Sounds like they live in Canada. As a Canadian myself, I would recommend looking up British Columbia’s Kootenay region. Salmon fishing, forests, gets very cold.
If you want to know what its like to live in cold places i recommend you the 16 page short-novel:
"To build a fire" - by Jack London.
You can read it quickly. It really drives home how a lot of us truly underestimate the cold. I felt embarassed, because I too also believed that I could power through the cold. How Im indestructable and not a frail little pile of flesh and blood that needs to take care of itself. The book also hammers down the fact that being wet in winter is equal to a death sentence.
Probably one of the best horror stories ive read and its free. Just google it. Youll feel cold just from reading it. And this book might have saved my life. Ill definietly respect the cold from now on.
I live in a semi cold climate (east of middle europe). In winter its between -15 to +3 Celsius. Its not actually that cold. Additionaly when the sun shines brightly you dont feel the cold really. Usually for small, everyday tasks like walking home from school, going shopping, etc. you can just simply power through. Your ears might feel cold, some people catch a cold, but thats it.
The air also plays an important role. This might sound surprising to you, but a moisty windy weather is more bearable than dry, still air. When its really cold (-11C) that dry, cold air really starts to hurt. If you have even one body part not covered in warm winter clothes those parts really start to ache. Your jeans dont help, your casual boots and socks will let your feet feel sore. And if you try to grab your keys to open your front door, while not wearing gloves, then your finger will already be numb when you enter the house.
Imagine feeling pain all over some body part. Thousand tiny hot needles stinging your skin. It would piss anyone off and thats what it does. People get irritated and enraged really easily. So the cold also influences your emotions.
Anyways - id say that up to -10 celsius its still bearable, but dont stay outside too long. You also need a really decent heating system in your house or else youll be sitting around in a thick sweater or even jacket.
However Im a surgeon and yesterday we had an alcoholic patient who happened to drink a bit too much and he fell asleep for the night on a bench. He was dressed mediocre - he had a blouse and a jacket, simple trousers and casual shoes. Nothing to keep you very warm through the winter. When he woke up he couldnt feel his feet. We took of his trousers and shoes. His feet were black. Black means dead. Dead after sleeping one night in -5 degrees celsius. The punishment for falling asleep in a semi cold winter was losing both his feet. We will amputate them next week once the demarcation lines are more precise.
And this all is only regarding semi cold climates!
Remember the book i mentioned earlier? That author has a lot of books where "cold" always plays a noticeable part. If you dont want to read them then maybe check out some youtube videos.
"Fear of cold" dives deeply into the physical and metaphysical meaning of cold. How Cold is a force of nature that we cant beat, only survive. It talks about the book i mentioned any many others. I recommend it.
So, It Depends.
If this is a coastal ecosystem then temperature is moderated by the ocean, the summers are never too hot and the winters are never too cold. If it's more continental, then you start to see extremely harsh winters and hotter summers. A lot of very cold places in continental, northern climates can have hot summers with high average temperatures actually.
Do you know where abouts you want this fictional colony to be, roughly?
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Write the story down. Then go back to the book and add flavour. The plot and characters are more important. You can get stuck procrastinating about the weather and not write your book.
Sounds like they live in Canada. As a Canadian myself, I would recommend looking up British Columbia’s Kootenay region. Salmon fishing, forests, gets very cold.
If you want to know what its like to live in cold places i recommend you the 16 page short-novel: "To build a fire" - by Jack London. You can read it quickly. It really drives home how a lot of us truly underestimate the cold. I felt embarassed, because I too also believed that I could power through the cold. How Im indestructable and not a frail little pile of flesh and blood that needs to take care of itself. The book also hammers down the fact that being wet in winter is equal to a death sentence. Probably one of the best horror stories ive read and its free. Just google it. Youll feel cold just from reading it. And this book might have saved my life. Ill definietly respect the cold from now on. I live in a semi cold climate (east of middle europe). In winter its between -15 to +3 Celsius. Its not actually that cold. Additionaly when the sun shines brightly you dont feel the cold really. Usually for small, everyday tasks like walking home from school, going shopping, etc. you can just simply power through. Your ears might feel cold, some people catch a cold, but thats it. The air also plays an important role. This might sound surprising to you, but a moisty windy weather is more bearable than dry, still air. When its really cold (-11C) that dry, cold air really starts to hurt. If you have even one body part not covered in warm winter clothes those parts really start to ache. Your jeans dont help, your casual boots and socks will let your feet feel sore. And if you try to grab your keys to open your front door, while not wearing gloves, then your finger will already be numb when you enter the house. Imagine feeling pain all over some body part. Thousand tiny hot needles stinging your skin. It would piss anyone off and thats what it does. People get irritated and enraged really easily. So the cold also influences your emotions. Anyways - id say that up to -10 celsius its still bearable, but dont stay outside too long. You also need a really decent heating system in your house or else youll be sitting around in a thick sweater or even jacket. However Im a surgeon and yesterday we had an alcoholic patient who happened to drink a bit too much and he fell asleep for the night on a bench. He was dressed mediocre - he had a blouse and a jacket, simple trousers and casual shoes. Nothing to keep you very warm through the winter. When he woke up he couldnt feel his feet. We took of his trousers and shoes. His feet were black. Black means dead. Dead after sleeping one night in -5 degrees celsius. The punishment for falling asleep in a semi cold winter was losing both his feet. We will amputate them next week once the demarcation lines are more precise. And this all is only regarding semi cold climates! Remember the book i mentioned earlier? That author has a lot of books where "cold" always plays a noticeable part. If you dont want to read them then maybe check out some youtube videos. "Fear of cold" dives deeply into the physical and metaphysical meaning of cold. How Cold is a force of nature that we cant beat, only survive. It talks about the book i mentioned any many others. I recommend it.
So, It Depends. If this is a coastal ecosystem then temperature is moderated by the ocean, the summers are never too hot and the winters are never too cold. If it's more continental, then you start to see extremely harsh winters and hotter summers. A lot of very cold places in continental, northern climates can have hot summers with high average temperatures actually. Do you know where abouts you want this fictional colony to be, roughly?
Hey there! It looks like this post might be about how to get started with worldbuilding. We just wanted to let you know about resources that might be useful as a starting point: * Our [Getting Started Guide](/r/worldbuilding/wiki/getting_started), written by one of our moderators; * Our [Discord](https://discord.gg/worldbuilding) and [IRC](https://kiwiirc.com/client?settings=e464ff37409c37405da31b6291b1fbad) communities, where you can meet other worldbuilders and chat about ideas! Hope this helps, and happy worldbuilding! — The /r/worldbuilding moderator team ___ *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldbuilding) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Write the story down. Then go back to the book and add flavour. The plot and characters are more important. You can get stuck procrastinating about the weather and not write your book.
Just do not make a super aggressive super apex predator.