At least in NZ - can’t put us together with Aussies as I have no idea what their housing is like comparatively never having lived there.
Our temperatures may not look cold at first glance - in point of fact they would be roughly comparable to Amy’s at the moment; we are in Autumn, she is in Spring.
Many people reading will be noting their local temperature and mentally comparing it without taking into consideration cultural / lifestyle differences. New Zealand lags far behind many western countries with our housing energy efficiency standards. A high proportion of our houses are lacking in insulation, few have double glazing, and only 5% have central heating (frankly I was amazed it was that high!). So whereas many of you are looking at a temperature that you only have to venture out into for short periods before returning to a warm indoors (unless you happen to have a streak of stubborn insanity in your family aka The Yarn Harlot with her family heating wars *vbg*) we are looking at the temperature that we actually live in.
The World Health Organisation recommend an indoor temperature of 18 C. In Winter I doubt we ever attain that. Apparently the average indoor temperature in NZ during Winter is 16 C - and that is in the living room which is generally the most heated room in the house. In our case it is a damp indoor temperature - with terrible condensation on the windows which sometimes I get the chance to wipe down, and sometimes I don’t. I used to do that religiously every morning - I often don’t have time anymore but probably do it about twice a week.
Many mornings when we walk out our front door it is, bizarrely, warmer outside than in. In winter it is common to be able to see our breath - inside - all day. Because we are in a valley we only get a max of 2 hours sun on our house in mid winter. Given that it is Winter sun this does not warm the house much at all - in point of fact we often have the curtains pulled and the
In addition, in Wellington we have another factor that doesn’t automatically show up in temperature readings… the Southerly. Wind straight from Antarctica, These are quite common at this time of year and can make a major difference to temperatures when they are windchill adjusted.
We have thermal lined curtains. We have underfloor insulation. We have ceiling insulation. No wall insulation though. No central heating. No double glazing. We rely on one electric heater in our living room, a dehumidifier in the hall which valiantly tried to remove some water from our air, and a smaller electric heater in one of the kid’s bedrooms.
So while snow is deeply abnormal in our corner of NZ the temperature is cool and, more importantly, it is not just outside - it is inside our homes as well. The temperature is something that catches many visitors by surprise. They read the temperature range without understanding the background and bring their cultural experience to bear, and as a result do not have adequate clothing - good for our economy though as they buy more stuff here. *g*
Incidentally - it’s warmer here today - our high and low for last 24 hours was:
13.4°C at 1:16 PM
7.1°C at 9:00 AM
Although where we are would be a little below those temperatures.
Frosty seed head - in our garden last Winter.
I promise I won’t be obsessed with the weather - just had to reply to Amy’s comment yesterday as I hear variations of the same comment all the time, but I also know from talking to people who have moved here or are visiting from the US, UK, Europe, just why that perception happens and why even friends who visited from Alaska were taken aback at the cold here. Also FTR studies have also shown that NZers tend to hold off on turning on any heating at all until much later than most Western nationalities - which really makes us rather stupid - but I imagine cost is a factor.
