Random climate discussion

[Scott5114]

My best climate would be a climate where there is at least some variation in temperature, but maybe not any frost or snow, and average high temperatures in warmest month would be around 30 C and average low temperatures in coolest month would be around 8 C. The west season (summer) and dry season (winter) would also be good, rather than uniform rainfall all year long. Or a semi-arid or desert climate.

Waco, Texas?

[Poiponen13]

My best climate would be a climate where there is at least some variation in temperature, but maybe not any frost or snow, and average high temperatures in warmest month would be around 30 C and average low temperatures in coolest month would be around 8 C. The west season (summer) and dry season (winter) would also be good, rather than uniform rainfall all year long. Or a semi-arid or desert climate.

Waco, Texas?

Something like that. A climate where there is at least 25-45 nights below freezing annually, and at least 3-15 days above 40 C annually.

[US 89]

My best climate would be a climate where there is at least some variation in temperature, but maybe not any frost or snow, and average high temperatures in warmest month would be around 30 C and average low temperatures in coolest month would be around 8 C. The west season (summer) and dry season (winter) would also be good, rather than uniform rainfall all year long. Or a semi-arid or desert climate.

Waco, Texas?

Something like that. A climate where there is at least 25-45 nights below freezing annually, and at least 3-15 days above 40 C annually.

I'm not sure your ideal climate necessarily exists. Most places that drop below freezing that often are going to have some amount of snow at some point over the course of the winter. Also, very few places that have that many days over 40C (104F) have an *average* high in the warmest month of only 30C (86F). Some parts of Europe might have a summer temperature climatology like that but for the most part you don't really get that kind of extreme variation in the US. Yes, heatwaves are a thing, but there are very few places that have that many 40C days annually and most of them are either in the Plains or the desert southwest, where July highs are typically in the 90s F (33-38C roughly) at least.

I will second Scott though and point you towards the southern Plains or Texas for a place in the US that comes closest to every category you described.

[Poiponen13]

Continuing this thread. Large parts of North America and Asia indeed have colder winters than places in the same latitude in Europe. And in Aberdeen, SD, January averages -10 C yet July averages 22 C.

[US 89]

Continuing this thread. Large parts of North America and Asia indeed have colder winters than places in the same latitude in Europe.

Yep. You can thank the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current for that.

[jgb191]

Continuing this thread. Large parts of North America and Asia indeed have colder winters than places in the same latitude in Europe. And in Aberdeen, SD, January averages -10 C yet July averages 22 C.

The averages in January are:

Aberdeen, South Dakota
Latitude: 45 degrees North
Average Low: 2 degrees
Average High:  21 degrees

Aberdeen, Scotland
Latitude: 57 degrees North
Average Low:  33 degrees
Average High:  44 degrees

The one in Scotland is farther north than even Winnipeg, Manitoba, and yet the coldest ever recorded in Scotland was -3 F, which is a normal January low in Winnipeg.  In fact Scotland's average January low temperature is similar to that of Macon, Georgia, which is only about 30 degrees North of the equator.

[Road Hog]

My goal is to become a "reverse snowbird." This summer, I plan to take a couple of weeks in late July and visit the UP of Michigan to see if I enjoy it. If I do, I might extend future trips well into August. As long as it stays 100ºF in Dallas and below I'm good, but when it starts getting to 105 or 106 I'm ready to bail.

[kphoger]

My goal is to become a "reverse snowbird."

That sounds more like when my dad said he'd enjoy living in a cold climate during the winter and a hot climate during the summer.

[Scott5114]

My goal is to become a "reverse snowbird."

That sounds more like when my dad said he'd enjoy living in a cold climate during the winter and a hot climate during the summer.

And then he moved to Kansas and got to live out his dream, eh?

[kphoger]

And then he moved to Kansas and got to live out his dream, eh?

He has only ever lived in Indiana (Fort Wayne), Illinois (Chicago area, Charleston), Missouri (Saint Louis), and Kansas (Mission, Atwood, Wichita).

But I remember seeing snowbirds on vacation growing up, and my dad and I had a discussion about it at the time.  He said that he enjoys the different seasons so much that he'd enjoy living somewhere like Colorado in the winter and then a desert area like Arizona during the summer.

[webny99]

But I remember seeing snowbirds on vacation growing up, and my dad and I had a discussion about it at the time.  He said that he enjoys the different seasons so much that he'd enjoy living somewhere like Colorado in the winter and then a desert area like Arizona during the summer.

Well, most of the Great Lakes region has all four seasons in equal measure. And minus the desert, I would argue the summers and winters are almost as superlative.

[GaryV]

But I remember seeing snowbirds on vacation growing up, and my dad and I had a discussion about it at the time.  He said that he enjoys the different seasons so much that he'd enjoy living somewhere like Colorado in the winter and then a desert area like Arizona during the summer.

Well, most of the Great Lakes region has all four seasons in equal measure. And minus the desert, I would argue the summers and winters are almost as superlative.

Nope, nice spring temperatures only last for a few hours some random May afternoon. Then it goes directly into hot summer weather.     Before that it's still the season called mostly-winter.

Fall is better, but half of it consists of dreary chilly cloudy days through most of Nov and Dec.

[kphoger]

There's a huge difference between 105 and sunny in New Mexico and 95 and sunny in Illinois.

[webny99]

There's a huge difference between 105 and sunny in New Mexico and 95 and sunny in Illinois.

Yeah, 95 and sunny in Illinois is a lot worse.

[jgb191]

Dry heat and humid heat have their own evils; summer in New Orleans you can't cool your body down, and in Phoenix you dehydrate
much more rapidly....both ways can be lethal.  The Gulf Coast (from Texas to Florida) has the most uncomfortable summers and the highest heat index in the country.

The Great Plains and Midwest are hit and miss when it comes to summer conditions (mostly misses).  In my experiences in July I've felt more comfortable in the Twin Cities (83 average high) than in Phoenix (107 average high)....I've been to both cities in the peak of summer.  Even Southern Illinois averages only around 40-45 days of 90+ degrees in a year....that not much of an extreme.

[kphoger]

My point was to disagree with the assertion by |webny99| that Arizona summers and Great Lakes summers are similar in any meaningful way.

[Scott5114]

At least in a desert, you know you're in a desert and can plan accordingly by having water on hand should you need it. There's no escaping humidity.

Sort of like the water version of the "heat is worse than cold because you can always put more clothes on but can't keep taking them off" thing.

[webny99]

My point was to disagree with the assertion by |webny99| that Arizona summers and Great Lakes summers are similar in any meaningful way.

And my point was that the Illinois version of summer is arguably the more extreme/superlative version, so he wouldn't have had to go to Arizona to experience that.

[US 89]

From my experience living in both dry-heat climates (Utah) and humid heat climates (Georgia and Florida), the humidity only really makes a difference when temperatures are in the 80s and 90s. Once the temperature gets above 100, it doesn't really matter anymore - it's brutal no matter what.

It's a different kind of heat, though. 100 and humid, you feel like you're going to melt away. A dry 100 feels like getting baked. This past summer in Tallahassee we had several periods with temperatures approaching or exceeding 100 with dewpoints in the high 70s, which gave heat index values higher than 115. Was that brutal? Absolutely. But I don't think it was any worse than the 100+ days I've experienced out west.

The hottest I have ever been was downtown Salt Lake City on a 107 degree day (airport tied the all-time record). A breeze was blowing out of the south...and it was not at all refreshing. It felt like getting roasted alive in a convection oven.

[kphoger]

From my experience living in both dry-heat climates (Utah) and humid heat climates (Georgia and Florida), the humidity only really makes a difference when temperatures are in the 80s and 90s. Once the temperature gets above 100, it doesn't really matter anymore - it's brutal no matter what.

It's a different kind of heat, though. 100 and humid, you feel like you're going to melt away. A dry 100 feels like getting baked. This past summer in Tallahassee we had several periods with temperatures approaching or exceeding 100 with dewpoints in the high 70s, which gave heat index values higher than 115. Was that brutal? Absolutely. But I don't think it was any worse than the 100+ days I've experienced out west.

The hottest I have ever been was downtown Salt Lake City on a 107 degree day (airport tied the all-time record). A breeze was blowing out of the south...and it was not at all refreshing. It felt like getting roasted alive in a convection oven.

For me, the biggest difference is that, in a dry climate, my sweat evaporates much more readily.  (Bear in mind, I've done outdoor manual labor in both southern Illinois and northern Mexico.)  If it's 96 and humid, it's oppressive, and I feel like someone is sitting on my chest if I do hard work for very long.  If it's 106 and dry, I can go significantly longer—even at higher elevation.

[Poiponen13]

It would be nice to see a place where summers are very cool, and there is still quite a lot of snow in the beginning of June, frost measured at least one day in every July and August, and temperatures under -15 C as late as early May and as early as late September. I now start imagining a large city in such climate. I like places where it happens.

[kphoger]

It would be nice to see a place where summers are very cool, and there is still quite a lot of snow in the beginning of June, frost measured at least one day in every July and August, and temperatures under -15 C as late as early May and as early as late September. I now start imagining a large city in such climate. I like places where it happens.

This belongs in your fictional thread.  You're just making stuff up.

[webny99]

It would be nice to see a place where summers winters are very cool, and there is still quite a lot of snow in the beginning of June, frost measured at least one day in every July and August, and temperatures under -15 C as late as early May and as early as late September. I now start imagining a large city in such climate. I like places where it happens.

This belongs in your fictional thread.  You're just making stuff up.

Well, with one small change, it sounds a whole lot like the Southern Hemisphere...

[kphoger]

It would be nice to see a place where summers winters are very cool, and there is still quite a lot of snow in the beginning of June, frost measured at least one day in every July and August, and temperatures under -15 C as late as early May and as early as late September. I now start imagining a large city in such climate. I like places where it happens.

This belongs in your fictional thread.  You're just making stuff up.

Well, with one small change, it sounds a whole lot like the Southern Hemisphere...

Where in the Southern Hemisphere?  Not even Ushuaia matches those criteria.

[webny99]

It would be nice to see a place where summers winters are very cool, and there is still quite a lot of snow in the beginning of June, frost measured at least one day in every July and August, and temperatures under -15 C as late as early May and as early as late September. I now start imagining a large city in such climate. I like places where it happens.

This belongs in your fictional thread.  You're just making stuff up.

Well, with one small change, it sounds a whole lot like the Southern Hemisphere...

Where in the Southern Hemisphere?  Not even Ushuaia matches those criteria.

I wasn't thinking of any place in particular, just pointing out that those are the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere, so that would be a good starting point to find this "reverse climate" on Earth as currently constituted.