Is the heat of the South overrated? (snowfall, recorded, warming)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What would be your def of "often"? Looking at the data from 1971 to 2000, for Bradenton your avg high/low for Jan is 73/50. The calculated std dev for Jan based on the 1971 to 2000 data is 4 degrees. To get below 40 would be 10 degrees below the mean. Two std dev's from the mean gets you down to 42, and presumably (assuming normal distribution) low temps between 42 to 58 would occur around 95% of the time. A further span from 38 to 62 for a nightime low would occur around 99.7% of the time.
I've only lived here since '85. Over the past four years, I come home at the coldest part of the morning. So I track the temps. Last winter, the temps were within two degrees of freezing--on either side.
The question asked if the heat of the South was overrated. I've lived in Florida and Illinois. Both had hot days, both had cold days. If the "heat of the South" was such a truism, it would be HOT all year long. I can assure you that it is not, unless you consider freezing temperatures to be "hot". I admitted that it was COLDER in Illinois, but that does not mean that it does not get cold in Florida. I would assume this applies to other states as well, but I have only lived in those two states.
Sure both can have hot and relatively cold days. The point is in the frequency of those. Florida is predmoninately warm and very humid compared in the summer, climatically speaking, compared with Illinois. And "cold" there doesn't even approach the same levels as "cold" in Illinois, and far less often.
Whether the "heat of the South" is overrated, is purely down to subjective opinion depending on people's tolerance to hot and cold, but the basic climatological facts do not change.
tvdxr particularly annoyed me with the silly comparison of two places, one in Florida and one in Illinois, with the same July avg. max temperature, by only providing ONE parameter out of an entire plethora of climatic/weather parameters required to give a proper picture of the climate.
What would be your def of "often"? Looking at the data from 1971 to 2000, for Bradenton your avg high/low for Jan is 73/50. The calculated std dev for Jan based on the 1971 to 2000 data is 4 degrees. To get below 40 would be 10 degrees below the mean. Two std dev's from the mean gets you down to 42, and presumably (assuming normal distribution) low temps between 42 to 58 would occur around 95% of the time. A further span from 38 to 62 for a nightime low would occur around 99.7% of the time.
I know you do get cold fronts occasionally that bring a frost, especially during a colder than avg winter, but it just seems that the data shows you would rarely have winter night lows below 40. Some winters the data shows not one night in Jan below 40, and even this past Jan, which was -3F below avg, there were only 4 nights with lows in the 30's and three of them were over 36 degrees.
From what I've read, Bradenton/Sarasota has a ton of microclimates, there's usually an 8F difference between the coast and just a few miles inland on the coldest nights. The coast rarely dips below 30F (barrier islands generally don't drop below 32F) while inland areas can reach the upper mid 20sF.
Care to find the average minimum temperatures and the average dew points for those locations? Not to mention the factor of stronger U.V. index in Florida.
You also didn't notice I said: And nowhere in Illinois has average highs matching the vast majority of Florida in Jun-Aug
Vast majority implying that some parts of Florida do indeed have comparable average highs to parts of Illinois, but the vast majority doesn't. Of course, that's forgetting humidity, UV index etc.. etc..
I'm done with this ludicrous "argument". You are happy to pick out individual bits of data right out of context, just like this, and think that actually proves something. How ignorant.
Go away and study the climatology of these places and stop wasting your/my time before you start pretending you know anything about it.
Florida is hotter, more humid and far closer resembles a tropical climate than Illinois. You can tell a 3 yr old that and they would understand. The ignorance of some is astounding.
tvdxr particularly annoyed me with the silly comparison of two places, one in Florida and one in Illinois, with the same July avg. max temperature, by only providing ONE parameter out of an entire plethora of climatic/weather parameters required to give a proper picture of the climate.
Well, he also picked the southernmost city in Illinois. Cairo, Illinois' climate isn't all that different from the south, as it's closer to Memphis (160 miles) than Chicago (370 miles).
The difference between summer in Cairo and Tampa would be more its length than intensity as well as nights that are 4°F warmer.
Cairo must also win some sorta record for greatest population loss in the US. 15,200 people to a current population of 2830. Over 80% of the people gone!
This really proves nothing. Find the dew point temps avgs, night time mimina, etc.. and I might be interested. I really don't see the point in this. Rarely would the heat index in Illinois be anywhere near the typical levels of what Florida gets on a day to day basis. Of course, it does, sometimes.
Yes, Illinois sure can get mighty fine heatwaves, but, if I was to recommend somebody somewhere to live for more tolerable summers (if that's what they wanted), I'd tell them to live in Illinois over Florida any day.
This really proves nothing. Find the dew point temps avgs, night time mimina, etc.. and I might be interested. I really don't see the point in this. Rarely would the heat index in Illinois be anywhere near the typical levels of what Florida gets on a day to day basis. Of course, it does, sometimes.
Yes, Illinois sure can get mighty fine heatwaves, but, if I was to recommend somebody somewhere to live for more tolerable summers (if that's what they wanted), I'd tell them to live in Illinois over Florida any day.
I'll do a few:
Max/ Min for July
Cairo, IL: 89.5/71.0
Tampa: 90.1/74.6
Chicago: 84.6/66.2
Orlando: 92.0/72.9
Couldn't find dewpoint, but it usually tracks the average nighttime temperature closely.
Well, he also picked the southernmost city in Illinois. Cairo, Illinois' climate isn't all that different from the south, as it's closer to Memphis (160 miles) than Chicago (370 miles).
The difference between summer in Cairo and Tampa would be more its length than intensity as well as nights that are 4°F warmer.
Cairo must also win some sorta record for greatest population loss in the US. 15,200 people to a current population of 2830. Over 80% of the people gone!
I lived in Lake County, close to Waukegan. We had 90 degree temps, and I recall a year where the A/C went down and they closed the school early that day.
I don't understand why you keep harping on the "dew point" measurement. We're talking about high and low temps.
Any day below 50 degrees could be considered cold, how often does Florida have lows that fall below that?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
