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I thought I'd put this out there to see what response I got.
Do you think Vancouver has a true 4 season climate with the classic winter, spring, summer and autumn?
Why or why not?
I think it does but the seasons perhaps are less well defined compared to many other locations.
It doesn't have a distinct four-season climate like Minneapolis, but a weak four-season climate of course. Vancouver has a distinct cooler period with annual snow, even if it is only fleeting and does not last long (like here), a period of bloom, a season warmer than the rest, and a period of foliage.
Even places like Tallahassee could be described as the southern extent of the four-season climate because it experiences all of those things except snow, but it's got a decent chance of seeing something resembling winter (freezing rain, frost, sleet?).
Perhaps it's subjective, but I think Vancouver's seasons are a little too muted to be defined a "true" four season climate. I guess you're capable of getting a taste of all four seasons though (including heatwaves during the summer and cold waves/snow during the winter).
I think we should be careful here because most locations outside of the tropics experience seasons in some sense. That said I might just grudgingly concede that Vancouver does have a 4 season climate, very mild as it may be.
An interesting side question related to this is how much difference in temperature between winter and summer should there be at a minimum for a place to have a true 4 season climate? Vancouver has a 14.3C difference between warmest summer month and coldest winter month. Clearly many people think this is a large enough difference to qualify.
No. It's the same as Seattle. A cool wet season followed by a (short) warm dry season. It is certainly not a true four season climate. Head east of the Cascade crest and it is a different story.
A 'true' four-season climate depends on your perspective. From where I'm coming from, a season with short days when ice and snow can, and occasionally do happen = winter and a season with long days where prolonged sun and warmth can, and occasionally do happen = summer. You could say oceanic climates like Vancouver and London don't have a 'true' winter and summer, but then again I could say somewhere like Minneapolis doesn't have a 'true' three-month spring and autumn like we do.
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