I have noticed that some of you seem to be interested in the fact that we are in the midst of winter, or have winter at all, so today 5 Things Friday is about winter in South Africa:
1. Yes, we do have winter now- we are in the Southern Hemisphere thus have reverse seasons than any of you that live up in the northern hemisphere. Joining us is South America, Australia and Nieuw Zeeland.
2. We have a very short winter (we live in sunny South Africa after all), from about mid May until about the end of August and a very mild winter. In Pretoria where we live, the average minimum is about 3 degrees Celsius (37,4F) and the maximum about 19 degrees C (66,2 F). We sometimes do get nights that goes down to freezing point but the daytime temperatures are very comfortable. The lowest we get for daytime temperatures is around 13 degrees C - the lowest in history was earlier this year at 9 degrees C.
3. In Pretoria winter is our dry season - we might get one or 2 showers during the winter, but that's it. It gets very dry and dusty (and lots of sinusitis doing the rounds) at about August, before the spring showers. In the Cape winters are very wet.
4. Because the climate is so mild our houses (unless you are in the very top income group) are not heated. Therefore the winter is cold for the kids (and for me - I am not a winter person) - we have panel heaters in the kid's rooms and a gas heater in the living area. The rest of the house is not heated.
5. There is very little snow around in South Africa - the last time it snowed in Pretoria was in 1913! It does snow on the high mountains sometimes, but very seldom elsewhere. We have only one ski resort high up in the Drakensberg - they heavily rely on snow machines to add snow even in top snow season. The first time I saw snow apart from in the distance on a plane was at age 19 in Istanbul, Turkey.
What about summer/winter in you part of the world?
Playing along today: Nancy
This is so cool :) I love learning about other places - and you're so good about comparing them to something I'd know! LOL Like it's written just for me ;) heh
ReplyDeleteWinters here are far too long and summers far too short. Our temperatures hit extremes: mid 30s Celsius in the summer and similar on the minus side in the winter.
ReplyDeleteBecause the air is very dry, it's quite tolerable, but living near the mountains means that the weather can change without much notice. We've seen all four seasons here in a single day!
Hi! Thanks for the comment. Cute kidos!
ReplyDeleteI find it facinating that most people in SA don't have heat in their house. I guess it is the same reaction when we tell people that nobody in Alaska has air conditioning!
I'll be stopping by again!
Carrie