Autumn Thread 2011 (Canada, annual, comparison, lows)

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by ChesterNZ

Just waiting until my lease expires really. Which is next Autumn. Average temps from October onwards should be tolerable, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

The main thing for me is that I don't go more than three or four days without 16+ C and sunshine, or I start to go crazy. I don't think that's an overly high standard, but it is one that Cloudchurch often fails to meet.

If I moved to Brisbane or Sydney or Perth or virtually anywhere in Australia, I could be almost guarenteed to never experience such conditions ever again for the rest of my life -- a truly tantalising thought!

There are very few places in the US outside of S. Florida, and the low deserts of AZ and S. California that would meet your requirements. Despite average high temps over 61F in the US South (places like New Orleans and Houston), the cold blasts in winter with high std deviation from average would fail you. In a colder than avg winter places like Houston and New Orleans certainly go more than three days below your temp threshold. Again it is why I think Australia has superior sub-tropical climates compared to the US, particularly when looking at winter temps.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by ChesterNZ

Just waiting until my lease expires really. Which is next Autumn. Average temps from October onwards should be tolerable, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

The main thing for me is that I don't go more than three or four days without 16+ C and sunshine, or I start to go crazy. I don't think that's an overly high standard, but it is one that Cloudchurch often fails to meet.

If I moved to Brisbane or Sydney or Perth or virtually anywhere in Australia, I could be almost guarenteed to never experience such conditions ever again for the rest of my life -- a truly tantalising thought!

Nowhere in NZ could possibly meet your requirements, that's for sure. If you're saying 16+C AND sunshine, how would you feel about 3 consecutive wet days in Sydney or Brisbane? The rainlover's joy would not be yours I think.

The "Cloudchurch" reference in a NZ context is misleading. The average for possible sun for NZ populated centres is about 48-49% of possible sun; Christchurch's is 50-51%. Nowhere averages more then about 58%.

[ChesterNZ]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

There are very few places in the US outside of S. Florida, and the low deserts of AZ and S. California that would meet your requirements. Despite average high temps over 61F in the US South (places like New Orleans and Houston), the cold blasts in winter with high std deviation from average would fail you. In a colder than avg winter places like Houston and New Orleans certainly go more than three days below your temp threshold. Again it is why I think Australia has superior sub-tropical climates compared to the US, particularly when looking at winter temps.

Yes, I also prefer the cooler summers in Australia -- summer highs around 80 F rather than 90 - 95 F in most of the American SE.

My ideal is still coastal SoCal. Unfortunately, Australia doesn't really seem to have a match for that. There are climates in Australia with similar averages but the std dev is much higher -- the average summer high might be 77 F, but you could easily get 95 F one day and 70 F the next.

[dunno what to put here]

Even coastal SoCal has the phenomenon known as June Gloom, days on end of fog and overcast skies. The only places you can be guaranteed clear blue skies is places like Yuma, AZ, but they're ridiculously hot and probably not what you want.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

Even coastal SoCal has the phenomenon known as June Gloom, days on end of fog and overcast skies. The only places you can be guaranteed clear blue skies is places like Yuma, AZ, but they're ridiculously hot and probably not what you want.

The month of May is bad too on the coast. Also, even in later summer the mornings can be cloudy until the fog burns off. I'd be curious what the sunshine hours are for a place like San Diego right on the shoreline, not 5 five miles inland or so. If most of May and June are cloudy that is quite a bit sunshine you are losing, considering the winter is when it is more rainy.

Check out this bit from Wiki on Laguna Beach:

"Laguna Beach has a warm Mediterranean climate with abundant sunshine all year. Daytime temperature averages range from 67°F in January to 79°F in July. Mean annual precipitation is relatively low - 13.56 inches. Water temperatures are some of the warmest on the southern California coast and range from about 60°F in February to 72°F in August; however in early to mid September water temperatures often range from 73°F-75°F. "

I'm not sure why, but a place like Santa Monica (55 miles north) has much cooler summer highs, more like 70F right on the beach, yet Laguna seems to be in the upper 70's. It may have something to do with the water temps, as I never knew places in S. Cal had water that warm in summer.

[FVWinters]

Originally Posted by ChesterNZ

Just waiting until my lease expires really. Which is next Autumn. Average temps from October onwards should be tolerable, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

The main thing for me is that I don't go more than three or four days without 16+ C and sunshine, or I start to go crazy. I don't think that's an overly high standard, but it is one that Cloudchurch often fails to meet.

If I moved to Brisbane or Sydney or Perth or virtually anywhere in Australia, I could be almost guarenteed to never experience such conditions ever again for the rest of my life -- a truly tantalising thought!

Originally Posted by RWood

Nowhere in NZ could possibly meet your requirements, that's for sure. If you're saying 16+C AND sunshine, how would you feel about 3 consecutive wet days in Sydney or Brisbane? The rainlover's joy would not be yours I think.

The "Cloudchurch" reference in a NZ context is misleading. The average for possible sun for NZ populated centres is about 48-49% of possible sun; Christchurch's is 50-51%. Nowhere averages more then about 58%.

Probably aren't going to find much in Australia, either....

Here's one that might come close. It's for Geraldton, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) north of Perth:

Climate statistics for Australian locations

[SophieLL]

i cant believe how cold its New Zeland compared to Buenos Aires, when we are at the exact same seasons (almost spring) and we havent had a cold day since mid August.
All september we ve had springy weather, sunny, between 60s and 80s.

[SophieLL]

I guess summers and spring are also colder so im gonna envy NZ so much so very soon!!! :P

[RWood]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

i cant believe how cold its New Zeland compared to Buenos Aires, when we are at the exact same seasons (almost spring) and we havent had a cold day since mid August.
All september we ve had springy weather, sunny, between 60s and 80s.

Buenos Aires is at 34.5S latitude. Mean annual temp. quoted from one source is 17.7C (may be some urban effect, don't know what the means of nearby smaller centres are). Kaitaia in NZ's far north has a mean of 16.0C - latitude 35.1S. So there is some discrepancy there, but it's not huge.

[deneb78]

Originally Posted by ChesterNZ

AHHH!!!!! Today was so much worse than I thought. From noon onwards temps were in the single digits (below 50 F) and it was overcast all day long.

We've had below average temps for a whole week now. And the ten day forecast has every single day being below average. I can't remember such a prolonged cold snap in my life.

Meanwhile, Brisbane has temps in the 30s, Melbourne in the high 20s and even Hobart is in the low 20s! I'm so close to just buying a one way ticket to Brisbane and leaving all this misery behind forever.

Tomorrow
20 Sep

Max 11°C
MIN 0°C
Fine, chance early shower. Southwest dies out.

Issued: 4:44pm 19 Sep

Wednesday
21 Sep

Max 12°C
MIN 5°C
Cloudy periods. Northeasterlies developing.

Issued: 2:01pm 19 Sep

Thursday
22 Sep

Max 15°C
MIN 4°C
Cloudy spells, late rain. Northeast dies out.

Issued: 2:01pm 19 Sep

Friday
23 Sep

Max 15°C
MIN 5°C
Cloudy, morning drizzle. Northeasterlies freshening.

Issued: 2:01pm 19 Sep

Saturday
24 Sep

Max 15°C
MIN 4°C
Dry. Northerlies.

Issued: 1:10pm 19 Sep

Sunday
25 Sep

Max 13°C
MIN 5°C
Dry with westerlies.

Issued: 1:10pm 19 Sep

Monday
26 Sep

Max 11°C
MIN 4°C
Rain. Southwesterlies.

Issued: 1:10pm 19 Sep

Tuesday
27 Sep

Max 12°C
MIN 4°C
Showers. Westerlies.

Issued: 1:10pm 19 Sep

Wednesday
28 Sep

Max 14°C
MIN 4°C
Showers with northwesterlies.

Issued: 1:10pm 19 Sep

Christchurch's weather forecast doesn't look that bad but I must say I find your nighttime lows quite chilly even for Vancouver.. I would certainly relish 15C late winter days though


Autumn hasn't really started here yet... it's cooled down a bit but the early trees have barely started turning...