Why is Montreal so cold for its latitude?

[seriously disabled]

Montreal in the Quebec province of Canada is located at a latitude of 45°30′N and currently shows a temperature of -28°C.

 

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/CAXX0301?from=enhsearch_loc

 

In Zurich (Switzerland) which is even in a slightly higher latitude than Montreal (47°22′N) it's only 2°C.

 

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/SZXX0033?from=enhsearch_loc

 

I wonder why is Montreal so cold for it's latitude?

[Phi for All]

You can't use only current conditions to form any conclusions. The two cities are on opposite sides of the Earth. Have you looked up any yearly averages?

[DrP]

Just a guess here:- It's on a similar level with the UK, which gets a fairly varied temperate climate. Montreal isn't surrounded by the sea like the UK is - so it will be alot colder in the depths of a winter freeze. Also - the UK gets warmed up by the flow of warmer water from the gulf stream accross the Atlantic - where-as montreal doesn't.

 

Besides - you can't make a comparison based on instantanious temperatures - I think Switzerland can get pretty cold for the same reasons (Land locked -no gulf stream and altitude). It was -8C here the other night in the UK! (OK - that IS cold for us - it NEVER gets down to -28C)

[ecoli]

the UK is also warmed by the gulf stream.

[CaptainPanic]

Yup, ecoli is right. All of Europe is warmer than the east coast of North America. Not just Montreal.

 

Madrid is a the same latitude as New York. Madrid isn't exactly famous for its winters

 

The warm gulf stream comes from the south, and flows along the European coast, keeping even the Norwegian coast free of ice.

Wikipedia explains it in English, but I find the pictures in the Dutch version better.

[fleshy]

Also, at the time of the post, Montreal was in the midst of a cold spell that was partially caused by an Alberta Clipper dipping down and bringing some very cold air into the region. As other posters above said too, a lot the cold is caused by Montreal not being surrounded by any large areas of water like ocean. Europe gets warm air currents off the oceans.

[seriously disabled]

Also, at the time of the post, Montreal was in the midst of a cold spell that was partially caused by an Alberta Clipper dipping down and bringing some very cold air into the region. As other posters above said too, a lot the cold is caused by Montreal not being surrounded by any large areas of water like ocean. Europe gets warm air currents off the oceans.

 

But what is the cause of this Alberta clipper and other such cold fronts? For example in Israel we don't have cold fronts like in Florida during winter.