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Johnny2X2X

(24,637 posts)
6. Just crazy with the Atlantic Ocean there
Mon Jun 29, 2026, 08:35 AM
Jun 29

The oceans mitigate the extremes. That's a big reason why civilization gravitated towards Europe the last 1500 years. None of the severe heat like the Middle East or the severe cold like Northern Asia.

Same thing with the PNW in the US. It's why Seattle doesn't have the Winters that they do in Michigan or Wisconsin despite being further North than most of those states. When Oregon and Washington state had that insane heat wave a couple Summer back where it was getting to 110 degrees ion places, it was alarming. People just think, "Oh, another heat wave." But these places aren't built for it, the homes don't have AC and aren't built and insulated the same way. Same when Texas had those freezes, codes are different for pipes because it doesn't freeze in Texas.

Most of Europe is not built for extremes. They don't have AC or homes built for ventilation. They don't have building codes with extreme heat in mind. And in the Winter, they don't have the snow removal equipment manage transportation. Like here in the US when people from cold climates poo poo when Georgia get a few inches of snow and the entire state shuts down. Well there are no snowplows or salt trucks in Georgia. There aren't thousands of people with plows on the front of their pickup trucks. The roads weren't built with freezing temperatures in mind so there might be more hills and sharp turns. Heck, households don't even have snow shovels, there's people out moving snow with whatever they can find, people using plywood or regular dirt shovels.

And installing air conditioning in homes is incredibly expensive in Europe because they don't have ducts for a forced air system. Forced air is incredibly rare in Europe, 99% of homes have radiators which cannot be retrofitted for A/C. So instead of $6-10K for A/C, it's $20K and up and in a lot of cases it's just not feasible to do at all.

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