We are in the middle of it now. For once, the weatherman was right:

One of Guiyang’s most attractive features is its moderate weather, except sometimes in the winter it is downright freezing. A good friend from Montreal has about the same weather as my home town, Traverse City (TVC). He said he has never been as cold as in Guiyang in the winter.

It seems that the occasional brutal weather is a combo of rain, snow, wind, and humidity. If you look at this forecast, note the humidity and wind. It can take your breath away. I live about at the 45th parallel in Traverse City, but no Traverse City winters have prepared me for this stuff.

I just checked Traverse City (Northern Michigan). . . Wind and rain is about the same, temperature is about the same too (Dec 27, 2018). There are two differences: humidity is in the 60s and 70s in TVC while it is in the 80s and 90s in Guiyang. The other difference is we walk more here and wait for buses outdoors. In TVC cars seem to get you much closer to your destination. Oh well, it’s a cold snap, about as bad as it gets here. TVC gets a lot colder . . . 20 below zero is not that uncommon.

Guiyang’s elevation is about 3600 feet compared to TVC elevation of about 650 feet. Even though Guiyang’s latitude is about the same as Miami, Florida, it gets a lot colder here than in Miami because of the mountains. Guiyang’s weather during three seasons is quite nice. The mountains moderate the subtropical climate. From Christmas to the middle of March the weather can be just so, so.

Living on the Great Lakes in Northern Michigan has it’s attractions. Sometimes cars parked by the water get sprayed so bad with water that ice piles up on them. Sometimes the cars get so heavy that it pops the tires. Also, the ice on the lakes can be fascinating. . . http://www.tourguizhou.com/northern-michigan-sometimes-miss/