Quebec: Coldest place on earth?

I live in Quebec, Canada where we have 4 distinct seasons. In summer time, we can easily reach 32 degrees Celsius and drop to a cold -32 degrees Celsius in the winter season.


You guessed it, we need a lot of clothing all year long to adapt the the different temperatures. If you ever come visit us, you will find that one of our favourite subject is weather.

I was wondering, with my girlfriend, if there were any other places in the world where they had such large temperature amplitude in a year. I did a bit of research on the web and came out with these results...


On average, Quebec has a thermal amplitude of 32 degrees Celsius. That means that the difference between the lowest and the highest temperature recorded in a year is around 32C. I doubt that number as as far as I can remember, it's more about 40-50 degrees Celsius but it may depend on how results were summarized. Anyway, comparing with other cities in the world was not really comforting...

Mexico, Mexico: 5,6 Celsius

Lima, Peru: 6.5 Celsius

Los Angeles, USA: 7.6 Celsius

Keflavik, Iceland: 10.7 Celsius

San Tiago, Chilli: 12 Celsius

Hong Kong, China: 12.6 Celsius

Paris, France: 15.6 Celsius

Zurich, Swiss: 18.3 Celsius

Stockholm, Sweden: 20.5 Celsius

Tokyo, Japan: 21.6 Celsius

New York, USA: 24.5 Celsius

Kiev, Ukraine: 25.2 Celsius

Moscow, Russia: 27.6 Celsius

Vologda, Russia: 30.2 Celsius

Quebec, Canada: 32 Celsius

Chita, Russia: 43.3 Celsius

From the major cites around the world, Quebec is one of the hottest and coldest place in the world. We need to compare with Russia to find worst than us.


To my fellow Québécois: C'est maintenant prouvé! Y fait frette au Québec!
(It's a fact! It's damn cold in Quebec!)

Patrick Balleux