Maryland a southern state (Baltimore, Dundalk: temperature, town, historic)

[GoPhils]

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

Gotta disagree with you there.

Maryland looks very central to me. The Chesapeake is the major defining geography and places it with Virginia and forms a sort of center on the east coast. Plus Maryland's got more in common with the climate of Charlotte than with St Catharines.

But Baltimore's climate has more in common with Philly than it does Charlotte...

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Going back a couple posts, people in Calvert County might love their Chick-Fil-A but they have to leave the County to get it. There are no Chick-Fil-As in Calvert.

That's why it's "a big deal". You have to cross the river or go to Annapolis to get it.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by GoPhils

But Baltimore's climate has more in common with Philly than it does Charlotte...

Yes, but Philly has more in common with the climate of the upper Chesapeake and South Jersey than with most of Pennsylvania or St Catherines, Ontario.
It's in the grey area between hot and humid and cool and humid.

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by GoPhils

But Baltimore's climate has more in common with Philly than it does Charlotte...

Ha! That is so misleading. Okay... you are picking a city 98.7 miles away versus one 443.2 miles away. Please. Baltimore has a humid SUBTROPICAL climate. Climate zone 7. This is the same as most Southern cities.

[Mr. Wanderlust]

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

Yes, but Philly has more in common with the climate of the upper Chesapeake and South Jersey than with most of Pennsylvania or St Catherines, Ontario.
It's in the grey area between hot and humid and cool and humid.

The same as Maryland is a grey area in most things.

[GoPhils]

Originally Posted by MDguy99

Ha! That is so misleading. Okay... you are picking a city 98.7 miles away versus one 443.2 miles away. Please. Baltimore has a humid SUBTROPICAL climate. Climate zone 7. This is the same as most Southern cities.

I know it's closer. But it's still much more similar. And people had been trying to say MD has more in common with NC than PA or NJ anyway.

Climate zones have been talked about before in this thread. I don't really know much about them but almost all of Maryland is between 6 and 7. So is New Jersey. Most of North Carolina is between 7 and 8. I'm looking at the same information and I don't see how people can say that Maryland's climate is similar to NC's.

And in looking up the climate zones I also came across this site: National Gardening Association
I put in the zip code I lived in in Baltimore, and clicked on "View Your Regional Report." What came up? "Mid-Atlantic."

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wanderlust

The same as Maryland is a grey area in most things.

This is what I've been trying to tell many people forever but they are only satisfied with one or the other.

GoPhils,

Philadelphia and the Delaware bay forms a little warmer bubble that usually marks the top border of climate zone 7. Colder climate in Maryland such as 6 is unsurprisingly due to elevation. Climate 6 at high elevation is typical of the southern Appalachians. Climate 6 at low elevation is typical of PA, NJ, NY, CT.

You do have a point in that NC has a huge climate 8 area. The truest statement would be that MD's climate is most like Virginia.
If you jump two states north or south, MD is more NC than NY.
Western Maryland is more like Eastern PA and Eastern Maryland is more like Western NC, so once again it looks like we're moving into the grey area here.

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by GoPhils

I know it's closer. But it's still much more similar. And people had been trying to say MD has more in common with NC than PA or NJ anyway.

Climate zones have been talked about before in this thread. I don't really know much about them but almost all of Maryland is between 6 and 7. So is New Jersey. Most of North Carolina is between 7 and 8. I'm looking at the same information and I don't see how people can say that Maryland's climate is similar to NC's.

And in looking up the climate zones I also came across this site: National Gardening Association
I put in the zip code I lived in in Baltimore, and clicked on "View Your Regional Report." What came up? "Mid-Atlantic."

Sigh, I don't know why I waste my time replying to an infinitely fruitless thread, but I have to correct you - Maryland also has areas of Zone 8's. I know because I live in one. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../Mdusdamap.jpg

I never said anything about the whole states being more similar - you mentioned the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Charlotte. I was simply saying, why not pick Richmond (a Southern city) and Philadelphia (Philly would still have a slight distance edge anyway)? Why pick a city with almost quadruple the mileage from Baltimore for an unfair comparison?

To play devil's advocate, an argument can be made: Baltimore lies almost entirely in Zone 8, and, therefore, is closer in climate to Charlotte than Philadelphia in some respects.

You also throw out Baltimore being placed under Mid-Atlantic on a random website. This thread is about the state as a whole. I don't think anyone would argue against Baltimore being Mid-Atlantic.

[GoPhils]

I said "almost all of MD is 6 or 7." Which is true. OK, so a slight sliver of MD is in Zone 8. Nearly half of NC is. I still don't see the similarity.

I didn't bring up Charlotte and Baltimore, someone else did, saying that their climates were more similar than Baltimore and Ontario, which I guess was trying to say that was a reason Maryland could be considered southern. I just brought up Philadelphia because that seemed like a silly argument.

When talking about climates in this thread previously I was mainly speaking from experience. I grew up (25 years) outside of Philadelphia. I then spent over 2 years in Baltimore, and hardly noticed a difference in the weather. I've now been in Charlotte for a year, and even though it seemed like this past year was mild almost nationwide, Charlotte is considerably warmer than either Baltimore or Philly.

Thank you for your last sentence though. So if Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is Mid-Atlantic, how can the whole state be considered southern?

[Richard Martin]

Originally Posted by GoPhils

I said "almost all of MD is 6 or 7." Which is true. OK, so a slight sliver of MD is in Zone 8. Nearly half of NC is. I still don't see the similarity.


When talking about climates in this thread previously I was mainly speaking from experience. I grew up (25 years) outside of Philadelphia. I then spent over 2 years in Baltimore, and hardly noticed a difference in the weather. I've now been in Charlotte for a year, and even though it seemed like this past year was mild almost nationwide, Charlotte is considerably warmer than either Baltimore or Philly.

Thank you for yI didn't bring up Charlotte and Baltimore, someone else did, saying that their climates were more similar than Baltimore and Ontario

The weather in either Charlotte or Raleigh is very similar to parts of Maryland. Especially in the winter. Both areas are well known for being right on the dividing line for winter storms with both areas getting ice storms pretty regularly.

Here's a temperature graph right from CityData's own pages for Salisbury.



Here's Charlotte



And finally, here's Raleigh.



They look pretty similar to me.