# Does any city in the Southern Hemisphere get snow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911 "2012-11-13T19:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/21 "2012-11-14T00:13:14Z")
I know exactly where the equator is, just educating **sweat209** …that is all, sorry for the hijack. You already pointed out Ushuaia, which would have been my best answer to the GQ. Just saw a video of snow falling in Santiago, Chile…rare, but Santiago is definitely a city. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/22 "2012-11-14T00:20:37Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > I know exactly where the equator is, just educating **sweat209** …that is all, sorry for the hijack. > > You already pointed out Ushuaia, which would have been my best answer to the GQ. > > Just saw a video of snow falling in Santiago, Chile…rare, but Santiago is definitely a city. Actually, I pointed out Ushuaia… (post 6) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/23 "2012-11-14T00:21:06Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I think you’re writing off Patagonia too quickly. The ski resort towns are still towns after all. More than towns, cities even. [Bariloche](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Carlos_de_Bariloche), a ski resort, has a permanent population of over 100,000. Even in town it can snow more than a foot. ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/24 "2012-11-14T00:22:52Z")
There are cities in the Andes mountains. For example the Bolivian capital La Paz is in the altitude from three kilometers (the wealthier parts) to four kilometers (the poorer parts and the airport) from sea level. In those heights, when the winter is harsh, they do get snow. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/25 "2012-11-14T00:23:14Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I lived in Canberra as a teen. It snowed there. Once. In five years. I’ve lived in Sydney for 59 years. It’s snowed here once. We didn’t need snowploughs. 😃 It snows in Bathurst most winters but not enough to need ploughs. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/26 "2012-11-14T00:38:23Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Take [Dunedin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin#Climate) for example, which sits at 45 degrees 52’ South - thus roughly the antipode of Bordeaux. While you’ll get the occasional snowfall in Dunedin every winter it seldom settles, and when it does it’s pretty cool. The average July low in Dunedin is 3.2 C (37.8 F) which is pretty mild by Northern standards. Heh. I spent a week in Dunedin a few years ago. I got snowed in. Yeah, ok, not proper snowed in, but the car couldn’t get out of the place I was staying… Sticking in NZ, Queenstown’s not a city, but it’s a reasonable sized town where they get some decent snow. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/27 "2012-11-14T00:47:02Z")
If I may make a suggestion to the OP, you might want to specify whether you mean the city proper or rather you include nearby mountainous areas. We certainly get snow in Southern California if you include the local ski resorts (or at least they can make artificial snow if they have to). I wouldn’t be surprised if some Southern Hemisphere cities also have nearby mountains in which it snows most years. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/28 "2012-11-14T00:50:31Z")
Heh, **Yeticus Rex** , didn’t realize anyone here was from my old stomping grounds, roughly. I very well remember the Mammoth winter of '69; my family had not much before then purchased a lot on a road just up Lake Mary Road from the Main/Minaret intersection, and we went up in '69 to take a look at it in winter. Or tried to; there was no getting to the lot short of snow-shoes. That summer, in our bi-ennial trip to Tamarack Lodge at Twin Lakes, we heard some amazing stories about the depth of the snow and the ways people got around that winter! I grew up in Ridgecrest and can confirm that snow falls there (roughly 2000’ elevation) about once every two to three years, though really large snowfalls (more than 4") are fairly rare. But it quite regularly gets below freezing at night there, even on days when the mercury will top out above 60 degrees. Used to make biking to school in the pre-dawn hours a bit of a chilly go. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/29 "2012-11-14T00:59:05Z")
Well. In Peru, Arequipa (pop. 800,000) gets a bit of snow, as does Huancayo (300,000). Puno (100,000) gets a lot and Cerro de Pasco (70,000) even more. However, being between 12° and 18°, they never get North Dakotan levels of snow. Huaraz (100,000) has proper ski places. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/30 "2012-11-14T01:13:56Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Not really for a couple of reasons. > > Most maps you see are in Mercator projection, which stretches out the Northern Hemisphere. There’s not a lot of land between 55 South and Antarctica anyhow. So the ‘sourthernmost cities’ aren’t really that southern. Nitpick: The Mercator projection doesn’t stretch out the northern hemisphere, or rather, both the northern and southern hemisphere are stretched equally (horizontally). It’s just that this makes Antarctica so uselessly immense that makers of Mercator maps usually crop it off, leading to an equator about two-thirds of the way down the chart. [Example.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mercator_projection_SW.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/31 "2012-11-14T01:34:05Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Heh, **Yeticus Rex** , didn’t realize anyone here was from my old stomping grounds, roughly. I very well remember the Mammoth winter of '69; my family had not much before then purchased a lot on a road just up Lake Mary Road from the Main/Minaret intersection, and we went up in '69 to take a look at it in winter. Or tried to; there was no getting to the lot short of snow-shoes. That summer, in our bi-ennial trip to Tamarack Lodge at Twin Lakes, we heard some amazing stories about the depth of the snow and the ways people got around that winter! > > I grew up in Ridgecrest and can confirm that snow falls there (roughly 2000’ elevation) about once every two to three years, though really large snowfalls (more than 4") are fairly rare. But it quite regularly gets below freezing at night there, even on days when the mercury will top out above 60 degrees. Used to make biking to school in the pre-dawn hours a bit of a chilly go. My granddad’s condo was near the end of [Tyrol lane](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.640938,-118.994058&hl=en&num=1&t=h&z=18), which was just below Lake Mary Road, about a mile past the Main/Minaret intersection. It bordered the Camp High Sierra campground and when chair 15 was built, we were able to ski through the woods to the chair 15 base to ski the mountain and then cross-country along Lake Mary road (at the land bridge) back to our condo at the end of the day. I’ve been to Mammoth at least a couple hundred times over my lifetime…ski, fish, hike, get out of the heat…I know it very well. All the lakes (Crowley and Convict too), June Lake, Mono Lake, Bodie and the backside of Yosemite as well. One of the most beautiful places in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/32 "2012-11-14T01:42:21Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Heh. I spent a week in Dunedin a few years ago. I got snowed in. > Yeah, ok, not proper snowed in, but the car couldn’t get out of the place I was staying… > > Sticking in NZ, Queenstown’s not a city, but it’s a reasonable sized town where they get some decent snow. I lived in Dunedin, Queenstown, and Wanaka for the first 25 years of my life. As you say they are places that get some snowfall but I don’t know anyone that had snow shovels or the like. Basically anywhere in NZ and Australia that gets snow, it is a rare enough event that people just accept that the day will be a write off. A factor in the lack of snowfall in places such as Queenstown is that although it is in a mountainous part of the country, the town itself is only a bit over 1000 feet above sea level. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/33 "2012-11-14T02:06:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The area around Canberra, the Australian capital, sometimes gets snow. Probably once every 2-3 years. Pretty poor attempt usually, melts fairly quickly. The most famous perhaps was the [Snow Game](http://images.smh.com.au/2012/08/17/3562344/art353-snow20002-300x0.jpg?iact=rc&dur=1&sig=112579563531179745792&ei=if2iUM-BDqqWiQeZ5YCQCQ&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=75&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:77&tx=15&ty=92), the only NRL game ever played in snow(ish) conditions. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/34 "2012-11-14T02:37:38Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I think most places in southern US get snow but nothing like the north closer to Canada.If it snows today the next day it all gone because it much warmer. > > Where California ,Florida ,New Mexico ,Arizona ,Texas and Louisiana get some what cold meaning to cold to go out t-shirt but to hot in parka Jacket. Most people just wear sweatshirt. > > You don’t even turn heat on in your house in those states. You’re mistaken. I live in suburban Los Angeles (I know, it’s all suburb) and it gets down into the low 40s of upper 30s (Fahrenheit). There is occasional frost, and I can assure you that we do turn on the heat–it’s weird on those occasions when it’s hot enough to need AC in the day and heat at night. That doesn’t happen often but it can. There was even snow last year–a sort of slushy snow that melted quickly, but still. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/35 "2012-11-14T02:53:07Z")
double post ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/36 "2012-11-14T03:05:13Z")
It’s cold in almost all of California in the winter. Cold enough to need to heat your house anyway. It may not snow in the lower elevations but it ain’t the tropics. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/37 "2012-11-14T03:50:06Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > You’re mistaken. I live in suburban Los Angeles (I know, it’s all suburb) and it gets down into the low 40s of upper 30s (Fahrenheit). There is occasional frost, and I can assure you that we do turn on the heat–it’s weird on those occasions when it’s hot enough to need AC in the day and heat at night. That doesn’t happen often but it can. There was even snow last year–a sort of slushy snow that melted quickly, but still. wow I did not think the south would get that cold you need to turn heat on in the house. Can you go out sweatshirt in LA or do you need Jaket? ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/38 "2012-11-14T04:33:22Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > wow I did not think the south would get that cold you need to turn heat on in the house. > > Can you go out sweatshirt in LA or do you need Jaket? Many So Cal natives wear winter coats when the temps fall into the 50’s. They’re used to warm weather, and a little bit chilly is freezing to them. Which seems weird to me after living in Wisconsin for 10 years. I’ll be the only one in shirtsleeves at the train station. Why don’t I have a jacket? Because it’s not cold, that’s why. Try working outside in a 5 degree upper Midwest winter and then tell me about cold. 😃 Keep in mind that the city of Los Angeles covers a huge geographic area with distinct climates. Within 5 miles of the ocean, winters are warmer, summers are cooler. Here in the western San Fernando Valley, still in the city of Los Angeles, we’re almost 40 miles away from the ocean, blocked from sea breezes by a mountain range. So it’s as much as 10 degrees colder here in the winter, and 10 degrees warmer in the summer. As you move farther inland, out of the city proper, but still in Los Angeles County, you climb into the higher elevations of the High Desert. Brutally hot in the summer, 110 degrees is not unusual. Fairly cold in the winter. You need a jacket here for sure. If the cold alone doesn’t do it, the wind will. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/39 "2012-11-14T05:09:56Z")
I’m 350 miles north of LA, on the coast, about midway between LA and the Oregon border. It’s about 48 degrees here at 9 pm in early november. It will get to be about 38 degrees by three a.m. It was sunny and in the mid 60’s today. That’s what winter is like here when it isn’t raining. But damp, always damp in winter when it isn’t actually wet, so it feels a lot colder. You can about freeze to death in San Francisco in the summer–often around 50 degrees, fogged in, and a nasty penetrating wind. Bundle up! ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911/40 "2012-11-14T05:11:35Z")
I grew up in Buffalo. I know what winter is. It still gets cold enough in LA to wear a jacket–a parka, no, but a warm jacket and knit cap. As far as I’m concerned, Buffalo (and Wisconsin) are too cold for human habitation. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-city-in-the-southern-hemisphere-get-snow/640911.md?page=3)