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Ok, I decided to answer the 2nd question, for avg relative humidity over the 6 months from March-August. If someone wants to do the same for average dew points, be my guest:
Yeah humidity doesn't tell the story well here at all. Seattle has high humidity in the summer, but doesn't feel muggy at all, because of the dew points and temperatures.
Yeah humidity doesn't tell the story well here at all. Seattle has high humidity in the summer, but doesn't feel muggy at all, because of the dew points and temperatures.
It doesn't feel muggy at all compared to the East Coast or South. But compared to California or Arizona, it does.
Yeah humidity doesn't tell the story well here at all. Seattle has high humidity in the summer, but doesn't feel muggy at all, because of the dew points and temperatures.
Yea that chart does not tell the whole story because it includes March through July. Which is usually a fairly cool period in the PNW.
High humidity is inconsequential below a certain temperature. Actually Seattle experiences extremely low humidity when the temperatures increase. Mainly because the only pattern that brings excessive heat to the coastal PNW is a ridge of high pressure over the inland northwest. (Offshore flow)
It’s almost impossible to have hot temperatures in the PNW with onshore flow from the Pacific (which is always in the 50s in summer). Hotter temps on the north coast of North America are almost always associated with very dry heat and low dew points.
Places like Seattle & Vancouver only experience real heat when you get dry downsloping winds compressing off the cascades. When it gets hot in Seattle dew points are generally in the 50s sometimes lower!!
Last edited by Thealpinist; 01-20-2021 at 06:50 PM..
Honolulu shouldn't be on this poll, as many of the more populated areas of Oahu island are considerably drier, getting close to 20 inches/year.[/quote]
I mean the greater metro area (Whole island, basically), some parts are wetter than others.
I gave New Orleans the vote, just based on the general weather statistics and climatology we have up to this point. Other centralized Gulf Coast areas from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle are also interchangeable, though not included in this thread due to their populations not meeting the specified thresholds.
Both Miami and the centralized Gulf Coast receive 60+ inch annual rainfall totals with abundant precipitation days. But the key to the vote towards the centralized Gulf Coast is that unlike Miami, where the rainfall is concentrated more seasonally during the warm season, the rainfall of the centralized Gulf Coast is much more evenly spread, with heavy rainfalls nearly as common during the cool season as during the warm season - such high annual totals combined with more even spread would lead one to perceive a greater "wetness" in the climate.
And "humid" in a place with a trade wind breeze is very different from "humid" in a place in the Horse Latitudes with relatively dead air. I'd take Miami (or Tampa, though in that order) over NOLA or Houston any day on that score.
Wind belts shift in tandem with the sun, though. So the "Horse Latitudes" is really just an average of higher pressure and weaker winds relative to surrounding areas of the globe on an overall annual basis, not necessarily constant "dead air" all the time.
So, really, Houston and New Orleans would also be getting trade wind influence, just for a lesser window of time compared to the Floridian cities. But with regards to Tampa specifically, that city isn't too different from Houston and New Orleans with respect to latitude, so the differences when it comes to trade wind exposure should really be minimal.
By getting the most rain are we speaking of 'rainy days' or 'annual precipitation' as there is a big difference between both. Atlanta gets more annual precipitation than Seattle WA but has less 'rainy days'.
Atlanta gets more annual precipitation than Seattle WA but has less 'rainy days'.
Yeah but a little random drizzle for 30 minutes during the day while you are at work doesn't really change your life or plans much. It's a "rainy day" only on paper. Locals don't carry umbrellas in Seattle.
The only time when it rains in Seattle like it does in the Southeast is during days when the "atmospheric river" hits Seattle, but those are pretty rare. Then you might carry an umbrella or a rain jacket. I have friends from the Southeast who look at the Seattle atmospheric river and wonder what the media hype is about, to them that is just regular "rain."
The first question is easy to answer. I’m sure the answer is out there for the second, but it would require a little more digging, so I will leave it for someone else to answer.
City Inches of rain/year Rainy days/year
Honolulu 17” 89
Seattle 37” 152
Portland 37” 156
Houston 50” 104
New Orleans 62” 115
Tampa 46” 105
Miami 62” 135
So, on average, New Orleans gets the most inches of rain (62.45 vs Miami at 61.90) and Portland has the most rainy days. I’m not sure why Honolulu is on this list, it’s in the rain shadow on Oahu. It is part of what makes it so pleasant. Kaneohe on the other side of the Ko’olau Range gets 54 inches a year, and once got 247 consecutive days of rain.
This is misleading because in Tampa and Miami, heck anywhere on the FL peninsula, it rains for 20-30 minutes up to an hour hard at around 4 pm, and other than that it's sunny. All the rain comes in heavy downpours, not light rain, and other than that it's sunny out virtually every day
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