5 international cities that share the Chippewa Valley's weather patterns

V1 Staff |

Welcome to Saskatoon, Canada, where the weather is just like ours.
Welcome to Saskatoon, Canada, where the weather is just like ours.

WQOW meteorologists Nick Grunseth and LeAnn Lombardo lent us their expertise in looking at cities around the world where people experience the same weather we do here in the good ol' Chippewa Valley.

1. Oslo, Norway

Oslo experiences summer and winter averages that match up most closely with Eau Claire’s own, and snowfall can occur between November to April, though most accumulation happens between January and March (sound familiar?). However, Oslo is known to be “outstandingly cloudy,” receiving only 37% of the total sunshine hours that could be received annually. There is a high Scandinavian population in our area – could ancestors of Chippewa Vallians have been seeking a similar climate?

2. Warsaw, Poland

Though Warsaw doesn’t see some of the extreme highs and lows that we do in the summers and winters, respectively, it does fit into the humid continental (Dfb) climate designation and, like us, sits above the 40 degree N latitude line. Warsaw’s flora and fauna are akin to our natural wonders, too; they boast lots of oxbow lakes and 13 nature reserves that are home to otter, beaver, and hundreds of bird species.

3. Uralsk, Kazakhstan

As it lays on the western side of the Ural River from Russia, this city technically lays on the European continent. The country itself is known for its dairy and wheat production, and is often speculated as the origin of the apple. The city experiences a similar annual temperature to ours, with summer and winter averages inching close to our extremes… but not quite.

4. Moscow, Russia

Moscow’s reputation for cold winters can lead people to believe the city is bleak. But much like Eau Claire, the Moscow landscape is peppered with parks, averaging a whopping 290  square feet of parks per person (while Paris only has 6, London 7.5, and New York 8.6).   While their highest-ever recorded temperature was 100 degrees (and we’ve sailed past that many-a-time this summer), their average annual temperature is 42 and ours is 44.

5. Saskatoon, Canada

Here’s another member of the Dfb clan (humid continental climate), a mostly flat place that can match – or exceed – our extremes. Summer months can bring on thunderstorms and possible tornadoes, while winter brings snow that can only be described as blizzard. The growing season is narrow at mid-May to mid-September, so they’re missing out on that October pumpkin patch season that defines our Autumn.