What do you think generally lasts longer, a Heatwave or a Coldwave? (climate, hot)
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In the UK serious cold spells are usually both more intense and longer than "heatwaves" according to my records. Notable examples inc. March 2013 and December 2010.
That would depend on the climate. In Saskatchewan, cold waves, obviously. In Oklahoma, heat waves, even if both SK and OK are subsets of temperate climates.
It really depends on how you define your terms. Generally speaking though, we get more variability in winter. ie. fluctuations between hot and cold. Therefore, I think that we get longer heatwaves because summer temperatures are more steady, and weather patterns persist for longer periods before breaking down.
Well negative anomalies during the winter here are deeper than the positive anomalies in the summer... January has been 14F colder than average while July has been 7F above average (mean).
In terms of length of outbreaks of cold and heat I would say about equal...
Here, the entire summer could be considered a "heat wave" by many places' standards.
I would say that continuous temperatures above 97 F (36.1 C) would be a heat wave for my area. August 2011 was one of the worst heat waves ever - the average high that month was 101 F (38.3 C).
Cold waves are not that common here, although there have been some decent ones. It stayed below 44 F (6.7 C) for 10 consecutive days in December 1983. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were 27/17 F & 25/13 F (-2.8/-8.3 C & -3.9/-10.6 C)!
Our coldest month had a higher anomaly than our warmest month by about 2C.
Extreme cold seems to have been more long lasting for here in the past.. I can only think of 1976, 1995, 2006 where we had long sustained periods of hot weather
That would depend on the climate. In Saskatchewan, cold waves, obviously. In Oklahoma, heat waves, even if both SK and OK are subsets of temperate climates.
All temperate climates are subsets of temperate climates.
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