Is Paris further north than Seattle?
Yes. Paris, at 48.9° N, lies about 140 km further north than Seattle, at 47.6° N.
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Why it surprises
Seattle is the rainy far corner of the United States, a few hours from the Canadian border, and Paris feels like the mild heart of western Europe, so most people put Paris well to the south. In fact the centre of Paris lies at 48.9° N and Seattle’s at 47.6° N: Paris is about 140 km further north. In our deck Seattle lines up with Budapest and Zurich, not with Paris. Both cities owe their gentle climates to the sea. Water takes much longer to heat up and cool down than land, and ocean currents move heat around the planet, so a city with an ocean upwind has milder winters and cooler summers than its latitude alone would suggest. That shared marine influence makes the two cities feel alike, but it says nothing about which is further north.
Sources for this explanation
- NOAA Ocean Exploration: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov, checked 25 October 2026
- UCAR Center for Science Education: scied.ucar.edu, checked 25 October 2026
Where the numbers come from
Each city is placed by Wikidata’s coordinate for its centre, cross-checked with Natural Earth’s populated places. Details: Paris and Seattle.
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