Degrees of latitude

Last May (2017), Cork recorded a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. It was the third coldest city in the world, as per a round-up of some fifty or so cities across various media, during that month.

Of course, many colder places around the globe shivered through spring — but as regards decent-sized metropolises, Cork could stand proud, if a little numb. Only Kiev and Reykjavik recorded lower temperatures in Northern hemisphere cities, at 4 degrees.

Come the winter months, mind you, and the temperature in Reykjavik and Kiev will plunge to well below zero, while paradoxically Cork’s temperature might actually rise to around 6 degrees.

The median temperature in mid-February is between 5 and 7 degrees Celsius. In the last week of January 2018, daytime temperatures were around 8 degrees C. In fact during January-February, Cork is the warmest city in the world on this latitude of around 52 degrees north.

But were we to travel eastwards on the same line of latitude we’d arrive in London, where donning gloves would seem a reasonable idea. The temperature of an average January day will have dropped a degree or so.

Further east, and on to Berlin; the thermometer continue to plummet, now ever more dramatically. It reads zero, and liable to plunge much further.

We might also need our boots: the ground is likely to be covered with snow since it sticks around for an average of 40 days each winter in the German capital — compared with only three in Cork.

The further east we venture, past Warsaw and deep into Russia, the mercury edges ever downwards. It reaches its nadir in eastern Siberia, where the latitude is still 52 degrees north.

But during winter months if the Siberian thermometer reads minus 20, it means it’s turned out nice again.

Temperatures can go down as far as minus 40, a good deal parkier than Cork. 

It's not much of a tourist slogan, certainly, but the implication is clear: if you’re looking to escape harsh winter temperatures, Cork is as good as it gets.

But spring or summer; that’s a different cup of Beamish entirely.

If you’re holidaying in Cork and you want to know what clothes to bring — basically, pack all of them. As Brendan Behan cogently put it: "The weather's so changeable you wouldn't know what to pawn.