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All those subarctic climate's summers you listed there have mean temperatures well above Buxton, Derybshire. So those results do look odd. Buxton wouldn't be described as having a subarctic climate, but maybe it should be.
O think it's a problem with the classification system. Those "subarctic" climates listed are really continental climates so they have cold winters and warm summers but a low annual mean temperature.
Summers here are quite cloudy and definitely not "hot" which is disappointing (although the nights are very mild). But I have found the autumns and springs here are pleasantly surprising - the former since the temps are more stable day-in day-out and the latter due to the higher sunshine %'s. Also late winters are very sunny.
Surely you can't be more than an hour's drive away from consistent 30+ C temps in the summer?
I wondered about that: would I rather have a proper summer and a cold, snowy winter instead of a marginal summer and chilly winter? I'm very cold intolerant, but then the snow would be nice (although the novelty would probably wear off quickly). I don't know what I'd prefer.
Let's say the months with highs at or above 20C or so could be called "summer". Christchurch would have 4 summer months.
If you lived in a place whose climate was like Washington D.C's , you'd just have to handle about 3 months of winter weather colder than Christchurch's coldest month but you'd get 6 summer months (with 5/6 of those summer months as hot or hotter than Christchurch's hottest month).
If you lived in a place like NYC, you'd get about 4 months of weather colder than Christchurch's coldest month, but with 5 summer months (4/5 of the summer as hot or hotter than Christchurch's hottest month).
If you lived in a place like Toronto, you'd get about 5 months of weather colder than Christchurch's coldest month, but with around the same length of summer as Christchurch's 4 months (about 3/4 of the summer as hot or hotter than Christchurch's).
I think the summers more than make up for the winter weather in the northern US and southern Canada. Its generally mild (+60 F) from May through early October.
I think the summers more than make up for the winter weather in the northern US and southern Canada. Its generally mild (+60 F) from May through early October.
I would say that is true for Toronto May 10th-thru-Sep 15-25th.
60 F is not very common in October here.
Main difference between here and where you live in NJ is lower sunshine avgs in both months...
Plus you don't have the icy-chill of the Great Lakes in early-mid Spring, retarding Toronto's warmup.
The Lakes are still warm in October, but we have dismal % chance of sun, (40%?) coupled with typically strong winds;
blowing away a lot of the warming effect 18+ C/65+ F SST's could have.
One of the minor advantages to our delayed spring warm-up is that Toronto almost never experiences a killing frost after plants start to bud.
(it may drop to -4 C/24 F briefly, but at a stage of life where the leaves aren't "tender" to that yet....)
I would say that is true for Toronto May 10th-thru-Sep 15-25th.
60 F is not very common in October here.
Main difference between here and where you live in NJ is lower sunshine avgs in both months...
Plus you don't have the icy-chill of the Great Lakes in early-mid Spring, retarding Toronto's warmup.
One of the minor advantages to our delayed spring warm-up is that Toronto almost never experiences a killing frost after plants start to bud.
(it may drop to -4 C/24 F briefly, but at a stage of life where the leaves aren't "tender" to that yet....)
Perhaps I shouldn't have painted it with such a broad brush. Although the average high is at least 60 F from early May through early October in Toronto. But the lakes and cloudiness certainly do play a roll. Based on your standards, New Jersey is marginally better when it comes to sunshine and warmth. Actually I think it's still too sunny here despite averaging about 50% of possible sunshine.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Climatically I'd take Christchurch over somewhere like Kansas City. Kansas City has more days where the weather restricts what you can do outdoors (cold in winter, hot in summer) and Christchurch has a surprisingly number of warm and hot summer days.
Kansas City for me, they get a proper summer (with a lot more thunderstorms than Christchurch) and the winters are not as bad as further north.
Christchurch gets warm/hot days no doubt, but the problem is it's not consistant and is invariably offset by cold, cloudy miserable days, which can last for days or even weeks as in Melbourne.
Are there a lot of drizzly days in Christchurch during the summer? If it's just cloudy and 65-70 F, you could still do outdoor activities (sports, BBQs, etc.) Actually sounds ideal for sports. I guess the only thing you couldn't do is swim on those days.
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