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Except that again your looking at it through the eyes of a 40N latitude. We live much further north than America.
I know, but you have much fewer frosts in the winter than us, so I wouldn't have expected lots of spring frosts. It makes sense, once I thought about it; just not what I expected.
Btw, the Midwest at similar latitude and winter cold is less prone to spring frost than the Northeast / New England. Maybe because its more continental, or the airflow pattern is different. Diurnal range tends to be a bit higher than most of the Midwest at least east of the Mississippi.
Interesting England vs Pacific Northwest comparison. Bellingham is further south, but has slightly cooler averages. Both are equally prone to spring frosts, but Bellingham gets more winter frosts, probably from not being on an island.
Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alex985
Yeah but you guys have a very mild climate for your latitude....obviously we know you're at 50+N. Latitude is only one factor when it comes to determining climate. Obviously, the dynamics of the North American climate are much different than Western Europe, so it would be silly to compare latitude by latitude.
Berlin, NH at 44 N has recorded a freeze in every month except July....and even then it's really close at 1 C. Berlin is cold for its latitude however. Just proves my point that latitude doesn't tell the whole story.
Saranac Lake, NY has recorded a freeze in every month, at 44 N.
Well latitude is an influence because the ocean cools the further north you go. It is currently a 12c sea temperature now, it will peak at that and fall down to 5c or so in March.
I still have single figure sea temperatures at June so it isn't hard to get a frost in the early summer period. We don't have 20c sea temperatures or else it would be much warmer.
We are also near Greenland so cold spells can come down.
The UK is on average mild, but the cold air is still pretty close in April and bursts can temporarily wander down quite late in the season and create frost, especially on higher ground, and particularly if accompanied with clear skies. Look at this example from this spring:
My last frost was on 17 May, when it looked like this:
Interesting and true. Also the cold ocean water in spring probably assures that cold air is still possible in spring. It was just a surprise that they can even early summer frosts too.
What exactly is the difference between a frost and a freeze? Is it frost=radiation frost and freeze=advection frost? Or is it just air frost (2 m) and ground frost?
All these things are quite confusing: frost, freeze, frozen dew, soft rime, hard rime, glazed ice and so on.
Well latitude is an influence because the ocean cools the further north you go. It is currently a 12c sea temperature now, it will peak at that and fall down to 5c or so in March.
I still have single figure sea temperatures at June so it isn't hard to get a frost in the early summer period. We don't have 20c sea temperatures or else it would be much warmer.
We are also near Greenland so cold spells can come down.
Yeah, like I said the cold ocean water helps assure that you can get frosts even into early summer.
Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Donar
What exactly is the difference between a frost and a freeze? Is it frost=radiation frost and freeze=advection frost? Or is it just air frost (2 m) and ground frost?
All these things are quite confusing: frost, freeze, frozen dew, soft rime, hard rime, glazed ice and so on.
I know, but you have much fewer frosts in the winter than us, so I wouldn't have expected lots of spring frosts. It makes sense, once I thought about it; just not what I expected.
Btw, the Midwest at similar latitude and winter cold is less prone to spring frost than the Northeast / New England. Maybe because its more continental, or the airflow pattern is different. Diurnal range tends to be a bit higher than most of the Midwest at least east of the Mississippi.
Interesting England vs Pacific Northwest comparison. Bellingham is further south, but has slightly cooler averages. Both are equally prone to spring frosts, but Bellingham gets more winter frosts, probably from not being on an island.
Yep, I've noticed that the Midwest has warmer springs at the same latitude than New England. Probably because New England has slightly more of an oceanic influence? Also New England is closer to the Labrador Current, which gives Eastern Canada very cold springs, so maybe you're closer to those cold spring air masses as well? Schefferville at 56 N has sub-freezing highs as an average even into April, even though it's located well inland. By comparison, Thompson, Manitoba has an average high of April of about 5 C, but it's just as far inland and at the same latitude.
Well latitude is an influence because the ocean cools the further north you go. It is currently a 12c sea temperature now, it will peak at that and fall down to 5c or so in March.
As a "pathological climate", I'll refer to California. Mean summer sea temperature off Mendocino, CA is 11°C and it's at 39°N. It isn't as prone to frosts as Northern Ireland, but it gets spring frosts.
What exactly is the difference between a frost and a freeze? Is it frost=radiation frost and freeze=advection frost? Or is it just air frost (2 m) and ground frost?
Frost is what posters here call "ground frost". Freeze is an "air frost". Ground frost and air frost I think are British English terms, hadn't heard until this forum. Frost always refers to having ground frost, or physically frost on the ground in the US.
Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
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No a Frost in this country is when it goes below 0c.
I don't count ground frost because I get it so many times it's irrelevant.
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