It only took me 11 months…
…to figure out the weather forecasts here. We didn’t get the freezing below zero temperatures and snow as had been forecast (our low was 3.8 degrees). Why? They weren’t wrong; It’s because we’re down here at an altitude of 240 metres- meanwhile the Mazamet area goes all the way up to 1176 metres. The cold cold is up there. The hot hot is down here in the valley.
It only clicked in my head during a casual conversation when someone who lives up the mountain told me they’d had six inches of snow 🙂 What a difference a 5 minute drive up a mountain can make! Anyway, not only did we not get freezing temperatures, but it’s actually getting reasonably pleasant.
Rudy and Morgan even dragged their cushions outside to sunbathe on the steps:
My Mazamet 
I had similar problems living in a thermal valley in NC. It was usually ten deg C warmer than the surrounding mountains, and sometimes more. Snow everywhere, and we were wondering if we should wear jackets or not.
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I’m digging out from the Snowpocalypse/Storm Jonas & your big complaint is that the dogs are sunbathing? I should buy a plane ticket, fly out to see you, and slap your face for even mentioned sunbathing. Except that wouldn’t be sober, grown up behavior…and I can’t afford to fly all the way out there just for a slapfest.
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The driveway siding looks great, as in, not perfect.
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Yes! It came out exactly the way I wanted it. No one would ever guess it’s not as old as the house 🙂
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It’s not an exaggeration to say one can head outside and swim, golf, and ski all in the same day on Vancouver Island where mountains meet the ocean. Beware buying property on the southern slope (the one that faces north) of any valley! It makes a huge difference in daily temperature and plant growth.
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Same here! I can’t begin to describe the difference it is in houses that face south compared to the ones that face north. We’ve only turned the heating on four times this winter (for just three or four hours each time.) Meanwhile the people facing north have had to heat since early December.
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Same in Spain as Mr M knows. Ski in Granada province in the Sierra Nevada and swim/play golf down at the coast.
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Warrandyte is hilly [by Australian standards] and my house is on a ridge line so it’s always hotter or colder than in the valleys. That said, we don’t get snow anywhere except up in the alpine regions. We do get hot though. 39, 40, 41 is becoming commonplace. Yay for climate change.
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