what are ATL winters like? (Atlanta, Druid Hills: for sale, allergy, shops)

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by NihonKitty

Thirdly the median when it comes to climate is almost always identical to the mean.

As an atmospheric scientist and climate expert, I must most certainly object to this statement. The median and mean of a climate variable are not "almost always identical." That goes under the assumption that the variable has a normal distribution, which is a nice assumption but is not the truth in many,many cases.

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by Nimish72

I agree Atlanta is no NYC. I was just pointing out that Atlanta is cooler than many people realize. Some of the threads on this website have people describing Atlanta summers as some horrific Dubai or Bangkok like scenario and our winters more like Tampa or Corpus Christi, which is as we know is not accurate either. The USDA zone map illustrates Atlanta's moderation quite nicely....we are Zone 7/8 for both heat and cold (the map has 12 zones). If it wasn't for the extreme pollen in April, Atlanta might offer the best of all four seasons, without any extreme !

That's true. It's just that your earlier posts made it sound like you were trying to argue that Atlanta has a similar climate to NYC, if not colder. Because of our location close to the Gulf and Atlantic, as well as the effect of the wedge of air that presses against the nearby mountains, we can get weird weather patters at times that may cause an abnormal swing in temperature.

If I were to sum up Atlanta's winters in a nutshell, it would be very short and mild (50s/30s) with occasional arctic blasts that can drop temperatures for days and occasional influxes of Gulf air that warms temperatures for days.

[aacole]

Winters are very mild compared to when we lived in Boston. Not nearly as mild as in San Diego where I am from, but I can tolerate this more than I could up north.

What really bugs me about winter is not so much the cold, but the dreary look of everything. Nearly everything here is deciduous and even most lawns are dormant during the winter so sometimes it seems like you are in a black and white movie almost :-) (Okay...exaggeration, but compared to spring, yes.)

Spring would be perfect if it wasn't for the pollen. This autumn so far has been very strange. Freezing dry air, then warm humid air.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by south-to-west

If I were to sum up Atlanta's winters in a nutshell, it would be very short and mild (50s/30s) with occasional arctic blasts that can drop temperatures for days and occasional influxes of Gulf air that warms temperatures for days.

Great post, south-to-west. I would agree with that 100%.

I'm amused to think back nearly a decade now to when Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl. You had all these media types flying in from LA and New York apparently expecting something along the lines of Tampa. Needless to say, there was much grumbling when it just happened we had one of those temperature swings you mention that very week. We had high temperatures in the upper 20s for days on end and the ice on the ground didn't melt, so the winds whipped and seemed even colder. Come to think of it, that episode may well have - pardon the pun - iced Atlanta's chances of hosting another Super Bowl for quite some time.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by aacole

What really bugs me about winter is not so much the cold, but the dreary look of everything. Nearly everything here is deciduous and even most lawns are dormant during the winter so sometimes it seems like you are in a black and white movie almost :-) (Okay...exaggeration, but compared to spring, yes.)

Good point, and I can imagine how even Atlanta, though it may lack the dreary grey urban landscapes of say a Chicago or Detroit during winter, can nonetheless appear rival those places at times in dreariness during Winter, as we've seen this year more than in recent years perhaps. I can see how that could be a bit depressing for a Californian, certainly Southern Californian.

[Bibi12]

Originally Posted by aacole

Winters are very mild compared to when we lived in Boston. Not nearly as mild as in San Diego where I am from, but I can tolerate this more than I could up north.

What really bugs me about winter is not so much the cold, but the dreary look of everything. Nearly everything here is deciduous and even most lawns are dormant during the winter so sometimes it seems like you are in a black and white movie almost :-) (Okay...exaggeration, but compared to spring, yes.)

Spring would be perfect if it wasn't for the pollen. This autumn so far has been very strange. Freezing dry air, then warm humid air.

Its worse in winter (the landscape) in atlanta then Boston? I would have thought the northeast has alot of deciduous trees (isnt it famous for the fall colors?). Or does the north east have alot more evergreen trees then atlanta does?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by NihonKitty

Its worse in winter (the landscape) in atlanta then Boston? I would have thought the northeast has alot of deciduous trees (isnt it famous for the fall colors?). Or does the north east have alot more evergreen trees then atlanta does?

It's really the other way around. Atlanta has a much higher % of evergreens in its' forests; mostly Longleaf Pines, but also Magnolia. It's very apparent upon observing both that Atlanta forests are much greener than the Northeast's in the winter.

[Bibi12]

That's what I was thinking. But i guess that poster was comparing to san diego and not Boston lol.

By the way are any of the northern conifers able to grow in atlanta? Like spruce, hemlock, fir etc. I guess it doesnt get cold enough for them?

[aacole]

I was mainly stating that the combination of dormant grass in winter (most subdivisions have bermuda) and deciduous trees makes it very gray. When I walk outside in winter its striking with the beige grass, gray trees, and overcast skies.

It just makes you appreciate the buds sprouting in spring more

[Bibi12]

^ But wouldnt boston and basically everywhere north of atlanta be worse?