Europe VS USA climates (living, versus, gardening)

[cvanripe10]

How do european climates compare to USA?? Is London like Seattle?? Does France's climate compare with New York?? Is Swedens climate comparable to Maine?

Please explain

[Botev1912]

I think
Seattle, Portland - London
Los Angeles, San Diego - Lisbon
San Francisco - Athens
Washington, DC - Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania
Minnesota - Moscow

[Luke81]

San Francisco like Athens??????????
Athens is the hottest place in Europe in summer, 100F+ is normal, I think you don#t get that too often in San Francisco.

I don#t know how to compare cities, but in general Europe is warmer for it's latitude. New York is about as othern as Naples, and they don#t really have any winter south of Milan. I mean they call it winter, but they get snow once a year and then they take photos of it...

France is much milder than New York, summer's are cooler, usually about 80, and winters warmer, usually about 45. In general Europe would be milder in winter with less snow that US at the same latitude, but milder in summer. Southern Europe is warmer, but also has cooler periods with temperatures in the 50s. Scandinavia has freezing winters and summers in the 70s, UK Ireland are rainy and mild, 50 in winter, 70 in summer, however southeastern England is often really hot in summer, London is really muggy in July and August. Estern Europe could be compare to New York or Chicago. Countries like Poland, Ukraine, Romania have cold snowy winters and extremely hot and humid summers.

[j33]

If you looks at the gardening zone map for the US and for Europe, you'll get an idea of how similar winter temperatures are.

For example, I compared my hometown (Chicago) to Europe and discovered that, for gardening purposes, the regions of Europe that are in my gardening zone for winter hardiness (zone 5) are Ukraine, the Baltic states, and lower Finland.

[Beliy Plashik]

Originally Posted by j33

For example, I compared my hometown (Chicago) to Europe and discovered that, for gardening purposes, the regions of Europe that are in my gardening zone for winter hardiness (zone 5) are Ukraine, the Baltic states, and lower Finland.

Do you mean "gardening purposes" like planting vegetables or other plants?
If that is what you are talking about then I can say that Ukraine is that.

The dirt there is pitch black, anything can grow there without any fertilizer. It is amazing. Here in the Southwest everything I plant dies!! Lol (arizona)

But when I went to Ukraine in 1999 I planted a grape sprout (seeds) in the earth. When I went back in 2004 the vine has become a jungle!! it covers trees and goes over to the 3rd flour. Which is about 20-30 feet.

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by j33

If you looks at the gardening zone map for the US and for Europe, you'll get an idea of how similar winter temperatures are.

For example, I compared my hometown (Chicago) to Europe and discovered that, for gardening purposes, the regions of Europe that are in my gardening zone for winter hardiness (zone 5) are Ukraine, the Baltic states, and lower Finland.

I had never looked at that. It's very interesting. Here's two images (links at the bottom in case the images expire) that I found showing the gardening hardness scale of the US vs. Europe.



http://www.thriftyfun.com/images/art...Map607x302.jpg



http://www.uk.gardenweb.com/forums/zones/hze.html

It seems as if the U.S. follows a more straightforward "cold in the north, warm in the south" pattern, especially in the Eastern U.S. whereas Europe is a bit of jumble. It seems that the DC area (where I grew up) has a similar climate to cities like Sofia, Skopje and Sarajevo. I'm not sure if this accounts for both summer and winter temperatures though.

It seems to me as a whole that there is less extremes in Europe, where places don't get as hot as much of the U.S. in summer, nor as cold in winter, nor as much snow nor as much rain.

[j33]

Beliy Plashik - the hardiness zone map simply indicates what plants will tolerate the average winter in your region (and hopefully come back the next year). It doesn't really indicate anything about the soil, summer, amount of sun, humidity, or other climatic attributes that would affect your garden. However, it does give a small snapshot of the winter similarities between certain regions of the US versus Europe.

When I first looked at it a couple years back, I was surprised that England was, in the winter time similar in average cold temperature as the US south (but it is certainly not like the US south in the summer).

[bale002]

Mediterranean Europe is hot and dry in the summer and cold, but not freezing, and wet in the winter. It is mostly comparable to those areas of California where the olive grows.

There are the occasional freezing temperatures due to an arctic blast from Russia (sort of like the occasional Canadian arctic blast the reaches Florida), and when that happens it plays havoc with the lemon and orange trees, while olive trees are a bit more resistant, but sustained freezing temperatures will ruin that crop as well for a couple of years, a real tragedy for some communities.

Probably the most pleasant weather in Mediterranean Europe is the Algarve region of Portugal, coastal Andalusia in Spain and the islands, Sicily, and southern Peleponnesos and the islands, out towards Cyprus.

[X-Chi-town-Hipster]

I have been living near Bitburg, Germany (central, western edge near Luxembourg border) now for 4 months. It's VERY wet around here, and you can see evidence of this as you drive for hours past lush, green fields. The climate here seems different than in the US. I came from Chicago, where both winters and summers went from one extreme to another. Even though we are further north here, it seems like the differences are not so extreme here. It's December, and the temps are still in the 40's here? In Chicago, they have gotten over 12 inches of snow, and it's been bitterly cold already.

Well, that's my 2 cents....hope it helps.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by j33

Beliy Plashik - the hardiness zone map simply indicates what plants will tolerate the average winter in your region (and hopefully come back the next year). It doesn't really indicate anything about the soil, summer, amount of sun, humidity, or other climatic attributes that would affect your garden. However, it does give a small snapshot of the winter similarities between certain regions of the US versus Europe.

When I first looked at it a couple years back, I was surprised that England was, in the winter time similar in average cold temperature as the US south (but it is certainly not like the US south in the summer).

That's because the hardiness map's focus is on the minimum winter temps (and really nothing else). Englands' climate is very much like that in the Pacific Pacific Northwest (ie Seattle, Portland etc) - which have very mild (but wet) winters. As you can see on that USDA map, Seattle too is in the same USDA zone as much of the Deep South since it rarely gets very cold for us in the winter. Summers are very different though.

One thing to keep in mind when talking about England's climate is that Britain is very far north. In fact ALL of Britain is north of the Canadian border. Scotland is up with Southern Alaska. The surrounding water moderates the winter temps in England however, just as the Japanese Current moderates the winter temps in Seattle.
Ken (up here in rainy Seattle).