Climate

[Hilt 1]

I just arrived home from Kiev this morning after a week in Europe. 2 days stuck in London because the airport was closed in Kiev due to a major snow storm. I had a great trip of course seeing my fiancé and getting caught up on Russian and Ukrainian politics. Who got murdered, locked up, released, who stole from who and how much. Fortunately Elena and I both share an interest in history and politics so we always have lively conversations. We also went on a tour of downtown Kiev (even though this was my second trip) it was very interesting and we saw all the present government buildings and many cultural sites.

I could not believe the unrelenting cold weather for this late in the season either.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I just arrived home from Kiev this morning after a week in Europe. 2 days stuck in London because the airport was closed in Kiev due to a major snow storm. I had a great trip of course seeing my fiancé and getting caught up on Russian and Ukrainian politics. Who got murdered, locked up, released, who stole from who and how much. Fortunately Elena and I both share an interest in history and politics so we always have lively conversations. We also went on a tour of downtown Kiev (even though this was my second trip) it was very interesting and we saw all the present government buildings and many cultural sites.

I could not believe the unrelenting cold weather for this late in the season either.

Odessa Ukraine, in far south Ukraine, sits astride the 45th parallel in latitude. That makes it about the same latitude as Montreal, Quebec. Northern Vermont, where I live, is slightly south of far southern Ukraine. The 45th parallel is, basically, the US/Canada border in this part of the world. Kiev is about as far north as Calgary, Alberta, perhaps a little farther north than Calgary.

The black sea definitely tempers the climate in Odessa, but Kiev is a mid-continent climate and can be very cold and very hot.

Alla has not been shocked by weather in Vermont except she says the summer is much nicer (it is)

Do NOT be surprised by snow in March in Ukraine

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I just arrived home from Kiev this morning after a week in Europe. 2 days stuck in London because the airport was closed in Kiev due to a major snow storm. I had a great trip of course seeing my fiancé and getting caught up on Russian and Ukrainian politics. Who got murdered, locked up, released, who stole from who and how much. Fortunately Elena and I both share an interest in history and politics so we always have lively conversations. We also went on a tour of downtown Kiev (even though this was my second trip) it was very interesting and we saw all the present government buildings and many cultural sites.

I could not believe the unrelenting cold weather for this late in the season either.

I agree the politics in Ukraine and Russia are far more entertaining than here. The debates are just a HOOT!

I saw one in which one Russian candidate said his opponent "should be taken in the corridor and shot in the f*cking head!" I am trying to imagine Obama saying this about Romney.

And when Yanukovich, in an attempt to keep his job in 2004, listed off all the things he was going to do for Ukrainians, Yushenko asked him how he expected to pay for all that..."We will sell one of Yulia's (Tymoshenko) earrings!" That didn't work for him so he poisoned his opponent instead! Fortunately, the President-to-be consumes Vodka at such a rate that he vomited up the poisoned food on his drive back home and survived the murder attempt because he is an alcoholic! THEN Yanukovich gets re-elected in a reversal of the Orange Revolution 5 years later! You cannot make this stuff up!

And imagine how entertaining C-span would be if a Senate "Floor Fight" actually involved busted heads and knocked out teeth!

Then again, they need visas to come here.

[BatmanUSA 105]

I just got home from Moscow.. the first 3 days it snowed, continually.!!!! I was impressed that the snow did not shut down the city, as I have seen many times here in the US..

[AmyWrites 593]

Heh, when I was in Moscow, the snow only stopped in about Mid-April.

[Hilt 1]

Odessa Ukraine, in far south Ukraine, sits astride the 45th parallel in latitude. That makes it about the same latitude as Montreal, Quebec. Northern Vermont, where I live, is slightly south of far southern Ukraine. The 45th parallel is, basically, the US/Canada border in this part of the world. Kiev is about as far north as Calgary, Alberta, perhaps a little farther north than Calgary.

The black sea definitely tempers the climate in Odessa, but Kiev is a mid-continent climate and can be very cold and very hot.

Alla has not been shocked by weather in Vermont except she says the summer is much nicer (it is)

Do NOT be surprised by snow in March in Ukraine

What surprised me was the consistently cold temperatures, I remember snow in Boston in March but the next day it was half gone. 5 days in Kiev and the cold just never let up.

[Hilt 1]

I agree the politics in Ukraine and Russia are far more entertaining than here. The debates are just a HOOT!

I saw one in which one Russian candidate said his opponent "should be taken in the corridor and shot in the f*cking head!" I am trying to imagine Obama saying this about Romney.

And when Yanukovich, in an attempt to keep his job in 2004, listed off all the things he was going to do for Ukrainians, Yushenko asked him how he expected to pay for all that..."We will sell one of Yulia's (Tymoshenko) earrings!" That didn't work for him so he poisoned his opponent instead! Fortunately, the President-to-be consumes Vodka at such a rate that he vomited up the poisoned food on his drive back home and survived the murder attempt because he is an alcoholic! THEN Yanukovich gets re-elected in a reversal of the Orange Revolution 5 years later! You cannot make this stuff up!

And imagine how entertaining C-span would be if a Senate "Floor Fight" actually involved busted heads and knocked out teeth!

Then again, they need visas to come here.

No problem on the Visa, as long as we can freeze the assets, confiscate the interest and lock them up for 10 to 15 years its a no brainer. Who knows maybe we even figure a way to confiscate all the gas and oil funds. We can even give their cell block a catchy name like "President's Row" or something like that.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

What surprised me was the consistently cold temperatures, I remember snow in Boston in March but the next day it was half gone. 5 days in Kiev and the cold just never let up.

Boston is directly on the ocean and is about 300 miles south of the latitude of Kiev. Europe lies very far north and people often do not consider that. The southern parts of Europe are equally as far north as the northern tier of the USA. The UK is roughly equivalent to Hudson Bay and would be like Greenland but for the Gulf Stream.

The black sea does temper things and Odessa's winter is more similar to Boston (or even Philadelphia)than Montreal, but Kiev is far from any ocean and is more like being in Saskatchewan or Alberta. The summer in central Ukraine is brutally hot. In Donetsk this year we had weeks of temperatures over 100F and it only broke temp a few days after we left. And on the 5th floor of a concrete Stalin Bunker with no AC it is like a pressure cooker!

Moscow is incredibly cold in winter and incredibly hot in summer. Alla spent a lot of time in Moscow for her job and one of the most wonderous gifts I ever gave her was a suit of "hi-tech" underwear, the type used by skiiers and winter sports fanatics. She LOVED them and they kept her warm going from bus to bus to offices back to buses and subways.

I still suggest them as gifts for people with fiancees in Russia or Ukraine. OK, not as romantic as a lace teddy, but you gotta live LIFE also. Alla always wanted "some gifts for love and some gifts for life"

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

We live in Midwest and had decent snow just last weekend (in the next county it was up to 4-6 inches, we got a couple), and a few days ago I was scraping ice from car windows in the morning. Last year around the same time here I was walking outside in a light cotton shirt and baseball cap. Seems like weather just turned crazy everywhere, on both sides of Atlantic ocean.

- Victor from Russia

[Hilt 1]

No problem on the Visa, as long as we can freeze the assets, confiscate the interest and lock them up for 10 to 15 years its a no brainer. Who knows maybe we even figure a way to confiscate all the gas and oil funds. We can even give their cell block a catchy name like "President's Row" or something like that.

I meant to say: Looted gas and oil funds, instead of gas and oil funds.

[Hilt 1]

I just got home from Moscow.. the first 3 days it snowed, continually.!!!! I was impressed that the snow did not shut down the city, as I have seen many times here in the US..

In the Kiev the temperatures were around -2 degrees in the middle of the week, do you remember the temperatures in Moscow?

[Hollyday 122]

March, huh? How about snow storms in April? We just had one this morning in Moscow.

[james&olya 1,121]

We have 2-3 feet of snow on the ground still. Today it got up to mid 20's. We are running a little under the average snowfall for the season, only around 200 inches, average is 250. Olya has felt very much at home relative to weather with the exception that our proximity to Lake Superior, the greatest of the great lakes, keeps the winters warmer and the summers cooler than back home in Kazan, several hundred miles due east of Moscow. I think we probably get more snow but Olya says it seems the same as in Russia. We also have better snow removal than back in Russia, it is rare for things to get cancelled due to snow. The local ski hill will be open again this weekend. With the base we have this year they could probably stay open till almost May!

[paws057 9]

I saw one in which one Russian candidate said his opponent "should be taken in the corridor and shot in the f*cking head!" I am trying to imagine Obama saying this about Romney.

I saw the debates in Canada once and they just turn them loose on stage. That was the most entertaining debate I've ever watched, they tore each other up.

[BatmanUSA 105]

In the Kiev the temperatures were around -2 degrees in the middle of the week, do you remember the temperatures in Moscow?

Of course I remember the temperature..!!! It was soooo cold..

Temp was between -7 and 2

way to cold for this Florida boy...

Edited April 12, 2013 by BatmanUSA