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It looks as though drizzle is unpopular. Drizzle on a warm summer day, with a strong sun breaking through is one of my most preferred weather events.
I don't have many rules for my dream climate.
- No summer nights below 12C/54F
- Snow a "once in a blue moon" event
- the climate must be warm enough for 6 months of comfortable swimming at 20C/68F plus
- No sunny or grey season, just even sun in all months.
Other than averages, records, etc. does your dream climate obey to certain rules that do not necessarily appear in average tables? (e.g. Every Christmas has to be a white Christmas, etc.)
Interesting topic. There are many tendencies that my dream climate follows, but exceptions are too frequent to be considered actual rules. If you want to see the characteristics of my dream climate you can check it out here. Below are the bona fide rules.
One of the earliest rules was that no temperatures above 90F could ever occur, and 90F itself would be the all-time record high, occurring at most once every 30 years or so. Every Christmas also has to be a White Christmas. With only one exception, every single Christmas in my dream climate's history has also had at least 1 foot of snow on the ground. Also, no Christmas may have temperatures above freezing, or any form of precipitation other than snow (no freezing rain for instance). Also, there must be a snowpack present throughout meteorological winter, preferably a very deep snowpack.
Also, it is a general rule that September 11 features severe weather of some type. High winds, very hard freezes, ice storms, blizzards, floods, heat waves, and severe thunderstorms have all occurred on that date. There have been a few years of calm weather, but that is quite rare. I guess the locals mark their calendars every year to prepare for some sort of severe weather, given the history of it.
Another rule is that while summer snow occurs once every few years, there must be big-time melting within 2 days.
1) At least a 30C difference (preferably more) between the hottest month and the coldest month.
2) The coldest month must have a 24-hour average that is well below 0C, if possible below -10C.
3) The hottest month must have a 24-hour average that is well above 20C, if possible above 30C.
4) No more than 600 mm of precipitation, or if it is slightly more, it should be confined to 3 or 4 wet months. Otherwise, an more or less even distribution if less than 300 mm.
5) Sunshine amounts: minimum of 2500 hours annually, ideally at least 2,800.
6) Mid-afternoon relative humidity should not exceed 40% on most days.
7) White Christmas: don't care/not important. I would be more excited about a freak July snowstorm (or January snowstorm if south of the Equator) than all this hype about White Christmases.
These are not hard and fast rules. I realise that very few places meet my ideal requirements, so I'm willing to be flexible on some of my criteria, but broadly speaking these are the characteristics that most appeal to me.
This meets quite a few of my criteria and is probably the closest to my ideal BUT, it is a little dry even for my taste and the winder could be a bit colder and longer.
Rule #1. There must NOT be average HIGH is above -3 C in December and January.
Rule #2. Annual snowfall MUST be over 100 inches. Preferably more.
Rule #3. Sunshine over 2300 hours. Around 2600 is my ideal.
Rule #4. Annual precipitation should be over 20 inches.
Rule #5. There should be a Mediterranian precipitation pattern with late summer and early fall being the driest time of year and high diurnal ranges. This will enhance the Fall colors.
Overall, My climate is best classified as Dsb (Humid continental) brodering on subarctic. See stats at Rate my (fictional) Dream Climate. Edit: Rule #6. Almost every christmas is white. A green christmas has only happened 3 times in the last 200 years, all caused by small snowpack (about 1 foot) and unusually warm weather.
Summers should have lows of at least 16C and at most 24C; highs of at least 27C and at most 33C.
Winters should have lows at least 3C and at most 15C; highs of at least 14C and at most 22C.
Summers should be the rainiest time, sun levels beneath 200 hours per month and at least 600mm of rainfall falling some time in the three warmest months.
Winters should be the sunniest and driest time with sun levels above 200 hours per month in the three coolest months. Less than 100mm should fall during the three coolest months. No frost, no snow, no sleet - ever.
I'm more flexible with my winters than my summers, but a general rule is the cooler variants are also the sunnier ones. A January 3C-14C is fine if bone dry and totally sunny, but one 14C-22C could do with leaning more towards Cfa and having a sprinkling of downpours to keep it green.
There should be at least one period before or after the monsoonal summer period with highs in the 25C-30C range that is most dry ( less than 7 days in a month with rain ) and intensely sunny.
Wind speed should correlate with temperature. The hottest months are the windiest, the coolest months the most still.
In short there's simply not, a more congenial spot, than here in Camelot!
Ideally I'd like four seasons: 32 inches annual precip with 80% of it occuring overnight
Winter - short cold winters 8 weeks, -15c to 0C 6" precip
Spring - 11 weeks 5C to 20C 8" precip
Summer - 22 weeks 15C to 30C 11" precip
Autumn - 11 weeks 5 C to 25C 7" precip
It looks as though drizzle is unpopular. Drizzle on a warm summer day, with a strong sun breaking through is one of my most preferred weather events.
I agree. A small drizzle is very underrated. What is better waking up a slightly chilly early morning after some small drizzle and expecting 30C in the afternoon? A tiny drizzle at 9pm is as good after a hot day when you are enjoying the evening on the patio. Nice in a heatwave as well.
1) At least a 30C difference (preferably more) between the hottest month and the coldest month.
2) The coldest month must have a 24-hour average that is well below 0C, if possible below -10C.
3) The hottest month must have a 24-hour average that is well above 20C, if possible above 30C.
4) No more than 600 mm of precipitation, or if it is slightly more, it should be confined to 3 or 4 wet months. Otherwise, an more or less even distribution if less than 300 mm.
5) Sunshine amounts: minimum of 2500 hours annually, ideally at least 2,800.
6) Mid-afternoon relative humidity should not exceed 40% on most days.
7) White Christmas: don't care/not important. I would be more excited about a freak July snowstorm (or January snowstorm if south of the Equator) than all this hype about White Christmases.
8) "Seasonal lag": a total non-issue for me!
These are not hard and fast rules. I realise that very few places meet my ideal requirements, so I'm willing to be flexible on some of my criteria, but broadly speaking these are the characteristics that most appeal to me.
This meets quite a few of my criteria and is probably the closest to my ideal BUT, it is a little dry even for my taste and the winder could be a bit colder and longer.
Parade magazine posted a study on the best climate cities in the country to live based on the number of heating and cooling days per year.
Only one USA city was best for two months of the year...
Oakland California... but, then I already knew this because I live here!
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