The Finns and temperatures

+15°C / 59°F
This is as warm as it gets in Finland, so we'll start here. People in Spain wear winter-coats and gloves. The Finns are out in the sun, getting a tan.

+10°C / 50°F
The French are trying in vain to start their central heating. The Finns plant flowers in their gardens.

+5°C / 41°F
Italian cars won't start, The Finns are cruising in cabriolet cars.

0°C / 32°F
Distilled water freezes. The water in Vantaa river (in Finland) gets a little thicker.

-5°C / 23°F
People in California almost freeze to death. The Finns have their final barbecue before winter.

-10°C / 14°F
The Brits start the heat in their houses. The Finns start using long sleeves.

-20°C / -4°F
The Aussies flee from Mallorca. The Finns end their Midsummer celebrations. Autumn is here.

-30°C / -22°F
People in Greece die from the cold and disappear from the face of the earth. The Finns start drying their laundry indoors.

-40°C / -40°F
Paris start cracking in the cold. The Finns stand in line at the hotdog stands.

-50°C / -58°F
Polar bears start evacuating the North Pole. The Finnish army postpones their winter survival training awaiting real winter weather.

-60°C / -76°F
Korvatunturi (the home for Santa Claus) freezes. The Finns rent a movie and stay indoors.

-70°C / -94°F
The false Santa moves south. The Finns get frustrated since they can't store their Kossu (Koskenkorva vodka) outdoors. The Finnish army goes out on winter survival training.

-183°C / -297.4°F
Microbes in food don't survive. The Finnish cows complain that the farmers' hands are cold.

-273°C / -459.4°F
ALL atom-based movement halts. The Finns start saying "Perkele (=damn), it's cold outside today."

-300°C / -! 508°F
Hell freezes over, Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

[ November 14, 2002, 12:23: Message edited by: Viking ]

Bah the finns have a nice dry cold with little or no wind, they should come to the southern parts of Sweden where the -10 degrees is accompanied with a moist blowing gale from the northern sea ;)

That's the same in the UK too.

I've been in roughly zero degrees here which feels worse than -15 to -20 in Norway.

Humidity is a *****.

[Edit - I didn't think female dog was declared a swear word, but there you go. Live and learn]

[ November 14, 2002, 11:58: Message edited by: Viking ]

That is Vantaa river.
We must have breaks outside at school at -32 Celsius
Our outdoor physical education lessons (soccer) stop at -17 Celsius.

[ November 14, 2002, 12:16: Message edited by: Taza ]

Sorry about the Vantaa, that's what you get for cutting and pasting emails liberally.

Outside for breaks at -32! I think the case is proven! In the UK the schools would be closed at half that.

Come on, you can go farther than that! What are you, scared? Here in Canada, I'd say we should go to -750 C.

We have a +30 C at summer... but we use t-shirts at +10 C sometimes... It is rare here to the schools to be closed, but there was -60 C when they were (thank god i do not live in lapland).

You stop barbequeing at -5°C / 23°F?
Candy asses. :p

[ November 14, 2002, 22:33: Message edited by: Jack Funk ]

Bah! When it is cold, you can always put on more layers, but what about the heat??

Ya'll come on over to South Texas, you durned cold-weather sissy babies. You will be screaming for a bath in a tub of ice water when I am just deciding that it is finally warm enough to use the air conditioner in my truck.

I'm originally from Alaska and I still work there seasonally. We used to have a couple sayings about Texas. One was we pointed out that if you divided Alaska in two and made it two states Texas would then be the third largest state.

The other was if you wanted to find Texas walk south until you smell it and east until you step in it. ;) A lot of Texans used to go to Alaska, so these things were bound to come up.

I work in the salmon industry in bristol bay and longlining in the bering sea. Coldest temp I've been out in in the bering is probably about -20 with 30 to 40 mile gusts and 15 foot swells. The place I work in bristol bay records temps at -50 below during Jan. Lowest temp I've heard is -68 in Fairbanks. Weird thing about Fairbanks is it can hit over 100 in the summer.

EDIT -- check that, McGrath Alaska hits -75 or so.

[ November 14, 2002, 23:11: Message edited by: Laches ]

Bah, bet it doesn't rain in Finland like Syracuse. :p I don't see tree-uprooting storms and torrential downpours anywhere. But then again, I suppose it's because you have to deal with falling sheets of ice. :p

(Yes, I'm aware that 'Cuse is in New York, not Maryland. So what? I used to live there. :p :rolleyes: )

@Laches:

Ouch! That stings! :cry:

Besides, we can't help the smell...

I did check the temperatures... next to my bed 16.7 C (indoors)... no more breaks outside -25 C (they changed it)... Final barbecue at -20 C... "Real winter training" at -55 C... -40000000 C Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest... Hotdog stands at -45 C... -30 C people in finland go swimming (in lakes)...

Next to my bed it's 15,4 righ now. And we had to have a break outside at -32 C. And at winters, when we have gymnastics, we have to be inside. It's just that to get to the building we have gymnastics to walk over 3 km.. :rolleyes:

It's scary watching my grand-aunt go swimming when it's -10 outside. Then againg, she does have a huge layer of fat on the outside, ahem.

Dudette_, that's called a 'whale'. ;)

And Viking, I wonder what your underwear felt like after drying it outdoors at -20*C.

LMAO! That is class! Have you got any more such posts on other countries?

I dunno 'bout Finland.

But there's some Dutch girl that keeps wanting to talk to the about G-Spots on ICQ.

Euroeans are strange in general...

Oh oh, gimme her adres and I´ll explain her :1eye:

P.S. thank god im an European and not some weird euroean

[ November 19, 2002, 14:07: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

That's really cool (geddit :lol: ). I heard it before on a radio programme about Scottish weather

Teeny
(***** English Weather)

Morgoth,
I'm not quite sure if it's a GIRL talking bout her Gaffenheimer. There are quite some freaks on the net, pretending and such....
:D

You guys are complaining about cold!? Let me tell you about the city I live in (Ribeirão Preto, SP)! It's so @#*%ing hot, that if you die, you have to take a blanket to hell! You can't stop sweating. When it rains, you feel as if you were cooking in steam. The "winter" lasts like a month and the lowest temperature I've ever seen here is like 16ºC. Today it's about 35°C. I'm in underwear only, and still feeling hot. But this whole thing made me come to a conclusion... I'm moving to Finland.

@MoN

Like you?? ;)

[ November 19, 2002, 16:04: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

Must be the only Spanish guy here, so I feel like I have to say something...

We only wear gloves when it goes down 14ºC (like today) :D :p :D

Gloves at 14C!!! :eek: A few days ago it was -21 C here, and I still didn't use gloves! Wimp... ;)

You know what's cold for a Southie like me?

Picture this -
Midwinter - coldest winter in Scotland for about 5 years - going swimming in the sea up there when you are 6 and wearing a very thin costume

You know when its cold???

When a pinguin knocks on your door and begs for a cup of warm soup. :D


Liquid Nitrogen is pretty cold too.

My favorite Finnish weather joke:

It was a freezing day everywhere in Europe. - 15 C in Rome. -20 in Paris. Copenhageners were shivering at -35 C, Moscowites at -40. Yet, a small weather station in Finnish Lapland reported a temperature of -9 C. A journalist called in to investigate.

"Weather Station Alpha," answers a gruff voice.

"Is it true that the temperature up there is -9 C?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Really!? It's way colder in Copenhagen. Heck, it's -15 C in Rome, for crying out loud!"

"Uh? They musta gone outside to measure it."

Yep, us Finns are a toubgh nut to freeze... And hey everyone, I am still alive... Not frozen to death.

It's´-20 outside and I'm still not wearing a coat :p

(Insanity factor A)

Ara,

Of course you're not wearing a coat. Get's in the way when you're barbequing don't you find? :)

From what I've seen of Finns commenting, I have to say that to a degree the truth is out there. (Shivering it's arse off at -54 in the Finnish winter....)

Sorry I can't provide a similar observation for any other countries, but haveing seen the extreme, nothing else would really impress?

On a sidenote: You actually *can* dry your laundry outdoors in winter. In fact the colder the better.

I think it's called sublimation or something... Anyway, I don't think that everybody knew this so I decided to post a reply.

And some of you are right, wind and humidity are far worse enemies than the plain temperature.

I've seen the exact same (well, OK, the names were changed) email about Canada. Believe every word.

This Florida gal is getting cold just reading this topic!

Well, once we had -11 inside. Cold to sleep that time...
It is getting really cold here when Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

EDIT:
Btw, Perkele is the finnish translation for satan.
It is like: Hell, it is cold here.

[ November 21, 2002, 15:11: Message edited by: Taza ]

Lol! Loved that post. Sometimes I really am proud to be a Finn. :D

Don't have anything to add to that post. Clearly a show of better taste than the Brittish article concerning Finnish football I read a few months back. Afterall, you DO know we don't have polarbears in Finland don't you? We have no reindeers or other larger winter (or summer) animals running around in our capital city either. And no, Finland is not located somewhere between Russia and China. (these were not referring to the article, no-one is that stupid and the article actually was written without sarcasm) You'd be amazed to know what I've actually heard and seen people ask about Finland, quite seriously at that... Damn Americans. :rolleyes: ;)

Well, in Canada in some towns we *do* get elk and polar bears strolling the streets in winter, so maybe you borrowed part of our reputation?

Lol! Loved that post. Sometimes I really am proud to be a Finn.

Don't have anything to add to that post. Clearly a show of better taste than the Brittish article concerning Finnish football I read a few months back. Afterall, you DO know we don't have polarbears in Finland don't you? We have no reindeers or other larger winter (or summer) animals running around in our capital city either. And no, Finland is not located somewhere between Russia and China. (these were not referring to the article, no-one is that stupid and the article actually was written without sarcasm) You'd be amazed to know what I've actually heard and seen people ask about Finland, quite seriously at that... Damn Americans.
And where is Finland? On the NorhPole mwhahaha :D

[ November 21, 2002, 19:57: Message edited by: JC Denton ]

Damn Americans You know, it is not like other countries are the only subjects of American Stupidity. Other Americans are also subjects to our own stupidity.

EX - I live in Texas, and you would not believe how many people actually think we are still living in the wild wild west - walking around like a Clint Eastwood movie decked out in six-shooters, ponchos, and spurs. And we don't all ride horses to work, either.

So don't feel special for being a subject of internatinal ignorance. :)

I know this has nothing to do with this topic, but Forashi's msg remembered me of a recent research done among young people of different countrys and it the results show that 6 out of 7 young americans don't even know where Iraq is located. But 34% could say where the island from "Survivor" was located! Shame on you guys!

[ November 22, 2002, 03:46: Message edited by: MauricioEiji ]

Posted by: JC Denton
And where is Finland? On the NorhPole mwhahaha :D My point exactly. :p

Posted by: Fallstaff
So don't feel special for being a subject of internatinal ignorance. :) Oh no, no way I'd feel special. But I do feel pity. Especially now that you have such a bloke in charge there.

As for that research that MauricioEiji mentioned about, I just made it myself a while back. I'd offer you the link, but the discussion forum it was in is closed for now due to upgrading. Sit tight and I'll post it here as soon as I'm able. I can say already that the whole quiz is done so remarkably stupidly that I just had to laugh at the false answers for such obvious questions.

He-hee, quite funny! Do you really think that it´s that cold here? True, there is snow, -10 C and a icy gale, but in overall it´s no colder than in anywhere else. Oh, and if you decide to visit; try to be careful around the polar bears... :lol:

A riddle:
Mistähän tommonen maine on tullu? Johtuu varmaan niistä vanhoista Koffin mainoksista...Aika huvittavaa...

Edit: =This "fame" must have come from those old ads of Koff (a beer)...

[ November 23, 2002, 12:11: Message edited by: Virne ]

Sarkasmiahan tämä koko threadi on. Kannattais varoa muuten tämän kielen käyttöä. Jos modet ei ymmärrä niin = sensuroitava. Eihän noi tiedä vaikka tässä vaihdettais pomminteko-ohjeita tms. :)

Right. And this was the last non-English post that didn't get deleted.

Just posting to add with regards to the temps I posted earlier -- that's -75 F obviously, you crazy foreigners and your weird measurement systems.

Posted by: TaluntainRight. And this was the last non-English post that didn't get deleted.Precicely my point. Just so you can sleep your wonderful nights a bit easier, here is a 100% accurrate translation of what he said, and I replied:

Virne
A riddle:
Mistähän tommonen maine on tullu? Johtuu varmaan niistä vanhoista Koffin mainoksista...Aika huvittavaa..."Where do you think a reputation like that has come from? Must be those old Koff commercials...Pretty amusing..."

Forashi
Sarkasmiahan tämä koko threadi on. Kannattais varoa muuten tämän kielen käyttöä. Jos modet ei ymmärrä niin = sensuroitava. Eihän noi tiedä vaikka tässä vaihdettais pomminteko-ohjeita tms."This whole thread is nothing but sacrasm. You should beware using this language though. If the moderators don't understand it = the text has to be removed. How would they know even if we traded bomb-making instructions or something." (note. reference to a Finnish tragedy a few months back)

So, Tal, rest easy.

[ November 25, 2002, 08:33: Message edited by: Forashi ]

Well, i did walk with shorts and a t-shirt in -5 C and that was considered refreshing.
And Virne seems to live in Helsinki.

EDIT1:
Pyyhi tuo typerä Virne naamaltasi.

EDIT2:
In finland some people go to sauna +120 C and then run from the sauna to outside -30 C and roll in the snow. They consider it refreshing.

[ November 25, 2002, 11:10: Message edited by: Taza ]

Quite a few years back when I was still in high-school, we had a gymnastics teacher who ceased to use shorts and a t-shirt only when it was colder than -10/15 degrees celcius. Then he started wearing summer jogging clothes. If he ever got cold while standing, he just started jogging a bit.

Same stuff in the army. Out camping for 1 week in a -20 degree temperature, whenever you got cold in nightwatch or otherwise, just do some pushups, crouch jumps or jogging and that'll keep you warm. It worked, but made a lazy man like me real sick with not ever being able to just sit and relax. :rolleyes:

Actually, I live, currently, in Vaasa. Used to live in Helsinki a couple of months ago, but had to move after school. Anyway, Forashi; same for you. The main part of my message was in english, so you should had answered in the same way. ;)

At least you have it behind. 13.1.2003 I will be a raw recruit in the lines of Finnish army.

:almostmad: "Do you have something to say SOLDIER?!?!"
:mommy: "No...duh..."
:mad: "I SAID: DO-YOU-HAVE-SOMETHING-TO-SAY-SOLDIER?!?!"
:aaa: "NO, SIR!"
:mad: "GOOD! NOW GIVE ME FIFTY!! YOU DON´T WANT TO DISAPPOINT ME SOLDIER!!!"

Of course, after a couple of years it will be me who does the shouting. :p

Taza, I have heard that somewhere before...

[ November 27, 2002, 17:00: Message edited by: Virne ]

Well, I have an uncle who has a habit of sunning himself outside in winter wearing speedos, rubber boots and a furry hat... :p

I have sworn to not to wear a coat for the entore winter, not even if Hell freezes over. I am wearing a cloak. And come next RopeCon, Suomen Viittaliitto, the Finnish Cloak Association, will be founded...

(Never leave anything important on sunday afternoons....)

Ara
(Cloakaticus)

And I though it was cold in Coventry :) .

I'm not sure if there are many places where it rains as much as it does in Manchester though. (I go to University of Warwick (which is just outside Coventry for some reason) but usually live in Stockport (which is right next to Manchester)).

[ November 27, 2002, 14:42: Message edited by: monkey ]

At least you have it behind. 13.1.2003 I will be a raw recruit in the lines of Finnish army.

"Do you have something to say SOLDIER?!?!"
"No...duh..."
"I SAID: DO-YOU-HAVE-SOMETHING-TO-SAY-SOLDIER?!?!"
"NO, SIR!"
"GOOD! NOW GIVE ME FIFTY!! YOU DON´T WANT TO DISAPPOINT ME SOLDIER!!!"
...and it goes downhill from there:

"ONE! ONE-AND-A-HALF! ONE POINT SIX! TWO! ... SIXTEEN! EIGHTEEN! DAMMIT, I LOST COUNT! START OVER! ONE!"

Seriously: don't worry about it. It isn't that bad. You probably won't like it much when you're there (unless you have some serious mental issues), but looking back to it can be fun. Sometimes. In a train wreck kind of a way. :D

Well I can guarantee that civilian life, studying and work and all will feel like the best vacation you ever had for 3 months afterwards. And probably you'll gain a perk called "sleep whenever, wherever you want". That'll last for about 4 months. Also, you'll understand why war is worth hating. At a military police camp just at the very end of my time in the army, I had to stay up for 84 hours straight with 2h sleep (which was during nightwatch) in 3-4 parts along the way. Wasn't intended of course, but crap happens when someone screws up. I got 2 days worth of food, water as much as I wanted (yeah!) and otherwise had to do excersises to keep myself warm (early winter, about 0 degrees [celcius of course] warm, sometimes colder).

... and your standards for joy go WAY down. A dry handkerchief and clean warm socks seem like the most exciting gifts you can possibly imagine. The mere prospect of a hot bath will make you want to dance. Your mother's cooking will taste even better. Sleeping indoors, and not waking up with your eyelids frozen shut, will seem too luxurious to be true. Although after basic training finishes you will keep waking up in the middle of the night in a panic because your rifle isn't in the bed with you. ;) Good luck!

Dunno if its that bad in the staff. You know; where commanders, officers and such are trained. I guess it will be very similar with school (university/polytechnic); sitting hours and hours in a dull classroom while others can enjoy of the great outdoors and refreshing mudbaths...*Sigh*

Actually, I´m looking forward to it. I´m in, kinda, bad shape when it comes to stamina. Last year I ran the Cooper´s test, and got 1500. Only 1500! Army, if anything, should improve this. Plus, I get a stylish uniform, learn how to kill, and, most importantly; some wo...Whoops: this is getting off-topic!

[ November 28, 2002, 17:59: Message edited by: Virne ]

Plus, I get a stylish uniform, learn how to kill, and, most importantly; some wo...Whoops: this is getting off-topic!
Give me a rifle, white cloak and a pair of skis and then you can call me White Death :p

[ November 28, 2002, 19:15: Message edited by: vonGriffin ]

Gimme a katana black clothing a a german accent, then you can call me a uberhitokiri :p

Sigh... brings back memories. The last day I was on guard with our other military polices, our chief of security held a paroll for us and said about exactly this: "I know you hate me, and I can guarantee the feeling is mutual. But remember: when you get out of here, you can't touch me for at LEAST four years lest you want to end up in a court martial. DISMISSED!"

One sick bastard that was. By that time we were more friends than underlings to most of the personnel there. And just 6 months ago I heard he actually got in to police-school. There goes my faith in the law-enforcement.

Is this offtopic? I mean REALLY? The first post certainly wasn't like this but basically we're very much talking about the Finns here.

Well... It is slightly OIT, I thinks, so we better get back on track.

A few weeks back I and my roommáte in the ward did a little runaway, got tipsy... well, I got tipsy and she got drunk when I got us a bottle of Koskenkorva... Heh, I am not even old enough to buy beer legally yet... Yet both times I have been to a liquor store to buy Koskenkorva I have gotten it, both the last time and when I was 12.... Anyways, we ran around outside, and my friend got rather cold, so I ended up piling my clothes on her, and the result was that I ran around in -15 temperature wearing only jeans and a polo shirt for three hours. :p

Ara
(Is it cold? I didn't notice... Is this an icicle in my nose?)

Still off topic.

It was COLD outside this morning. Not that temperature, but that icy wind blowing straight at my face. I just hope that i could get somewhere with 10C, so i could get a tan...