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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 3, 2023

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Of course, in actually cold areas, you don’t need to take punitive special measures to keep the houses warm, since all housing is constructed to keep the warmth in as a matter of course.

in actually cold areas

Here's Finland compared to Wisconsin (where I lived): https://www.crownscience.org/places/finland/wisconsin-us

And Finland compared to Minnesota: https://www.crownscience.org/places/finland/minnesota-us

And Finland compared to North Dakota: https://www.crownscience.org/places/finland/north-dakota-us

In general, the Upper Midwest is physically far from any large bodies of water (i.e. oceans) that would moderate its temperature, and the plains up north through Canada don't have any significant mountains to dampen artic winds. It's a legitimately cold part of the world, at least for how populated it is (Minneapolis metro area is something like 3.7 million people).

There's a reason that historically Wisconsin and Minnesota had a disproportionate amount of early immigration from Sweden and Norway.

OK, I stand corrected.

How did you not know that the midwest is next to... Canada.

Because it's still to the south of Canada. Finland is on the same latitude as Alaska, and even knowing the Gulf Stream warming effect etc., my automatic assumption for all of the 48 states (and Hawaii, of course) is that they're automatically warmer than Finland.

I always used to think the Mid West had to be the geographical center of America. I mean, that's what the name most suggests to me, before I first checked a map.

Large parts of the upper Midwest get actually brutally cold in the winter- the dakotas in particular.