Is London north of Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto?
On a mental map, Europe feels level with southern Canada. It’s much farther north: London is north of every major Canadian city except Edmonton, even Vancouver and Calgary.
North to south, by latitude
Only one major Canadian city, Edmonton, is farther north than London. London feels farther south because its winters are mild, but that mildness comes from the Atlantic, not from latitude. Winds blowing east off a relatively warm ocean keep Western Europe far warmer than North American cities at the same latitude.
We tend to guess latitude from weather, and weather depends on oceans and winds as much as on distance from the equator. When a place feels farther south than it is, check the number.
Which cities do you place north or south by their weather rather than their latitude?
Does latitude decide how cold a city gets?
No. Cities at the same latitude can have very different winters. New York and Madrid are almost exactly as far north as each other, yet Madrid’s January is 10°F warmer. Halifax and Bordeaux share a latitude too, and their Januarys are 20°F apart. Madrid even sits more than 2,000 feet (650 m) up and far from the sea, which should make it colder.
Same latitude, very different winters, similar summers
Why Europe's winters are milder
Winds come from the west. At these latitudes the prevailing winds blow west to east. Western Europe's winter air arrives off the Atlantic, which stays relatively warm in winter. New York and Halifax sit on the downwind side of a huge continent, so their coldest air comes from Canada's frozen interior.
Ocean currents move heat. The Gulf Stream carries warm water north from the tropics and, as the North Atlantic Current, toward northwestern Europe, where it helps keep the ocean, and the air above it, milder. The cold Labrador Current flows the other way, down past Newfoundland toward Nova Scotia, which helps explain why Halifax's gap with Bordeaux is twice New York's gap with Madrid.
Scientists still debate the split. A well-known 2002 study (Seager and colleagues) argued that the winds and the shape of the continents do more of the work than the Gulf Stream itself. Either way, the answer is the ocean and the wind, not latitude.
Summer is a different story. In July, the sun is high everywhere at these latitudes, and the gaps shrink to about 2°F (1°C) for New York and Madrid and 5°F (3°C) for Halifax and Bordeaux.
See the numbers for each city
| City | Latitude | January average | July average |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 40.71° N | 33.7°F (0.9°C) | 77.5°F (25.3°C) |
| Madrid | 40.42° N | 43.7°F (6.5°C) | 79.2°F (26.2°C) |
| Halifax | 44.65° N | 24.6°F (−4.1°C) | 65.8°F (18.8°C) |
| Bordeaux | 44.84° N | 44.8°F (7.1°C) | 71.1°F (21.7°C) |
How were the map and population split made?
How the population split was estimated. Province populations from the 2021 census were assigned to the side of 51.51°N where each province's people mostly live. Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Atlantic Canada sit almost entirely south of London. Alberta and Saskatchewan are split by the line (Calgary and Regina south, Edmonton and Saskatoon north), so each is counted half on each side. Only those halves and the three territories land north of London.
Paris is far north too. At 48.86°N it sits north of six of these ten Canadian cities; only Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton are farther north.
About the map. It uses an equirectangular projection and simplified Natural Earth outlines, so shapes are recognizable rather than survey-accurate. City dots and London's line are plotted from real coordinates; Vancouver and Victoria are nudged a few pixels apart so both stay legible.
Related exhibits
Sources: London map: city coordinates from standard published latitude/longitude data (London 51.5072°N; Toronto 43.6532°N; Montreal 45.5019°N; Ottawa 45.4215°N; Quebec City 46.8139°N; Halifax 44.6488°N; Vancouver 49.2827°N; Victoria 48.4283°N; Calgary 51.0447°N; Winnipeg 49.8956°N; Edmonton 53.5461°N). Population-share estimate derived from Statistics Canada 2021 census province and census-metropolitan-area totals, apportioned north/south of 51.51°N; an editorial estimate, not a published census cross-tabulation. Country shapes: Natural Earth. Climate comparison: Temperature averages are daily means from Wikipedia climate tables: New York (Central Park, NOAA, 1991–2020); Madrid (Retiro, AEMET, 1991–2020); Halifax (Citadel Hill, Environment Canada, 1981–2010); Bordeaux (Mérignac, Météo-France, 1991–2020). Madrid elevation 2,188 ft (667 m). City coordinates from Wikipedia. Distances are the north–south difference in latitude. Seager, R. et al. (2002), "Is the Gulf Stream responsible for Europe's mild winters?" Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Map: coastlines from Natural Earth; ocean current paths are simplified and approximate.