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Whats up with the wild fires out west every year?? Imagine if we werent around to fight them? Why doesnt the East experience as much? Is it just because the Humidity is usually high in the East?
The only thing I see out of this is the Ridge being more consistant in the West which tells me any heat the East gets might actually be temporary. We'll see.
it's because fires are more explosive when there in the Mountains because they can grow vertically. But, in addition to that, rainfall in the mountain west is much lower than in the east so vegetation doesn't burn as easily.
Today our heat index peaked at 101 and it looks like we are going to continue to hit 100 everyday this week
Oh, oh, but I thought Miami was always so comfortable in the 80s . Now you know what the hell that is Puerto Rico is like, except it lasts for 9 months, not 4 or 5
Oh, oh, but I thought Miami was always so comfortable in the 80s . Now you know what the hell that is Puerto Rico is like, except it lasts for 9 months, not 4 or 5
except it's not in the 80s it's in the 90s which is not enjoyable.
Whats up with the wild fires out west every year?? Imagine if we werent around to fight them? Why doesnt the East experience as much? Is it just because the Humidity is usually high in the East?
The only thing I see out of this is the Ridge being more consistant in the West which tells me any heat the East gets might actually be temporary. We'll see.
Umm. Checking the precipitation totals will give a hint. Before us, forest fires happened regularly out west. Some trees actually are adapted to forest fires and require them for their seeds to come out. And on the west coast, the lack of rain during the hottest months, makes them more fire prone than otherwise.
And on the west coast, the lack of rain during the hottest months, makes them more fire prone than otherwise.
Thats pretty much going deeper to what I'm asking... why are they less prone to precip? Is it because we have Gulf and Atlantic moisture to work with? But why wouldnt they benefit from the West-East flow from the Pacific? I think it's strange how there's always less moisture out there.
On the topic, someone posted in the CT forum they are moving from San Diego to CT and what to expect. So of course I mentioned the weather and posted a climate comparison. Shockingly, they only get 10 inches of rain a year on average. We just got 10" in 2 weeks. LOL!! San Diego is on the coast, I dont get why such little rain.
Thats pretty much going deeper to what I'm asking... why are they less prone to precip? Is it because we have Gulf and Atlantic moisture to work with? But why wouldnt they benefit from the West-East flow from the Pacific? I think it's strange how there's always less moisture out there.
On the topic, someone posted in the CT forum they are moving from San Diego to CT and what to expect. So of course I mentioned the weather and posted a climate comparison. Shockingly, they only get 10 inches of rain a year on average. We just got 10" in 2 weeks. LOL!! San Diego is on the coast, I dont get why such little rain.
Could be permanent high pressure cells in the Pacific that shifts position every summer and winter? That's how it works in southern Europe, you have the Azores High affecting precipitation patterns in the Mediterranean. ENSO also affects the jet stream positioning on the west coast.
Thats pretty much going deeper to what I'm asking... why are they less prone to precip? Is it because we have Gulf and Atlantic moisture to work with? But why wouldnt they benefit from the West-East flow from the Pacific? I think it's strange how there's always less moisture out there.
On the topic, someone posted in the CT forum they are moving from San Diego to CT and what to expect. So of course I mentioned the weather and posted a climate comparison. Shockingly, they only get 10 inches of rain a year on average. We just got 10" in 2 weeks. LOL!! San Diego is on the coast, I dont get why such little rain.
That's a thread in itself, it's probably been discussed in one of the more geography related threads. I guess you're not as familiar with western climate as I thought.
So for Pacific Moisture, the west coast is under a strong semi-permament high pressure system that deflects storms and prevents convection (the summer sea temperatures are relatively cold for the latitude, too). In the winter, the high pressure weakens, and only exists to at most central California (sometimes not at all). In the summer, it often extends past the Canadian border to about 50°N. Precipitation is minimal along the coast in the summer, for San Diego it's nearly a costal desert. Everywhere on the west coast has a winter precipitation max. Since the summers are generally dry, much of the west coast is fire prone, though Central and Southern California the most.
When Pacific moisture does arrive, the mountain belts, particularly the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, wring out the moisture coming from the west, resulting in dry land to the east of the mountains. East of the Rockies, it gets wetter from Gulf of Mexico moisture. Check out this precipitation map of the US:
The Plains become wet close to the longitude where the Gulf of Mexico starts. You can see Salt Lake City is a drier version of a west coast climate (dry summers, wetter the rest of the year):
Boulder on the other side of the Rockies has wetter summers than winters. There's no way it can get wet summers from the Pacific Ocean, almost nowhere on the west coast has summers that wet. It's getting influence from the Gulf of Mexico.
The west side of the Colorado Rockies get monsoonal midsummer moisture from the Gulf of California.
Last edited by nei; 06-20-2013 at 09:15 AM..
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. Now you know what the hell that is Puerto Rico is like, except it lasts for 9 months, not 4 or 5
We just got 10" in 2 weeks. LOL!! San Diego is on the coast, I dont get why such little rain.
