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I think Mediterranean climates are the best of both worlds, with dry warm summers and then cool winters. I love them. My rule of thumb for an "A" climate is the 15/30 rule, where the average winter highs have to be as close to 15c as possible, and the summer highs have to be as close to 30c as possible. Most Mediterranean climates are just that
Mediterranean climates are boring for weather nerds who crave constant change, temperature extremes, and precipitation. For the average person to live in, they're magnificent. Give me the maximum number of sunny, dry days with temps in the 70s, NO snow in the winter (except in the mountains), and NO hot, sticky summer nights, please.
The most ignorant thing the OP said is "The natural landscape is barren and rocky with plants that look like weeds growing everywhere instead of trees." Here's a photo of natural vegetation taken within walking distance of my house in Orange County, CA.
I live in California in a Mediterranean climate and there is a great variety of plants and trees that are not irrigated by humans.
I like it. What I like is for every day to be a nice day. Sometimes it rains but that is to be expected. When it does rain, it warms things up usually.
I think it is perfect weather but that's just me. We aren't all the same with the same taste.
well, "Mediterranean" climate areas like California (to be more precise the "California floristic province" which includes parts of s.w. Oregon and n.w. Baja California), Chile, South Africa and parts of southern Australia have in fact very diverse native floras of not only tough but beautiful plants like the south African heathers and proteas, the Australian banksias and grevillias, or the various plants from California (everything from poppies to redwoods). the "original" Mediterranean area is likely the source of most of our traditional medicinal and culinary herbs ("parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme" for example) so despite how brown and barren it may look in some places at some time) plants seem to be o.k. with it.
as for people some may love it for some reasons and some may not for some reasons---there is no OBJECTIVE standard for a "perfect climate" and in point of fact many folks regard parts of Hawaii and Florida (among other nice places) as perfect and they are in fact not "Mediterranean" at all.
from a gardeners point of view the variant of the "Mediterranean" climate that i live in here is very nice (not perfect) for me---because i can indeed grow a bunch of plants from all over the world (Australian eucalyptus, California redwoods, evergreen oaks and long-leaf pines from Mexico) pretty well with minimum care despite (or maybe because of) our WET winters and DRY summers especially those really cool but ALSO very "picky" plants like certain "tree rhododendrons" from the Himalayas that can't have it too cold OR too hot. OTOH, the same perfect climate for plants like them is very imperfect for stuff like corn or tomatoes, or watermelons which often need very special coddling and care to satisfy their need for consistently warm to hot summers which many coastal areas really don't get enough of.
the fact that i rarely need a heavy jacket outside in winter is great, the fact that I may need a long-sleeve shirt in summer not always so much, LOL. i accept the drawbacks because the benefits are good enough for me to be generally (but not always) o.k. with the ambient climate---and i assume for practical purposes that's how most people regard their real as opposed to an ideal climate to live in.
I can see why people would like them, but personally I dont like them. No snow in winter, just days of cold rain. We may get 1-2 in a winter month, those places get 8-12 at least. No variability or anything of interest. Then summers are close to rainless with no storms and stable conditions and often hot nights. Boring, unpleasant winters and meh summers. They would beat any tropical or oceanic climates or other very rainy climates.
barren and rocky ? We're not talking about desert climates here. No Storms ? you mean like this ? or that ?
Tropics. Maui. Daytime temps are 75-82 year around. Ocean temp is 78-79 year around. Trade winds keep the humidity in a comfortable range.
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