If you haven’t been following my editorials lately, or if you have recently moved to Burns Lake, I should start by explaining that I am temporarily working from a distance. I’m in a foreign and magical place called Brazil (not so magical when you start reading the news though).
Having lived in both Canada and Brazil provides me with a unique - and sometimes funny – perspective on things.
Just last week, for example, I was watching a newscast in Brazil about the weather in the country’s biggest city, Sao Paulo.
As you know, it is now “winter” in the southern hemisphere (and I put that in quotes for a reason). The reporter was talking about the “freezing temperatures” in the city. Apparently, overnight, the temperature had dropped to 11 C, setting some kind of a record.
If you think this story can’t get any more ridiculous, just keep reading. The city was actually in a “state of alert” due to the “freezing temperatures.”
In Sao Paulo, whenever the temperature drops below 13 C, the city declares a state of alert so that city workers can encourage homeless people to find shelter. Of course that protecting homeless people is important, but the fact that the city uses the words “state of alert” for 13 C is just astonishing.
But wait, the story still isn’t over.
The reporter then went out on the streets to interview locals. Men and women, wearing only light sweaters, were also referring to the temperatures as “absurd,” and “freezing.” I should also mention that one of the men interviewed was only wearing a short sleeve T-shirt (at this point I was hiding my face behind a pillow, completely embarrassed).
As if that wasn’t enough, the reporter then decided to interview street vendors who were selling gloves, bennies and scarfs. And of course, lots of people on the street were wearing these accessories, including pets. After all, it was 15 C (Brrr).
But unless people lived in places such as the Great White North, they won’t realise how embarrassing that reporting really was. The truth is that those “freezing temperatures” reported in Sao Paulo were actually warmer than some parts of Canada in the middle of summer.
Just last week, St. John’s, N.L, had a high of 8.5 C, which was in fact two degrees lower than Canada’s northernmost weather station in Resolute, Nunavut.
The Canadian Red Cross has a chart that describes the effect certain temperatures have on people. Temperatures ranging from 0 C to -9 C are as described simply as a “slight discomfort.”
But when it comes to reporting on warm temperatures, Canada can be over the top too.
Vancouver, for example, was reporting “scorching temperatures” a few weeks ago when the forecast was of temperatures ranging from 25 C to 30 C. That was equally confusing to me because 25 C is pretty much the average high all year round where I grew up.
The report went on to advise people on how to avoid “heat stroke.” In Vancouver, a heat-wave policy takes effect when the temperature hits 27 C or higher for three or more days in a row.
Growing up in Brazil, unless people were practicing outdoor sports when it was over 40 C, you would never hear anyone talking about the risk of heat stroke. In fact, I must have heard about heat stroke only once or twice in my entire life.
It’s definitely funny to witness all these weather differences and watch how people from different countries feel and talk about them. I guess, in the end, it’s all about perspective.