Where in the World Are We?

Sometimes it's difficult to figure out where we stand on the world map. Our sense of latitude and longitude completely lets us down, particularly when we try to place Hastings County in relation to other cities and countries.

We're aware that we are south of more than 95 per cent of Canada but we may not realize that parts or all of a dozen American states lie at a latitude north of Hastings County.

Bancroft, regarded as one of the county's northern communities, is south of Charlottetown, St. John's, London, Berlin, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Yet Beijing, one of China's northern cities, is nearer the equator than Belleville.

Almost directly south of Hastings County lies Florida, Cuba and the Panama Canal. Havana is west of Stirling, but almost all of South America lies east of Deseronto - and the rest of Hastings County too, for that matter.

Because we are located in the continental interior, our climate is colder than that of European cities further north, which are warmed by the Gulf Stream or their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Within Hastings County, weather is sometimes affected by the Great Lakes. Southern Hastings may be warmer in winter because of the moderating effect of Lake Ontario. Winter storms that develop over Georgian Bay can reach across Algonquin Park to dump their snows in the highlands of Hastings. Because of the higher altitude, that snow will last longer in north Hastings.