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The biggest change I've experienced, personally, is driving up Mt Lemmon outside of Tucson. You go from saguaros to deciduous forest in, what, 40 minutes? Along the way you drive through a wide array of foliage types, and the temperature drops substantially. I went in September, and it was like driving from a desert summer to a mountain fall in way under an hour. I think it's something like 6,000+ feet in elevation gain.
It is a dramatic change in climate and habitat in such a short drive. The top is 9000' ft covered in conifers. The desert of Southern AZ has a good number of mountains covered with forest and streams and such. They'll be surrounded by low hot desert plains. They call them " Sky Islands".
If I was to pick the shortest drive to see the most, I'd say from the Southern CA coast way up into the 10,000 ft mountains behind LA and then way down to the low desert behind them. That covers most climates. The drive would have to include coastal, cold, and hot, I would think.
All over California. You can go from 100 degrees to 70 in 25-30 minutes up and down the coast. You can go from 100 in Sacramento to 70 in the sierras in less than 45 minutes. You can go from 110 in Palm Springs up the tramway to pine forest and cool temps in the middle of summer.
I'd say central California. You'd be within a day's drive of the whole range of Mediterannean climate types, alpine, subalpine, subtropical desert, temperate desert, temperate marine, and mesic montane climates. Take that Manhattan! (Oops, that's an argument seeping in from another thread).
I'd say central California. You'd be within a day's drive of the whole range of Mediterannean climate types, alpine, subalpine, subtropical desert, temperate desert, temperate marine, and mesic montane climates. Take that Manhattan! (Oops, that's an argument seeping in from another thread).
I'd say that's nice but not as impressive as the Big Island of Hawaii which contains 11 of the 13 world climate zones (as many as there is along the coast from Alaska to Costa Rica) and contains 10 of the 15 Climate Types. Annual rainfall can change from 280 inches to practically 0 in less than 50 miles. All of this in an area roughly 1/10 of Central California.
^^^
Still I don'think you could compare the temperature difference
of going from the lowest point on the western hemisphere at Death Valley with 282 feet (86 m) below sea level
to the highest peak on the contiguous 48 states at 14,505 feet at Mount Whitney
Believe it was in the NOAA site that identified the most recent occurences for Truckee/Death Valley but haven't been able to refind it, this site indicates the Truckee/Death Valley phenomena has occurred 19 times.
Did find one section on the NOAA site that discussed daily swings for the same location and as well as a map showing what that avg daily swing is, it also talks about extreme/record swings occurring at the same location on the same day.
The most extreme temperature range recorded at Amarillo within one calendar day occurred from a Blue Norther' in December 1919. At noon on Friday, December 12, the temperature was 67 degrees. By 1 PM the temperature had dropped an astounding 44 degrees to a reading of 23 degrees. By 7 PM that evening the temperature had bottomed out at 1 degree above zero, a full 66 degrees lower than the high temperature 7 hours earlier.
I have seen one reference to a 103 degree temp rise (-54 to 49) over 24 hours for Loma, Mt on 1/15/72 but I did not check the accuracy of that.
The most famous of these Blue Norther's affecting a vast area of the US occurred on November 11, 1911. They still talk about that one here in Minnesota as the Armistice Day Blizzard. Hundreds of unsuspecting duck hunters were enjoying 50/60 degree weather before a blizzard suddenly hit and dropped the temp into the single digits. Forty-nine people died in Minnesota alone about half of them duck hunters that froze to death as they took shelter on the Islands of the Mississippi River. A total of 145 deaths were blamed on the blizzard across the North-Central states.
Looked a bit for Arizona extremes but didn't see temp swings in different locations for the same date. You probably could start with the NOAA site... NCDC: * National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) *
I wasn't in Amarillo in 1919, but last year in February, we had a record high of 81 degrees. Exactly one week later, it was -6 degree! Talk about a roller coaster. Amarillo is known for drastic weather changes with very little notice...unless you are watching the forecast on TV.
I wasn't in Amarillo in 1919, but last year in February, we had a record high of 81 degrees. Exactly one week later, it was -6 degree! Talk about a roller coaster. Amarillo is known for drastic weather changes with very little notice...unless you are watching the forecast on TV.
Yes, what was that old saying about Amarillo.. something about there not being anything between Amarillo and the North Pole, except a few barbed-wire fences ? lol No big mountain ranges to stop that bitter cold !
Mile for mile Oklahoma has one of the most varied landscapes in the entire country. Subtropical forests in the east, deserts in the west all within 300 miles of each other. For having no major mountains or drastic change in elevation that's quite impressive.
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