I'm a selfish little pig

[Pagan]

Erm... That's the way our car looks like every morning that it's been snowing the night before. And the road conditions look like ordinary Finnish winter

Anyhow, I understand anyone who doesn't want to drive in conditions like that. I don't like to drive in a snow storm but I'll do it if I have to. And we drive 50-60 mph on the freeways here despite the conditions... Of course, we have studded tires on our cars...

Yes, but you don't live in the high Chihuahuan desert where we only get storms like this once every 50 years or so. That was the most snow I've ever seen in my whole life. I don't even know anyone that owns chains.

On the flip side, we laugh at new transplants when it get windy in the spring (if it's only about 40mph and you can still see the mountains, it's not windy) or when it gets hot in the summer (95F in shade is cool).

[Jester]

95F in shade is cool

Hear hear!

As many of you know, many years ago I was engaged to The Brit, who had never actually been to my home state of Arizona. Well, one day we were hanging out at a bar in Key West (shocking, I know), and the Weather Channel happened to be on. At one point she was looking at the tv in apparent shock. I asked what the problem was, and the conversation went something like this....

THE BRIT: "It's October, and it's ninety five in Phoenix. What's going on?"
JESTER: "It's cooling off."
THE BRIT: "You're kidding me."
JESTER: "Nope."
THE BRIT: "I would bloody well melt in that place!"

[protege]

They actually wrote you up? For that? So much for management having your back or having any sense of loyalty to a seven year employee!

I'm sure it got tossed out--my route manager was freaking awesome! Either way, I still got the last laugh--that paper (the Pittsburgh Press) eventually drove itself to extinction. After a lengthy strike in 1992, in which the Teamsters (who weren't content with making about 70 grand driving trucks) gobbled up the news carrier jobs, it was merged into the Post-Gazette, which was the morning paper. Oddly enough, as soon as the carriers were dropped, the paper took a hit in their subscriber base. Now they're having to deal with increased competition from other newspapers.

[Pagan]

THE BRIT: "It's October, and it's ninety five in Phoenix. What's going on?"
JESTER: "It's cooling off."
THE BRIT: "You're kidding me."
JESTER: "Nope."
THE BRIT: "I would bloody well melt in that place!"

One of the group that we went to the UK with a few years ago asked us (my parents and I) what kind of temperatures we'd be looking at when we got back. Her jaw 'bout hit the floor when we said, "Oh, about 100F". And that was in September!

It was around 80F when we were in London and the rest of the group was complaining all over the place about it being sooooo hoooot! We were just comfortable. (Of course, they were also huffing and puffing from the car park to the ruins of Tantallon Castle on the Firth of Forth, about 1/4 mile walk and we couldn't figure out why. Then we remember that they live at sea level....and we several thousand feet higher. )

[Lace Neil Singer]

Kind of reminds me of the Californian couple who came to my till a couple of years ago, when the year kind of skipped summer and went straight on to autumn; ie rain, rain and yet more rain. XD They were all, "But it's sooo cold!" and "How do you manage to live here all the time?"

Eh, after a lifetime spent wading thru rain; I'm kind of used to it. XD Rain seems to be something that the UK takes on the chin, it's snow that gets it all

[Jester]

It was around 80F when we were in London and the rest of the group was complaining all over the place about it being sooooo hoooot! We were just comfortable.

When I traveled the U.S. in 98-99, I had a couple of experiences like that with some coworkers at the chain restaurant I worked at. In Minneapolis one day, they gave me the outside patio for my section, and my coworkers were stunned when I did not change my black pants for shorts. "But it's 85 out there!" I just laughed, since that is not hot to me. Similarly, in San Francisco, one of the managers came into work mopping his brow, sweating profusely. "It's so hot out there!" It was in the eighties. I laughed at him, and told him that's not hot. He shot back, "Hey, not all of us are desert rats like you!"

Then we remember that they live at sea level....and we several thousand feet higher.

I once got a nosebleed from jogging up some steps at a historical site in Flagstaff, Arizona. Similarly, while bicycling up a hill in Flagstaff, I sounded like Dart Vader with my breathing....and I'm not a smoker. (For those wondering, Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet above sea level, higher even than Denver, the "Mile High City.") Phoenix, where I'm from, is at about 1,500 feet. Key West, where I live, is at about 10 feet.

[Becks]

I have dealt with a lot of Irish teases in my life.

The sad part is I'm not joking.

:batting eyelashes:

[Andara Bledin]

Phoenix, where I'm from, is at about 1,500 feet. Key West, where I live, is at about 10 feet.

Hi there!

The sign when you enter Long Beach says, Elevation: 8.

When my car was repaired, it was at 3500 ft, so now if we drive on the freeway for more than, say, 5 miles, the damn thing runs too rich and stalls a lot. We've got to get a tune-up to get it set for running properly at sea-level again. *sigh*

^-.-^

[protege]

I once got a nosebleed from jogging up some steps at a historical site in Flagstaff, Arizona. Similarly, while bicycling up a hill in Flagstaff, I sounded like Dart Vader with my breathing....and I'm not a smoker. (For those wondering, Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet above sea level, higher even than Denver, the "Mile High City.") Phoenix, where I'm from, is at about 1,500 feet. Key West, where I live, is at about 10 feet.

Been there, done that. My nosebleed came from leaving Pittsburgh, and heading west to Philmont Scout Ranch in NM. Pittsburgh is roughly at 1,200 feet. Cimarron, NM is at 6,400 Oddly enough, it didn't happen on the train ride out there (to Raton, NM), nor did it happen the first few days. Instead, things held out until I got further up in the mountains...somewhere around 8,000 feet. It only happened once, and didn't return, even when my group went over Mt. Baldy at 12,441 feet! Of course by then, I'd rubbed some vaseline inside my nose--seems the air really is drier higher up. But, I didn't have to repeat that little trick when I returned 3 years later

[Cat]

Ohh.....I love Flagstaff (I had an idiot ex who said Flagstaff could not be 7000' because Denver was the "Mile High City." I dunn.) The elevation was no problem for me...and I live on the shore in CT.

Personally...I'm happiest around 4000'

[tigress666]

Atlanta will get about an inch of snow. City will be paralyzed. I grew up in snow, but down here, we don't have the snow removal equipment

OMG! As I'm typing, a snow plow pasted the house. I did not know we had one!

Those of you in the snow, stay safe.

What? Atlanta has a snow plow? I don't believe it (I grew up in Atlanta. I still visit my parents there every year).

Heh, here in Seattle we freak about the snow but we do have snow plows (mainly cause Eastern Washington gets lots of snow. But Seattle gets a little more snow than Atlanta does. Maybe twice a year and probably a little more snow than Atlanta would get but it usually lasts 2-3 days. Last year's 2 + week snow was really freaky). So what happens is people bitched last year they didn't have the snow plows out fast enough during hte freak storm (Well it was one big snow storm plus weeks of cold weather so the snow didn't melt) so now anytime there is a light dusting hte snow plows come out (which I'm like, what a waste of money plus isn't good for the plows, not enough snow to actually plow). I wish our government would tell the overreactors that there is only so much they can do and to quit having a bitch fest that during a freak storm they didn't have everything plowed like right that day.

[Pagan]

My nosebleed came from leaving Pittsburgh, and heading west to Philmont Scout Ranch in NM. Pittsburgh is roughly at 1,200 feet. Cimarron, NM is at 6,400

You would've had problems in Santa Fe then. It sits at 7200ft. Sometimes I have a little bit of trouble up there. I think a lot of it is that it's one hell of a climb in about 60 miles. Where I am in ABQ is about 5000 ft (I'm within 5 min walking distance of the Rio Grande).

It's not necessarily drier because it's higher, but because you're in the upper Chihuahuan desert. You should see the sales of saline nasal spray skyrocket during the Balloon Fiesta!

Fun fact: If you stood that Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai up against the Sandias, you'd still have to go another 4000ft up to get to the base station of the Tram. (And if you know when to look down, you can see the remains of a plane crash.)

[Jester]

I had an idiot ex who said Flagstaff could not be 7000' because Denver was the "Mile High City."

As you said, your ex was an idiot. This is merely more proof.

Denver is the highest major city in the nation. It is not, however, the highest city, town, or point in the nation. Just as Phoenix is the hottest major city in the U.S., but by no means the hottest place in the country.

But don't take my word for it. Let's crunch the numbers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's estimates, Denver itself had a 2008 population of 598,707, while the Denver metropolitan area had a 2008 population of 2,506,626. That makes Denver the 24th most populous city in the U.S., and its metro area the 21st most populous. By any standards, that makes it a major city.

Flagstaff, on the other hand, was estimated to have a 2008 city population of 60,222, and a 2007 metropolitan area population of 127,450. Hardly a major city. Their entire metro area has less than a fourth the population of just Denver!

Denver is at exactly 5,280 feet above sea level, which is why it is called the Mile High City. Not because it is the highest (though of major cities I am pretty sure it is), but because it is exactly a mile above sea level.

Flagstaff, on the other hand, is clearly much higher, at a listed elevation of 6,903 feet above sea level. Over 1,300 feet higher than Denver. For those into the whole mile high thing, that makes Flagstaff approximately the Mile and a Quarter City.

And just for shits and giggles, you should know that, of U.S. cities with a population of 5,000 or more, Denver doesn't even make the top 100 for highest elevation. (Flagstaff is #31.)


Short version: your ex was truly an idiot, and didn't know what he was talking about. But I am guessing you already knew that!

[Soulstealer]

Short version: your ex was truly an idiot, and didn't know what he was talking about. But I am guessing you already knew that!

I'll agree with your assessment Jester except on whether a place with a population of 5000 can be called a city. There's no real consensus on how large a town is supposed to be before it's a city but I personally wouldn't even consider a place with less than 100k people as one. Unless I'm in India or China, then the minimum is closer to a million.

[Broomjockey]

I'll agree with your assessment Jester except on whether a place with a population of 5000 can be called a city.

In British Columbia, it's legally required that a place have at least 5,000 residents to be a city. Alberta requires 10,000. Same with Ontario.

As for your "personal" definition, it carries an insanely geocentric bias. 100k would mean our most populous province, Ontario, with 13 million, would have less than 20 cities. Most of the other provinces probably would have difficulty cracking 10.

Here's a list of cities in the world that fit your criteria.

Note, for instance, that Greece, with a population over 10 million only has 8 cities to fit your number.

So, pardon me, but I'll go with Jester's number over yours, which is situationally unrealistic.