London Summers and Brisbane Winters Compared and Continued…

If this were a game of football in the World Cup or in any competition, it would be a fantastic match. End to end, as they say.

GoalieWhat am I talking about?

Yes, my annual midwinter post where I compare Brisbane’s weather with that of London where, of course, it’s the middle of summer. It’s a pretty simple concept, at some point in the middle of July, usually the 15th, during the middle of winter here in Australia I compare Brisbane’s weather, the temperature, whether it’s raining or not and if the sky is blue or grey, and I compare it with the same weather conditions at the same time of the same day back in London.

The city with the hottest temperature usually wins, although cloud cover and rainfall can sway it when it’s close. This is the seventh such comparison, and what have we had so far?

Here’s a re-cap:

2014 Brisbane winter versus London summer

As I flew back on the plane from Singapore early Sunday morning I heard news that suggested that this year’s battle of the temperatures would swing London’s way as the captain announced that on Saturday, Brisbane had its coldest day for 103 years.

He was right, but to truly experience the coldest that Brisbane has to offer, you need to get up early in the morning. Temperatures hit 2.6°C at around 7 AM on that day, which accounts for that record low, but the Mercury soon start rising throughout the day.

By early afternoon tops are usually removed and T-shirts and shorts are all that are required as temperatures usually reach 20°C or thereabouts, so I also knew that if London could have a bad day, Brisbane could still scrape by.

The result:

Brisbane; Australia: Tuesday, 15 July 2014 at 1 PM

Brisbane weatherHmm, 21°C, not bad, we’re in with a chance.

London; England: Tuesday, 15 July 2014 at 1 PM

London weatherDoh! It’s a scorcher in London, just look at that! 24°C!

And what’s this, it’s going to get hotter? 28°C and 29°C by the end of the week? It’s a heatwave!

Get the salt tablets.

The score:

It’s another emphatic victory for London; the latest score is now…

Brisbane 3 London 4

It’s not over yet though, more next year.

What about winter weather in the rest of Australia?

I thought you’d ask, so here you go:

Australia's winter weather

 

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{ 17 comments… add one }
  • BobinOz July 20, 2014, 9:22 pm |

    Yes, but where’s the fun in 7-0? That’s why I decided to pitch Brisbane’s winter against London summer, it’s turned out to be a pretty exciting contest.

    Andy, wait till you acclimatise, and your kids, they won’t be swimming in winter here for too many years to come. Believe me, I’ve been here just over six years now, and each year I redefine what is hot and what is cold.

    • Mike July 20, 2014, 11:06 pm |

      Very true Bob (with the fun of 7-0)… after all, its not like a Germany v Brasil football game…. ooohhh, its too easy 😉

      And very true with regards to acclimatising – once you get used to the climate here in Australia its all water off a ducks back…

  • john July 19, 2014, 6:14 am |

    From my perspective, give me Brisbane any time, the sooner I can get over to OZ the better! Anywhere north of Hadrian’s Wall the stats would be 7-0 in favour of Brisbane!

    • Mike July 19, 2014, 6:27 am |

      😉

      And Brisbane is handicapped with being recorded in their winter….

      I tend to concur, eve though I live in Melbourne I had a FIFO role in Brisbane a few years back and I too would give Brissie a 7-0 score.

  • Andy Bowles July 19, 2014, 12:17 am |

    Mike – can I offer a little perspective from a recently (18 month arrived) Pom? It is all relative…As you know, it is grey and drizzly quite a bit in the UK, so 25+ deg C is quite something, it tends to get airtime at office watercoolers, and as the dial approaches 30 deg C, it will become a national news item talking point! What doesn’t get talked about much is milder weather, or 5-12 deg C. That is just the norm for Oct to Mar, no dramas. What I find over here (I am Sydney based) is that folk are very aware when the needle dips below about 15 deg C. Lots of talk about how cold it is, meanwhile I cycled to work in shorts and a T, wondering what all the fuss is about!! And on the matter of temp, it is odd that for such a beautiful country with so many (many!!!!) lovely beaches, so many Aussies refuse to go in the ocean in the Autumn / winter / spring if the water temo isn’t a tropical 25++. My hardened Pommie boys (8 and 10) were swimming and surfing in the ocean near Myall Lakes a couple of weeks ago!
    Having said all that, I do like the climate here, it is just so different to UK! But oddly, I miss the seasons in the UK where in my view, they are more pronounced, Autumn leaves, winter snows etc.
    Andy

    • Mike July 19, 2014, 12:43 am |

      All fair and valid points Andy.

      I think the reason why we don’t see more Aussies going to the beach is, well, its always there and we forget how lucky we are…

      It still makes me laugh when I hear my aunt and uncle talk about 30c degree days – they have been to Australia too, many times… Personally, I just love to $hitstir them!

      Glad your enjoying Australia mate. Don’t spread the word too much to your mates back home though, we will be invaded by Poms 😉

      • djmcbell July 22, 2014, 10:42 pm |

        In the UK at the moment we are anticipating 30 degree-plus temperatures, and it just seems pretty unbearable.

        I have honestly no idea what it is – maybe the humidity or something – but 30 degrees here really doesn’t seem the same as 30 degrees elsewhere, like America. But in any case it really is hot. I’m in an office at the moment with no air conditioning and we can’t open a window (government building, I think they fear someone will chuck a bomb in if someone opened a window) and nice, thick glass which magnifies the heat.

        As much as we Brits do moan about the weather, you give us something like this (which isn’t all that much by international standards, I’ll concede) and it will – and has – be put into the news as a huge heatwave, causing deaths (none so far that I’ve heard of, but it’ll come), warping road surfaces etc. Same with snow, and just about any weather you throw at us. I just don’t think we Brits are made for weather apart from “damp and dismal”, and even then it’ll flood (though interestingly there has been some flooding in the last few days, though it’ll take the south flooding again before David Cameron shows any hint of interest, just like before).

        I do sometimes wonder whether, if I did live somewhere like Australia, if I’d just go mad without the occasional bit of awful weather.

        • BobinOz July 23, 2014, 10:02 pm |

          The UK isn’t really geared for a ‘heatwave’, as you say, no air conditioning. I shouldn’t think there are many offices here that do not have air conditioning. But don’t worry about going mad here, when Australia has awful weather, they really do have awful weather! You’ll get your fix every now and then, that’s for sure.

          And then it will be hot and sunny again 🙂

          • Hilary July 29, 2014, 7:06 am |

            Yes, it’s certainly been a heatwave here in the UK, we’ve got up to 30C plus in some inland parts. I think the difference here is that it always comes with relatively high humidity, given that we’re a small island surrounded by water, and that makes it uncomfortable, for me anyway. When I was in WA/Perth and Melbourne it was hotter but low humidity so I found it much easier to carry on as usual. And yes, we’re not geared up for strong sun over here, no shaded pavements in towns and although many more large shops and cafes have aircon now, sometimes it’s not working. Not all cars have aircon as standard, certainly not older ones so they turn into mobile microwaves. Our housing is built for a generally cold climate, insulated walls, smaller windows and not much open-plan, so they tend to act like storage heaters during the evenings/night belting out the heat from the daytime. Add to that our general overcrowded-ness in towns and cities compared with Aus and it makes for people getting more stressed than usual trying to ‘cope’ with the heat.

            I live on the south coast and swim in the English Channel from late June to September, water temp by then is about 16/17C. Can’t hang around, just have to keep swimming. Water is still warm Sept/Oct but the wind gets up and makes for a big swell, the sky turns grey again and the lifeguards leave the beach, not so appealing.

            Today we had big storms, thunder, torrential rain and hail which covered patios with ice, flooding and lightning strikes halting train services. Temp has now dropped and that’s probably the end of our summer!

            • BobinOz July 29, 2014, 5:38 pm |

              You’ve made some good points here Hilary, especially the one about the houses. Houses here in Brisbane are much bigger, certainly more open plan and carpets are very rare, most people opt for tiled floor or wooden floor, much cooler.

              Fans on the ceilings are common as is air conditioning in many houses.

              As for swimming in the sea when it 16/17°C, gosh! I’m not sure what the sea temperature is like when I get in it here, but I would imagine 25° C plus and my swimming pool, I tend to wait until it reaches 28° C to 30° C before I’m interested in jumping in.

              You are very brave 🙂

              Cheers, Bob

              • Hilary July 29, 2014, 8:03 pm |

                Haha, think it’s more desperate than brave, nice to have a free swim in my lunch-hour. Soon be a thing of the past though, hoping to have warmer water to jump into very soon…!

                • BobinOz July 30, 2014, 7:54 pm |

                  You will be able to swim all year round…….. until you acclimatise, and eventually you will.

                  • Mike July 30, 2014, 10:44 pm |

                    Everybody acclimatises Bob, eventually.
                    But, still, you put a Queenslander in Melbourne this time of year and they instantly know they have it good up in Queensland.

                    • BobinOz July 31, 2014, 11:22 pm |

                      I went to Melbourne in the middle of summer at the beginning of this year, that was brisk enough for me 🙂

  • Mike July 18, 2014, 10:25 pm |

    I have family living in Doncaster (UK) who claim that England is experiencing a heat wave. When I ask them what the temperature will reach, I laugh at them because its something like 32c?

    In Melbourne (where I am) even 42c would not be considered a heat wave, while I have absolutely no doubt that most British would be demanding a day of work, finding an air conditioned room, or a swimming pool to soak in all day… and I’m not bashing the Brits here – I am simply talking fact.

  • djmcbell July 17, 2014, 12:58 am |

    Here in the UK we’re to expect a right scorcher over the next week or two. That said, I don’t really trust weather forecasters over here so I thoroughly expect it to freeze over any second, and for hordes of evil ice-pixies to emerge from potholes and start poking people in the bum with pitchforks from B&Q.

    • BobinOz July 18, 2014, 1:18 pm |

      Well, we’ve certainly got snow and ice in certain parts of Australia at the moment, I don’t think you’ll be troubled by it this week though, no matter how inaccurate some weather forecasters are.

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