weather comparison - Boston, MA to Stockholm, Sweden

regardless of what international weather data says, in my mind I felt like Stockholm would be similar to Boston in terms of weather.  both cities are harbor cities located on the east coast, both have prevailing winds from the west (ish).  both get cold in the winter and warm in the summer and have high humidity.  the latitude difference did not seem that much too me on the globe that I once spun around (which was the extent of my geographical research before coming over to Sweden).

it turns out that I was wrong and my impeccable and detailed research was unfounded.  in actuality it is often more than slightly colder here in Sweden, even in "the middle" of the country.  I put it in quotes because if you look on the map how far north sweden stretches, you'd be amazed.  Stockholm is not close to the midpoint, even though everyone says it's in the middle.  up north?  yeah, I hear it gets real cold up there...

it turns out it gets cold in Stockholm too, just in case you were wondering.  besides the cold, word on the streets is that the sun doesn't shine so much.  everyone knows that it rises late and sets early up here, but the according to my sources it is a little extreme.  Stockholm gets an average of two hours of sunshine (yes, I said two hours) in january to go along with that balmy average high temp of -1º C (30º F).  good times.  good times indeed.

so, the main point of this post is not to complain about the weather, but to share what I have seen and felt first hand while here and to help people draw some comparisons.

the weather in Boston this week is projected to be this:

Jamaica Plain weather, according to weather bug, for the week of October 15th, 2012

and the weather in Stockholm projected to be this:

Stockholm weather, according to weather bug, for the week of October 15th, 2012

on average based on this week, according to weather bug, sponsored by the always super sustainable McDonalds, Stockholm appears to be about 12-15 degrees cooler per day and has about 50% less sunshine.  that's a scientific fact.  if that is confusing, let me say this: judging by this week alone, Boston appears to be about 12-15 degrees warmer on average and have double the sunshine overall. 

for more information about weather in Stockholm, spin a globe around a couple times and then google "Stockholm weather".  trust me, it'll work.