What is a subtropical climate? (snowy, hottest, warmest, record)
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Ice sheets pushed much further south in North America compared to Asia during the last glacial maximum, which likely explains why there's an abundance of "northern" deciduous tree species in the south.
I just think that if a plant's deciduous/evergreen habits were determined by extreme temperature departures in the winter, broadleaf evergreens wouldn't be present in the south. And Asian broadleaf evergreens being grown in the south would defoliate after cold snaps every winter, but they don't.
East Asia's dry season is in winter, this the only reason why glacier's didn't form, and any snow that did fall would all melt away in the summer rain. That's why Kamchatka has so few glaciers even though it does receive a lot of winter snow, because rain melts snow faster than a warm sunny day. And also why Japan has no glaciers, you would think that my Fuji would have a few glaciers, but no, they all met in the summer monsoon.
I think a subtropical climate either needs to get no month under 8°C mean with at least four months of highs above 20°C, or three month of 22°C mean with no month below 3°C mean. This is because I both think coastal Los Angeles area / Auckland and Washington D.C are subtropical, the first two because of overall warmth and the third because those summers really are tropical and winter is short and kinda insignificant.
Might throw in a minimun 2000h sunshine aswell, idk
I think a subtropical climate either needs to get no month under 8°C mean with at least four months of highs above 20°C, or three month of 22°C mean with no month below 3°C mean. This is because I both think coastal Los Angeles area / Auckland and Washington D.C are subtropical, the first two because of overall warmth and the third because those summers really are tropical and winter is short and kinda insignificant.
Might throw in a minimun 2000h sunshine aswell, idk
If you put in the sunshine requirement, that would disqualify most subtropical Chinese cities like Chongqing, Guilin etc.
I found that they have a name for the summer dryness in South Texas/Northern Mexico coast; they call it "La Canicula." Basically, every summer, a high pressure ridge sets up over the South Central US plains, SW US, and Northern Mexico, causing a "dry out." However, by August 10 or so, the ridge elongates in a way that opens Gulf air into South Texas, allowing for an late August-October rainy peak.
Even when South Texas isn't affected by this ridge, they just don't get rain; the air-flow isn't favorable (winds can come only from the east to bring in summer rain in Brownsville). Thus, the conditions aren't deathly hot, but still have quite a bit of aridity; this is similar to oceanic arid places like Aruba, or Dakar in Senegal.
Houston/SE Texas is typically south and/or east of this ridge, so disturbances/troughs are able to swing through the ridge, and bring sea-breeze summer rains all season, without the distinct dry out seen in much of the rest of the state.
Putting aside my usual position on subtropical equalling environment. I think a subtropical climate is one that is affected by systems from the subtropics, year round. So that is a lot of climates.
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To me, subtropical climate has a coolest month between 5°C and 19°C, a warmest month 23.3°C+ and is no lower than hardiness zone 8a
Note: I consider milder mediterranean and oceanic climates such as Los Angeles and Sydney to be in the "subtropical family" so to speak
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