Before talking about the pros and cons of living in a cold climate, it’s important to point out that nearly all cold climates are really four-season climates. Unless you live in Antarctica, it’s always warm in summer! So it’s really about the pros and cons of living in areas which experience winters where it’s cold enough to snow regularly. A snowfall once every four years doesn’t count!

Let’s start with the cons. They’re easier to see.

When it’s below freezing, things freeze. Pipes freeze. Plants freeze. Things don’t grow, and other things need a lot of fixing if you aren’t prepared.

When it’s snowing hard, no one gets anywhere fast. That’s just the way it is.

Snow has to be cleared away if you’re going to get anywhere by car. Cities have grown too big to rely on snowmobiles, skis, and dog sleds all winter. When you get four metres of snow each year, it has to go somewhere. It’s a pain in the back for cities and for people individually. Clearing it isn’t going to be fast, and it’s never going to be cheap.

Cold’s also dangerous. People still freeze to death every winter. You’ve got to respect the cold and dress for it, and you could still end up with chilbains during a typical Prairie winter.

In really bitter cold, the earth doesn’t thaw completely. That’s called permafrost. It causes all kinds of complicated building problems. Once permafrost is permanent, it’s really bad when the climate gets warm enough for it to melt. The earth just starts crumbling away. Sewer pipes and other infrastructure falls apart. Coastal cities like Tuktoyaktuk even have to move their graveyards so they don’t end up in the sea!

In a cold climate, farmers are always nervous. They can’t plant until the risk of frost is past, except for a few things like winter wheat, and then they’re worried it’s going to get caught by a late frost after it sprouts. They’ve got to harvest before the winter frost hits. In between, fruits and vegetables have to ripen, and there’s often less than a hundred days to do it.

Back in the old days, when you knew winter’s coming, you worried about having enough food stored up to survive it. That’s mostly forgotten these days, but it’s not completely gone away.

When you don’t worry so much about that, maybe you have time for other things. People in the northern climates are always bustling about, but people in America’s Old South came up with over a dozen different types of local music! That’s definitely got something to say for it.

Now to the pros. They just might surprise you.

It’s sometimes a good thing that things freeze. It brings an end to the outdoor bug season. There’s no mosquitoes after the first frost.

The frost also stops all kinds of diseases and pests in their tracks. The frost line makes a natural limit to how far they can spread. For problems from malaria to the emerald ash borer, mild winters are the worst things that can happen!

If you’re not living on permafrost, building foundations need to go deep into the ground to keep the building secure during melt-thaw cycles. At that point, you might as well build a basement. If you’ve got a basement, you’ve got a nice, cool escape in the summer without paying extra for air conditioning. It doesn’t hurt that it makes a good tornado shelter as well. Four-season climates get tornadoes too!

The cold keeps people moving. Farmers and gardeners have to get everything done during the short growing season. Cities never stop, even in the depths of winter. Sometimes you’re moving just to keep warm.

Having to allow for snow and frost means having to plan ahead. You’ve got to plan ahead to get houses winterized. You’ve got to plan ahead to make sure you’ve got clothes that fit for the coming season. You’ve even got to plan ahead to make sure you’ll get to work on time through the snow. That’s not a bad skill to have!

There’s all kinds of outdoor activities that are impossible without snow. What would the world be without Calvin’s snowmen? Later the same year, all the activities of summer are open to you. People living in four-season areas have the best of both worlds.

Finally, cold climates have variety. Summer is hot and lazy and celebrated because it’s so short. Fall brings glorious leaves. Winter makes everything clean in a carpet of white. Finally, the tulips and daffodils are like a ray of sunshine in early spring, when everything’s new and fresh.

But it really doesn’t matter what’s said here. In the end, some people are going to seek the warmth. Either they were born to it or they know what snow is, and never, ever want to see it again in their lives! Others are going to embrace the bracing cold. They can hardly wait for the snow to come down, because that’s when the sleds and skis can come out!

There’s also a third group. They endure. While they’re grateful for spring and fall, neither hot summer nor cold winter is really welcome. However, they’d miss them if they ever moved. In the end, that probably describes the majority of people.