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I wonder why Amsterdam is so much cloudier than Vancouver (about 25% more). It looks like the biggest difference is in the summers, as Vancouver probably has distinctly shorter days but still gets more sunshine hours.
Maybe its related to Vancouver having more of the "Mediterranean" trend in precipitation with a drier summer (about 1.5 inches in July and August and around 6, 7 inches in the coldest winter months), while Amsterdam's precipitation is more even across the year though its less than Vancouver in total.
Boise and Rapid City could have been warmer had they been at lower elevation. Although Sioux Falls is colder than Rapid City despite being lower. Kinda weird.
But the basic pattern is that western sides of a continent are much warmer than eastern.
The main reason for this, is due to the extreme Chinook winds that blow down the east slopes of the Black Hills. You will also find this phenomenon from NW Montana to Northern Colorado, where average winter temps are considerably warmer than their latitiude would suggest. There isn't a winter that goes by that places like Cut Bank and Great Falls, Montana or Rapid City, or Denver that doesn't see some days in the 60s.
Also, these areas along the eastern slopes that get the Chinook winds aren't nearly as affected by artic air masses. Yes, they will get slammed by them, but their influence wears off relatively quickly for the most part. Whereas further east, artic air holds a considerably longer dominance.
That sounds about right... I definitely think there would be higher extremes of heat and cold but certainly nothing equivalent of somewhere like Newfoundland for example because the onshore flow would still predominate in the climate.
I wonder if you eliminated Vancouver Island from the equation and just had Vancouver fronting right on the Pacific, if that would make the climate wetter than it already is
No Vancouver Island would definitely make Vancouver much wetter and much warmer in the winter. I suppose it'd be cooler and or cloudier in the summer as well but summer doesn't seem as easy to guess as winter.
A good example of being shielded from the ocean and not being shielded is Juneau and Sitka. Sitka has much warmer winters...although average annual snowfall there is 66" while Juneau's is 99". Juneau has slightly warmer summers too.
That sounds about right... I definitely think there would be higher extremes of heat and cold but certainly nothing equivalent of somewhere like Newfoundland for example because the onshore flow would still predominate in the climate.
I wonder if you eliminated Vancouver Island from the equation and just had Vancouver fronting right on the Pacific, if that would make the climate wetter than it already is
I'd imagine Vancouver's climate would be similar Tofino's. Only a couple degrees warmer in the winter, cool summers (similar to Juneau or parts of San Francisco) and incredibly wet.
And Tofino has slightly more sunshine than Amsterdam despite having over 4 x the amount of rain.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdCanadian
We see windchills below -20 C every winter in Toronto.
Without the Rocky Mountains, Vancouver would be at least as cold (absolute lows) as North Bay, Ontario in winter
Look at the Gulf Coast of the USA;
very-severe cold fronts relative to their average winter highs...
Vancouver would be even worse for variablitity due to closer proximity to the Arctic.
Maybe absolute lows, but of course in terms of averages Vancouver would still be much milder because of the Pacific and the Alaska current.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumbler.
That is very interesting. Omaha, Nebraska has much colder winters (Jan high 32F/ low 12F) on the same latitude as both NYC's (38F/26F) and Tashkent's (42F/26F).
Yeah because it's so far inland. New York's climate is really continental, actually, despite it's coastal location.
Maybe absolute lows, but of course in terms of averages Vancouver would still be much milder because of the Pacific and the Alaska current.
That's what I meant.
But Canadians move to Vancouver to escape ALL extreme cold
This would be lost with no mountains.
At best Vancouver would be like Toronto in a severe Arctic snap, due to being 6 degrees further north, imho.
Take a look at how severe Alberta is:
Mildest parts in Alberta have all-time record lows at -44 C/-47 F!
Boise and Rapid City could have been warmer had they been at lower elevation. Although Sioux Falls is colder than Rapid City despite being lower. Kinda weird.
But the basic pattern is that western sides of a continent are much warmer than eastern.
Just a side note…as I have spent many years studying the climate of the USA…the above can be a bit misleading. The anomaly of colder East sides of mainland compared to West Sides of mainlands shrinks as you move southward and eastward: Here in the USA from around 35 latitude southward…East Coasts are warmer than West Coast at the same latitude much of the year (8 out of 12 months a year)…have much warmer summers…and have warmer annual mean temperatures most of the time.
Take the monthly mean temps at Santa Barbara, CA (West Coast) and Wilmington, NC (East Coast) both located near 34.2 north latitude, and both located on the coast. From March through November - Wilmington, NC is just as warmer ( or warmer) than Santa Barbara, CA…it is only the 3 winters months that are cooler in Wilmington. In general, if you look at monthly mean temps/annual temps between the American West Coast and East Coast south of 35 latitude…you’ll notice the same pattern: East Coasts are just as warm (or warmer) 7 or 8 months out of the year…and annual mean temps are HIGHER on the East Coast than on the West Coast:
Just a side note…as I have spent many years studying the climate of the USA…the above can be a bit misleading. The anomaly of colder East sides of mainland compared to West Sides of mainlands shrinks as you move southward and eastward: Here in the USA from around 35 latitude southward…East Coasts are warmer than West Coast at the same latitude much of the year (8 out of 12 months a year)…have much warmer summers…and have warmer annual mean temperatures most of the time.
Take the monthly mean temps at Santa Barbara, CA (West Coast) and Wilmington, NC (East Coast) both located near 34.2 north latitude, and both located on the coast. From March through November - Wilmington, NC is just as warmer ( or warmer) than Santa Barbara, CA…it is only the 3 winters months that are cooler in Wilmington. In general, if you look at monthly mean temps/annual temps between the American West Coast and East Coast south of 35 latitude…you’ll notice the same pattern: East Coasts are just as warm (or warmer) 7 or 8 months out of the year…and annual mean temps are HIGHER on the East Coast than on the West Coast:
Looking through a couple weather stations, I still the West isn't cooler that the East at lower latitudes. The West Coast is cooler than the East Coast from 35N and further south because a cold current runs down the Pacific Ocean. Go a bit inland and the West is as warm or warmer than the East.
Note that the influence of the Pacific makes it have its warmest month in August. Go on the other side of the mountains and you get hot desert. The averages for Palm Springs, California at 33.8N and 100 miles east of Pasadena (and 200 miles east of Santa Barbara) you get:
Jan: 56
Feb: 60
Mar: 64
Apr: 70
May: 78
Jun: 85
Jul: 92
Aug: 91
Sep: 85
Oct: 75
Nov: 64
Dec: 56
Year: 72.9 http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/Climsmsca.html If you go to the inland south, the temperatures get slightly cooler instead of warmer (averages in the low 60s) because the Atlantic Oceans keeps the winters a bit warmer while not cooling the summers much as the ocean temperatures are rather warm. On the west coast, the ocean creates much cooler summers, lowering the averages quite a bit.
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