Haze season as well which is just truly unpleasant.

    The winters in Norway were just depressing, we were by the sea so very little snow but when it came it was wet. The rest of the time it was just grey and dank, like the UK on acid. The UK and the Netherlands have wonderful summer days but set in a sea of miserable rain. I think Autumn is my favourite time in northern Europe but Czech republic looks like it does Autumn particularly well.
    .
    Kazakhstan was both cold (very very cold) in the winter and hot (very very hot) in the summer but dry almost all the time so the heat and cold were not oppressive. We also had lovely blue skies (the very best I have ever seen) which made up for a lot, I think I would have found grey skies and cold too depressing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I think, I would’ve found Norway difficult to deal with as well! I have friends who live in KZ right now, in Almaty. They’re happy that it’s rarely windy there, but on another hand – you get all the smog trapped between the mountains.
      Weather’s definetely important for me :)

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Weather is certainly a concern, if you are used to sunshine, rain and gloom might ruin it for you. But I think we can all adjust a bit when it comes to temperature. I’m still getting used to the wind and rain of Amsterdam. It’s still a great city to live in though :)
    #ExpatLifeLinky

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Oh, no central heating sounds tough – we did not have central heating in Shanghai and were either freezing or frying up with heaters. But I’m sure Portugal has other positive sides that outweigh this problem :)

      Like

Leave a comment