Great Plains vs. Central Asia (climate, warm, recorded, city)

[grega94]

I've noticed that a lot of people bash the Climate of N. America because it has no west-east oriented mountain ranges and so experience many cold and heat waves that swing back and forth, and that it is somehow unique with this geographic feature. However there is another part of the world that doesn't have any mountain ranges to stop arctic blasts and that is central asia.

So the question is which place do you think is more unstable?

Central Asia
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serhetabat#Climate (35°17′N), 747 m (2,454 ft)

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BCrkmenabat#Climate (39°05′N) 187 m (614 ft)

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashkent#Climate (41°16′N) 500 m (1,640 feet)

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyzylorda#Climate (44°51′0″N) 128 m (420 ft)

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezkaz...hy_and_climate (47°47′0″N) < 400m (1,312 ft)

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaganda#Climate (49°50′0″N) 546 m (1,791 ft)

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana#Climate (51°10′N) 347 m (1,138 ft)

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk#Climate (54°59′N) 87 m (285 ft)

Great Plains
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City#Climate (35°28′56″N) 366 m (1,201 ft)

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita,_Kansas#Climate (37°41′20″N) 396 m (1,299 ft)

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln,_Nebraska#Climate (40°48′38″N) 358 m (1,176 ft)

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_...Dakota#Climate (43°32′11″N) 448 m ( 1,470 ft)

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismar...Dakota#Climate (46°48′48″N) 514 m (1,686 ft)

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estevan#Climate (49°08′21″N) 580 m (1,904 ft)

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina...chewan#Climate (50°27′17″N) 577 m (1,893 ft)

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton#Climate (53°32′N) 645 m (2,116 ft)

Any surprises? For me I was surprised that the great plains had generally colder record lows than their Asian counterparts, especially since in the Asian case there is a west-east mountain range preventing warm air from entering from the Arabian Sea.

[forgotten username]

Obviously anything in Asia is going to be a lot more stable.

[Noodleman556]

Central Asia, you can spend winter in very cold regions (North Kazakhstan) and then travel to the south for summer (Mary/Ashgabat in Turkmenistan). There's lakes, seas, deserts, forests, steppe and glaciers. Central Asia is definitely for me apart from winter.

[EverBlack]

I think they are extremely similar, for example:

Bismarck, North Dakota and Aktobe, Kazakhstan. Saskatoon and Novosibirsk. Sioux Falls and Uralsk.

I don't like these climates very much, but there's a sliver of time when the weather is comfortable. Pond Inlet and Mérida are far worse.

[chicagogeorge]

Similar averages over all, Great Plains will win for me because extremes are greater (latitude for latitude). Doesn't show up in Bismarck, but North Dakota at 47N recorded a record max of 121F/49.4C. I don't think that has been reached in Central Asia at that latitude.

[Ethereal]

Central Asia for not being being humid in the summer.

[EverBlack]

Originally Posted by Ethereal

Central Asia for not being being humid in the summer.

Do you think Bismarck is humid during the summer?

[Thunder98]

Fortuna, North Dakota is probably the coldest place in the US Great Plains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortun...Dakota#Climate

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by EverBlack

I think they are extremely similar, for example:

Bismarck, North Dakota and Aktobe, Kazakhstan. Saskatoon and Novosibirsk. Sioux Falls and Uralsk.

I don't like these climates very much, but there's a sliver of time when the weather is comfortable. Pond Inlet and Mérida are far worse.

Compare Turkmenabat with Lincoln Nebraska. Which was is colder in winter given the latitude?

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by EverBlack

I think they are extremely similar, for example:

Bismarck, North Dakota and Aktobe, Kazakhstan. Saskatoon and Novosibirsk. Sioux Falls and Uralsk.

I don't like these climates very much, but there's a sliver of time when the weather is comfortable. Pond Inlet and Mérida are far worse.

They are not similar. Central Asia is warmer given latitude and elevation. How bout Tashkent vs Philadelphia. They are warmer than here in winter and higher in latitude and much higher in elevation. That place is warmer than anywhere in the Midwest in winter, and more stable. Look at Bishkek vs the Midwest US. It is at 43N and 2,600 ft in elevation. Bishkek is warmer than Lincoln, NE and has a higher record low.

Besides East Asia, no one matches the eastern 2/3 of the US for being colder than average for the latitude.
Why? Cause of the geography fail. Unless of course you are a lover of extremes and cold, then it is the best place on earth for you.