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> Also they have winter to deal with. Europe doesn't really have winter compared to North America, unless you're making a quip about their energy crisis ;-). C
by prottog 4y ago
> Also they have winter to deal with.
Europe doesn't really have winter compared to North America, unless you're making a quip about their energy crisis ;-). Compare someplace continental and ridiculously far north like Rovaniemi, Finland to, say, Fargo, ND; the latter has colder winters, despite being 20 degrees of latitude further south. And yet everyone in Fargo builds with stick frames.
A well-built and well-maintained wood house can last multiple generations and keep warm in the meantime. Though, granted it's probably more expensive to maintain than equivalent masonry.
- ilyt 4y ago> Europe doesn't really have winter compared to North America, unless you're making a quip about their energy crisis ;-) Neither does most of America. You nitpicked one place in NA then forgot sweden finland and norway exists...
- Chilko 4y agoThey literally compared that place to a location in Finland...
- jameshart 4y agoScandinavia is also famously associated with timber construction, so…
- brudgers 4y agoA quick google suggests Alaska is almost twice as large as Scandinavia.
- ckrapu 4y agoThe American interior generally does not benefit from the same moderating influence of major water bodies as Scandinavia does. The winters are quite different. That's why you can have frequent awfully cold conditions as far south as Oklahoma (and sometimes Texas) despite being as far south as Egypt or Jordan.
- prottog 4y agoAs others pointed out, I nitpicked the one place in Scandinavia that would actually get cold, to make the comparison fair. Places further north than Rovaniemi (my example) that are closer to the ocean, like Tromsø, have milder winters due to the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream. This is a fairly well-known concept. From a starting place in Europe, usually one has to travel 10-15 degrees of latitude south to find similar winter temperatures in North America. See: - Helsinki, Finland vs. Syracuse, NY: 17 degrees of latitude - Warsaw, Poland vs. Pittsburgh, PA: 12 degrees - Berlin, Germany vs. Roanoke, VA: 13 degrees You have to go into Russia to find truly cold winters. Kazan, probably the coldest major city in the European side of Russia, has similar winter temperatures to Edmonton, AB, only two degrees further south.