Quote:
Originally Posted by north 42
Vancouver does not feel only 2 degrees cooler than Toronto in the summer though, it feels much cooler due to Toronto having much higher humidity levels.
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Yes, due to higher humidity levels, Toronto often feels more than 2 degrees hotter than Vancouver. (Toronto also feels a lot stickier and damper in the summer than Vancouver.) Remember, the point here is not that Vancouver is as hot as Toronto; it is not, and no one has claimed it is. The only point that has been made is that Vancouver is an incredible summer city which has a much hotter summer than some not-well-travelled, less-experienced Canadians grasp. Vancouver is certainly one of the sunniest and driest, if not
the sunniest and driest, major summer cities in Canada.
Now, you raise an interesting point regarding humidity. Despite sometimes feeling more than 2 degrees cooler on average than Toronto, Vancouver can feel much more summery in the following way. In Toronto, in order to escape, not the heat, but the high humidity, we often spend most of the day in very chilly, climate-controlled, air-conditioned environments, such as our offices, our cars, our houses, etc. A greater portion of the day goes by and we have spent it in an artificially freezing environment, hermetically-sealed off from the summer days and nights, sucking-in Freon more than fresh air.
In Vancouver, by contrast, where the heat is much drier, we don't generally rely on air conditioning. Thus, when driving, our windows are rolled down; when at home, our doors and windows are open. Even some office buildings in Vancouver have operable windows. Thus, the feel, the smell, the taste, the sounds, the
heat of summer is always flowing and circulating around us (and permeating into us) practically 24 hours a day. The spirit of summer is everywhere and inescapable--and we do not wish to escape it.
For that reason (and others) I find Vancouver to be a more summery, if not 2 degrees cooler, city than Toronto.
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