Yesterday the city of Perth recorded its coldest temperature in 98 years! Overnight it dropped to about 1C and in some areas of the city, particularly one that is of a lower elevation, it actually went below freezing. Then, later in the day, the high was about 20C.
When it was very hot here we weren't that uncomfortable. We slept with our windows open and the fans on but it was largely bearable and we were somewhat mentally prepared for the heat. We were not, in any way, shape or form, prepared for the cold.
The vast majority of homes here are largely built with brick. They don't use insulation and the windows are generally single pane. Also, the homes are built to provide shade and air flow for natural cooling during the summer months. The result is that a 40C day in our home in Perth feels like a 25C day in our home in Calgary. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the same way when it gets colder.
The very things that make the homes good in summer make them not-so-good in winter. There is no insulation in the walls or windows; there is little direct sunlight and there is no central heating. Some people with homes that have central air conditioning use it both for cooling and heating, although it's a very dry air that's produced. We don't have central a/c. So when the temperature drops to 5C overnight, our home is not much warmer than that. The result is that in the morning and at night we are cold. It's not like we're suffering from exposure and we're going to die but it's uncomfortable.
The result is that winter in Perth, at least in the morning and night, has been fairly unpleasant thus far. But it's not all about the weather, right? Right!?
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