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I am in the middle of revising my ideal climate right now, and I want to make it at least passably realistic.
I like warm temperatures throughout the year, with winters averaging 82/65°F (28/18°C) and summers averaging 88/71°F (31/22°C). I don't like extremely high humidity; my ideal humidity average is maybe 40%, with dew points between 30 and 60 at all times, barring exceptional circumstances (such as leading up to or during a storm). And I want my diurnal ranges (the difference between day and night temperatures) to be between 15-20°F (8-11°C); anything too much higher than that is too much. I don't want it to be routinely 100°F (38°C) during the day and 50°F (10°C) at night; that's insane, but there is a certain appeal to a 92/68°F (33/20°C) summer day every once in a while, just not on average.
As for records, I do like some variation; if it exactly matched the averages every day, that would be extremely boring. But I don't want insanely crazy swings; I don't want my all-time record low to be 32°F (0°C), but rather to the tune of 52°F (11°C). Ideally, I'd want my records to be 10-12°F (6-7°C) from my averages.
Is it possible for me to realistically combine all of these features in my climate, or am I inherently misunderstanding basic science?
Thank you for any and all input.
P.S. My current ideal climate is in my album "Weather stuff". For reference, the wind chill line is actually wind speed in miles per hour. 10-11 mph is 16-18 km/h.
Last edited by Cheesehead92; 06-29-2016 at 05:11 AM..
Reason: Reword, add, revise...
Factors which mostly affect the diurnal range are elevation, cloud cover, wind and the distances to a source of heat (water, concrete jungle) and source of cold (continental subarctics).
To gain all those features you mentioned surely needs a very low latitude and has to be adjacent to a large body of warm water, like the Bahamas or the Florida Keys. Alas, water naturally brings humidity, so due to my understandment you will have bump your humidity treshold. For example Key West has an annual relative humidity close to 80%, London and Helsinki close to 90%.
As you are at a low latitude, there is not much variation in daylight trough the year. Your diurnal ranges are so low that winter records not even in the single figures C, so that means that humidity and cloud cover must increase dramatically immediately after sunset. And as the cold creeps closer to the equator during the winter, you have to be very far from any continental influence.
The humidity issue could be partly solved by a mediterranean pattern winter monsoon, with high humidity in winter and low in summer. Alas, IDK a single place in the tropics which has a winter monsoon.
All the other factors of your climate can be theoretically made, but the humidity issue is AFAIK unsolvable as it is now.
Surely there are people who know much more about the tropics than me, so they can give you more hints. I'm more of a continental climate guy.
Factors which mostly affect the diurnal range are elevation, cloud cover, wind and the distances to a source of heat (water, concrete jungle) and source of cold (continental subarctics).
To gain all those features you mentioned surely needs a very low latitude and has to be adjacent to a large body of warm water, like the Bahamas or the Florida Keys. Alas, water naturally brings humidity, so due to my understandment you will have bump your humidity threshold. For example Key West has an annual relative humidity close to 80%, London and Helsinki close to 90%.
As you are at a low latitude, there is not much variation in daylight trough the year. Your diurnal ranges are so low that winter records not even in the single figures C, so that means that humidity and cloud cover must increase dramatically immediately after sunset. And as the cold creeps closer to the equator during the winter, you have to be very far from any continental influence.
The humidity issue could be partly solved by a mediterranean pattern winter monsoon, with high humidity in winter and low in summer. Alas, IDK a single place in the tropics which has a winter monsoon.
All the other factors of your climate can be theoretically made, but the humidity issue is AFAIK unsolvable as it is now.
Surely there are people who know much more about the tropics than me, so they can give you more hints. I'm more of a continental climate guy.
My city, Normalton, is in the southeastern portion of a large island, maybe half the size of Madagascar, and there is a semi-arid portion towards the middle of the island where it can get hotter and there is less rainfall. The heat waves come from this region and that is what brings the temperatures into the 90s some summer days. And yes, an onshore breeze does come most days shortly after sunset (18:00 to 19:00; sunsets range from 17:00 to 18:30) and increase the humidity.
It's at 21 degrees north latitude.
I was experimenting last night with more rainfall in the winter than the summer, but I'm not a fan of extreme rainfall shifts from season to season (I'm fine with 4" (102 mm) in winter and 3" (76 mm) in summer, but not 8" (203 mm) in winter and 0" (0 mm) in the summer.)
80% annual humidity? Yuck. I'd be able to compromise with 50-55, but 80 is too much. I don't want 70F/21C dew points!
Glad to know I'm at least on the same page with reality, and thanks for your input.
Last edited by Cheesehead92; 06-29-2016 at 06:42 AM..
Reason: add
If you don't want to have high humidity, you have to deal with low rainfall and colder extremes in winter. Or, settle for a mediterranean precipitation pattern subtropical highland climate with low sunshine in winter.
As seen in that EverBlack's climate, it's bone dry and has record a low of 5C.
Humidity is a little high (unavoidable, I guess ) and precipitation is a little low, but the temperatures are perfect and even the amount of seasonal lag. The sunshine is pretty good too. Good find, EverBlack.
Humidity is a little high (unavoidable, I guess ) and precipitation is a little low, but the temperatures are perfect and even the amount of seasonal lag. The sunshine is pretty good too. Good find, EverBlack.
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Follow-up
) and precipitation is a little low, but the temperatures are perfect and even the amount of seasonal lag. The sunshine is pretty good too. Good find, EverBlack. 
