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That's interesting, Galveston has less days above 50*F then Savannah, Hilton Head, Mobile, and New Orleans even though it has the warmest averages...
Climatically, I think Galveston is more of an extension of South Texas rather then the Northern Gulf Coast. It rarely freezes there (I think only 3-5 times in the last 20 years) and its winter averages are quite high compared to New Orleans, Mobile, Panama City, etc. You won't find 40 foot Royal Palms (used to line boulevards in Miami) in those places either.
Just from intuition, I would expect in general, colder and drier locations to have more deviation.
Interesting that Enosburg Falls has more deviation in winter minimums than Wildrose despite its winter lows being drier and less cold.
It looks like very cold, continental stations in Alaska (PROSPECT CREEK CAMP, ALASKA - Climate Summary ) can have a very large deviation in winter (as much as 17-18F) but their summer deviations aren't especially high.
I'm guessing then, perhaps the trend is that the colder winters overall, the higher the winter monthly standard deviations (which would mean that then it's Alaska/Yukon that has the most in winter in North America).
However, might perhaps places like the Dakotas, Alberta etc. have more summer, and nearby spring/fall deviation (?). The Wildrose station sees a decent amount of it.
Last edited by Stumbler.; 10-28-2011 at 09:54 PM..
Just one more note quick note (we should not hijack the Op's thread on Kansas and Dc climates into another southern USA thread)...but remember that numeric values for standard deviations are no different than values 90 days, tropical cyclones, frost…etc . They can’t be extrapolated to attempt to try to say that the numeric values (whatever they may be) happen very often. A standard deviation of even 30 F (and most of the stations in the south have std deviations of more like 6 to 11 F) means very little if it happens on only a few days a year.
My point I guess is that you seem under the impression that many stations in the subtropical Gulf/south Atlantic states will see high temps in the 30’s/40’s every few days or very frequently. Climatically, that is not even close to true; The reality, is that most stations will see only 10 to maybe 30 days ( out of 365 days a year ) when the high fails to reach above 50 F (and more like 5 to 7 days all year when the high is below 40 F). Here are some numbers direct from NOAA’s new 30 year data (you do the math for the number of days that fail to get above 50 F):
DAYS WHEN HIGH IS ABOVE 50 F/10 C at NWS stations:
Coastal cities:
Charleston, SC = 351 days.
Savannah, GA = 355 days.
Hilton Head,SC = 358 days.
Brunswick,GA = 352 days.
Mobile, AL = 355 days.
New Orleans, LA = 357 days.
Galveston, TX = 353 days.
Agreed, Nashville is part of the subtropical Gulf/South Atlantic climate area (Cfa)…but in fairness to the seven states that make of this general climate region (TX, LA, MI, AL,GA, SC, TN)… Nashville and even Atlanta are not representative of this climate zone.
It's good to see you not ‘haten on the Southâ€â€¦as this board seems to have one person that does that very well already.
I do not think that. There certainly are stable periods of weather, but wild swings in temperatures can be scattered about throughout the winter. Yes, it may only happen a few times each winter, but it isn't uncommon. I understand your point about the standard deviation, but I think it gives a somewhat better idea of what a climate is like than just plain old averages.
To say Nashville and Atlanta are not representative of the climate zone is really a stretch. All the cities you listed are on the coast. What about Birmingham, Montgomery, Jackson, Macon, Shreveport, etc?
Just look at the data for random winter months and you'll see the swings that can occur. I'll even use one of the warmer cities (New Orleans) as an example.
Wow, that is a lot of effort for citrus, but worth it in SC (on a small scale)given the temps the other 99.5% of the time. It's easy to take some things for granted, citrus are an easy grow around here, with water, wasps and possums being the main problems.
Exactly right. In Spain and the rest of the Med it grows like weeds. You don't see citrus growing all over the place in the US South. You have to search high and low for it. Then when you find it, in many cases you will find out that after a few years they bite the dust and have to start all over. It just isn't worth it after a while. In January of 1985 Charleston went down to 6F. That would kill off every single Citrus tree. Devastating freezes also happend in the 1930's and at other times in history. People give up after that. The guy in the web link is a fanatic. You don't see citrus groves anywhere on the East Coast until you get to Florida. The bottom line is that the eastern half of the US is subject every winter to bitterly cold artic fronts. They penetrate the US mainland all the way down to Florida. That doesn't happen in other sub-tropical climates(except Asia) to the extent it does here. It ruins the otherwise nice winters there.
Take a look at the data from January 2009 for Charleston. A snapshot of a single month in winter, a month that was actually .3F above normal. A typical winter month there. Imagine you have been told that Charleston has this wonderful sub-tropical climate with a warm, sunny winter. Well the truth is that temperatures are all over the map. Can you imagine such wild temperature changes in Sydney, Perth, Greek Islands, Buenos Aires, Southern Spain. Given a 34N latitude, is there anywhere outside of Asia, at sea level, with a winter with such arctic outbreaks?
Look at two dates in particular: January 5/6 and 20/21. The high on January 5th was 77F, with a morning low the next day of 58F. Nice balmy winter warmth. Then the shoe drops out as per usual, on January 16/17 with a high of 40F and a low of 20F the next morning, which is actually colder than our average January high/low in Philly. It happens again on January 20 and 21. For 7 days, about one quarter of that month, the high temperature did not reach 50F. Makes sense when you are looking at a 10F std deviation from the mean.
The winter in the sub-tropical US East is "anything goes". How this can be called "stable" is beyond me. It is actually very frustrating if you go there trying to escape winter. The eastern half of the USA has, along with southern China, the worst subtropical climates on earth (IMO if you like winter warmth and stability)given such low latitudes. Same thing happens in Texas, Mobile, New Orleans, etc...
To give equal time to the better side of South Carolina, the summers there are amazing with blazing sunshine, warm/hot temps, and an ocean that feels like it was heated (around 84/85F) in summer. I really like the Spring, Summer, and Fall in South Carolina. Last time I checked in October the sea temp was still in the 70's in Myrtle Beach. It is only the three winter months that I don't find enjoyable. I'll bet the Med Sea temps along the shores of Europe doesn't reach the temps in summer that you would get here in the Atlantic along Myrtle Beach. The beaches go on for miles and miles of nothing but fine quartz white sand. Oh, and the golfing isn't bad either :
Well, America's subtropical climates are located on a massive continent very prone to Arctic blasts, so their winters are obviously going to be colder then the subtropical climates of Australia.
Myrtle Beach is a great resort town. I would like to go during the winter though since it's cheaper and not as jammed pack as summer. Plus the weather is cooler.
South Carolina is an underrated state, IMO. I wouldn't want to live there, but it's nice to visit.
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