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There's still alot of people today that think you're instantly in the tropics once you cross the Mason-Dixon line.
While that's not entirely true, it is rather interesting that plant hardiness zones do change almost neatly along the PA-MD border. Not exactly following the line, but it is interesting to note almost all of Pennsylvania lies in Humid Continental climates and most of Maryland in humid subtropical. Philly of course being humid subtropical as the exception.
Same goes for states along the Ohio river. South of it you're firmly in humid subtropical zones and slightly north of the river the humid continental begins.
One exception to this is West Virginia. It is both south of the Mason Dixon and the Ohio river, yet does not have a humid subtropical climate unlike its neighboring states of Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky.
While that's not entirely true, it is rather interesting that plant hardiness zones do change almost neatly along the PA-MD border. Not exactly following the line, but it is interesting to note almost all of Pennsylvania lies in Humid Continental climates and most of Maryland in humid subtropical. Philly of course being humid subtropical as the exception.
It's not all that coincidental. It's precisely the difference in plant hardiness and suitable crops that led to the emergence of a slave economy in the south and a small farm/industrial economy in the north.
Here are a few random thoughts directly related to the San Francisco Bay Area.
- San Jose (and possibly Detroit*) are the only cities over 500k in population in the US with a net daytime population loss; they are also the only cities over 250k that have this characteristic while also being the largest cities in their respective MSAs.
- In addition, San Jose sends more commuters than it receives from every individual city within Santa Clara County except Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and Saratoga. Most technology companies associated with "Silicon Valley" that laypeople have heard of (e.g. Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, etc.) are actually headquartered in the "suburbs" of San Jose.
- East Oakland is actually south of the rest of Oakland. If you head out of Downtown in what is locally considered the "eastbound" direction, you will eventually be traveling "south" on Highway 238, without actually changing direction.
- Interstates 80 and 580 cross each other in an "X" pattern, but there are about 4 miles in Berkeley/Emeryville where the highways join up and you are either driving eastbound on 580 and westbound on 80 or westbound on 580 and eastbound on80.
* When factchecking this comment I found recent ACS figures at City Daytime Population that indicate that Detroit may also have this characteristic. It shows Detroit with a net daytime population loss of -0.1%, which is within the margin of error for the survey, while San Jose has a daytime population loss of -5.6%. Also, this site shows San Jose's population at 894k and Detroit's at 951k, but San Jose is growing while Detroit is declining so it is possible that San Jose is now larger than Detroit.
Houston, in Texas, is a combination swamp/forest/grassland area (depending on the part of the metro) that has one of the wettest climates of large cities in the country, averaging 50-55 inches of precip depending on the part of the metro. There have been 12-month periods (not necessarily calendar years), including a recent one, in which 80 to 90 inches of rain have fallen in some parts of the metro. In spite of the climatological averages for precip, the city experienced a devastating drought in 2011 that wiped out many thousands of pine trees.
In contrast, El Paso, also in Texas, is a desert city in a mountain valley having one of the driest climates of large U.S. cities, with less than 10 inches of rain on average. However, there have been downpours during the annual monsoon season that have made up a substantial portion of the entire annual average total.
Last edited by Weatherguy; 10-17-2015 at 10:09 PM..
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