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In fact, Mediterranean Europe is a good deal cooler and much more stormy (in both winter and summer) than similar Mediterranean climates in the USA and Australia.
This is mostly wrong and quite inaccurate actually.
Mediterranean parts of Europe generally have very dry, very sunny summers which are considerably warmer than similar climates in other areas of the world, in fact. Winters are a bit cooler, depending where you are. But still extremely mild for latitude compared with likewise in the USA, but not Australia.
Look at the average overnight lows for some of these climates between 35-40° latitude in California, Australia, for example. Compare the average overnight lows in say Perth, Australia in summer with Athens, Greece (which is considerably further from the equator anyway).
Med summer temperatures are more similar to coastal North Carolina or Virginia than anywhere in California, but without the rainstorms.
Mediterranean stormy in the summer? Uhh, no. Total crap I'm afraid. May well be wetter in winter, and autumn can be quite thundery and wet. But summer, no.
And the Med has warmer sea surface temps than coastal California, SE/E Australia, even Western Australia. At the moment, the highest are 30°C / 86°F in the eastern Med near the Turkey coastline, about 36°N. Does this happen in Perth? San Francisco? Melbourne? Sydney?
I'd rather go to Malaga or Seville with their avg. highs of 33-38°C in summer than get a face full of fog or sea breeze in San Fran or Melbourne.
The (real) Med climate is basically perfect, warm, humid sunny and dry summers and mild winters, and I'm happy that it's within a 2 hour flight away from where I live right now.
Last edited by Weatherfan2; 08-05-2011 at 01:18 PM..
Well I still think it has a marvellous cliamte for its latitude. Nice, Marseille, Biriatz, Toulouse, etc... all much further north than these California climates you are mentioning and some very impressive temperatures. The mildest places that far north for sure.
It may rain more but I'd rather have that than a six month stretch with no rain at all, how boring. A lack of thunder-storms is a bad thing in my book.
I had thought of Biarritz as somewhat of a climate twin for here, but after comparing both climates on tutiempo.net I now see what a deluded fool I was. While the average stats aren't too different, Biarritz has a lot more variability in its climate, while here sticks very close to the means. 20C/70F days in winter would be nice, but not if that means getting days with max temps close to 0C. 500 hours less sunshine hours and more rainy days are my only other gripe with Biarritz. Summer in Biarritz look fantastic and very close to my perfect summer.
I had thought of Biarritz as somewhat of a climate twin for here, but after comparing both climates on tutiempo.net I now see what a deluded fool I was. While the average stats aren't too different, Biarritz has a lot more variability in its climate, while here sticks very close to the means. 20C/70F days in winter would be nice, but not if that means getting days with max temps close to 0C.
Speaking for myself, I prefer the variability over homogenous temperatures. Near 0°C maxes in Biarritz. only once or twice a winter and many many more over 10°C. I get way more cold than that here and would gladly live in SW France than Northern NZ as a warm climate fan.
Speaking for myself, I prefer the variability over homogenous temperatures. Near 0°C maxes in Biarritz. only once or twice a winter and many many more over 10°C. I get way more cold than that here and would gladly live in SW France than Northern NZ as a warm climate fan.
Fair enough, each to there own. But if I had to choose between northern NZ (which where I live isn't) and Biarritz, NZ would be an easy winner. Much nicer winters, and summers almost as warm, plus more interesting weather, and still sunnier
Fair enough, each to there own. But if I had to choose between northern NZ (which where I live isn't)
I know it int. I used it as an example of the warmest on average part of NZ.
But Biarritz gets more variation of weather inc. snow and thunderstorms so I think it's more interesting. Aucklands climate looks bloody boring. I went to SW France in the summer some times, and what awesome thunderstorms indeed. Auckland gets just 5 thunder days per annum (1981-2010 figures).
I know it int. I used it as an example of the warmest on average part of NZ.
But Biarritz gets more variation of weather inc. snow and thunderstorms so I think it's more interesting. Aucklands climate looks bloody boring. I went to SW France in the summer some times, and what awesome thunderstorms indeed. Auckland gets just 5 thunder days per annum (1981-2010 figures).
You would have to be the first person I've seen describe Auckland's weather as boring. I didn't know they only get 5 thunder days though, we get more than that. You can keep the snow though, the 1 inch we got here was destructive, with every single banana plant (about 100) having all leaves snapped off except for the growing spears. I will be lucky to get any bananas this year.
You would have to be the first person I've seen describe Auckland's weather as boring. I didn't know they only get 5 thunder days though, we get more than that. You can keep the snow though, the 1 inch we got here was destructive, with every single banana plant (about 100) having all leaves snapped off except for the growing spears. I will be lucky to get any bananas this year.
I only mentioned snow as a point of interest (of weather variation). Personally I hate it. But I'll take the warmer SW France summers and thunderstorms any day. As for Spain, phwoaaar LOL. Seville, avg summer highs of 36°C further from the 'quater than Auckland.
Lond'n Heathrow July avg. max 1981-2010 is higher than Auckland Jan avg high (or at least as high) IIRC.
My only attraction to north NZ is the mild nights year round and mild winters.
I know it int. I used it as an example of the warmest on average part of NZ.
But Biarritz gets more variation of weather inc. snow and thunderstorms so I think it's more interesting. Aucklands climate looks bloody boring. I went to SW France in the summer some times, and what awesome thunderstorms indeed. Auckland gets just 5 thunder days per annum (1981-2010 figures).
Biarritz is in the wrong corner of southern France - Charente Maritime is much sunnier.
I only mentioned snow as a point of interest (of weather variation). Personally I hate it. But I'll take the warmer SW France summers and thunderstorms any day. As for Spain, phwoaaar LOL. Seville, avg summer highs of 36°C further from the 'quater than Auckland.
Lond'n Heathrow July avg. max 1981-2010 is higher than Auckland Jan avg high (or at least as high) IIRC.
My only attraction to north NZ is the mild nights year round and mild winters.
I don't see much difference between Auckland and Biarritz for summer average temps. Biarritz certainly gets a lot hotter, but Auckland gets higher humidity and a stronger sun. I don't know which would have the better summer, although the number of thunder days could lean me toward Biarritz. How many thunder days does it get?
This is mostly wrong and quite inaccurate actually.
Mediterranean parts of Europe generally have very dry, very sunny summers which are considerably warmer than similar climates in other areas of the world, in fact. Winters are a bit cooler, depending where you are. But still extremely mild for latitude compared with likewise in the USA, but not Australia.
Look at the average overnight lows for some of these climates between 35-40° latitude in California, Australia, for example. Compare the average overnight lows in say Perth, Australia in summer with Athens, Greece (which is considerably further from the equator anyway).
Med summer temperatures are more similar to coastal North Carolina or Virginia than anywhere in California, but without the rainstorms.
Mediterranean stormy in the summer? Uhh, no. Total crap I'm afraid. May well be wetter in winter, and autumn can be quite thundery and wet. But summer, no.
And the Med has warmer sea surface temps than coastal California, SE/E Australia, even Western Australia. At the moment, the highest are 30°C / 86°F in the eastern Med near the Turkey coastline, about 36°N. Does this happen in Perth? San Francisco? Melbourne? Sydney?
I'd rather go to Malaga or Seville with their avg. highs of 33-38°C in summer than get a face full of fog or sea breeze in San Fran or Melbourne.
The (real) Med climate is basically perfect, warm, humid sunny and dry summers and mild winters, and I'm happy that it's within a 2 hour flight away from where I live right now.
First keep in mind I’m no expert, I’m only going by what I have read. I’ve never lived in any of these climates, so I don’t know for sure what the sensible weather is like.
In your original comparison you stated that the Cs sector in SW France was “considerably warmer” than other Cs sectors at the same latitude. This is mostly untrue. Although a station to station comparison is impossible, the fact remains that most cities in the Cs zone in SW France (Nice, Monte Carlo,Toulon...etc) poses no huge temp anomaly when compared to stations in the American and Australian Cs zones at the same latitude.
Here is Nice, France (43 latitude) and Redding, CA (41 latitude). Both have similar winter (Dec – March) mean temps, although Redding has summer temps (June, July, Aug) that are 8 F warmer and the annual mean temp is higher in Redding than in Nice:
Next, of course SW France (and all of Mediterranean Europe for that matter) has the typical dry, sunny, low humid/dew point summers typical of the Cs zone. However, the fact remains (and just to expand on your comment that Mediterranean Europe has more stable weather than other Cs zones), that there is more rainfall in Cs SW France in summer than in Cs Northern California in summer:
Using Nice and Redding again, you can see that in the heart of summer (June/July/Aug/Sept)....Redding, CA receives only 2 inches of rainfall....while Nice receives 6 inches of rainfall (3 times as much!):
Of course Mediterranean France is generally very dry/sunny in the summer months (as is typical of all Cs climates)...but there is obviously more disturbed weather in Cs France than in Cs Northern California based on average rainfall totals from both regions.
I agree that coastal regions of Mediterranean Europe are warmer in summer than coastal regions of the Cs sector in the USA and Australia. So for example, Perth and Los Angeles (located near 32/33 N/S) have summer max mean temps of around 23 C (74 – 75 F) ....while Athens or Naples Italy ( 38 and 41 north) have summer mean temps near 25/26 C (77 – 78 F). This is of course due (in part) to the fact that the Mediterranean Sea is tiny compared to the Pacific ocean, so the onshore effect is less around the Mediterranean Sea.
However, in terms of rainfall/stable weather, again, cities like LA, San Diego,etc receive less rainfall all year and less in summer than most of Mediterranean Europe. Naples, Italy receives 34 inches of rainfall annually, yet, cities in southern California like Santa Monica, San Diego, Santa Barbara, LA...etc receive less than half that amount annually. Only once you get very close to the Middle East (like Athens) is the rainfall around the Mediterranean comparable to southern California. Your 100% right, the Cs or Mediterranean climate zone was named after the area around the Mediterranean Sea...but in a climatic sense (ironically), the most hyper Mediterranean climate sector, with the most intense Mediterranean climate signals (i.e. subsiding air, intense drought, high sunshine hrs, a dearth of atmospheric disturbances, low dew points...etc) resides in southern California it seems.
However, none of this changes the fact that the Cs zone in Europe is a nice climate (like all Cs zones) and in the main the climate is sunny, warm, and on the dry side.
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