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Charleston for me beats Newcastle because of annual sunshine totals.
Otherwise Charleston's stellar summers and equally balanced by highly-variable winters.
As a gardener,
Newcastle might be a little more interesting
but Charleston is still a great climate for year-round gardening.
Both are good places and it would be a little tough, picking on climate alone.
Lifestyle and culture?
I find Charleston's pace, dialects and "Old World" charm intruiging.
It depends on what you are growing in your garden. I would think that about half the plants in my garden would struggle to survive a typical Charleston winter. Those cold temps seem very limiting to me.
Newcastle by a mile. Charleston has arctic cold snaps and Newcastle doesn't even if Charleston's summers are warmer than Newcastle's. I really love consistent climates and Charleston's winters are anything but consistent. The proof is in the numbers.
Number of average frost days per year in Newcastle: 0
Number of average frost days per year in Charleston: 33
Newcastle's record low: 1.8C (at Nobby's Head)
Charleston's record low: -14C
Not to be nit-picky but I think your numbers are a tad off. According to the NWS National Weather Service Climate
Charleston Area gets 27 days of frost and has 350 days a year above 50F. As you get to the coast, Sullivans Island, lists 18 days of frost with 343 days above 50. As Charleston sits right on the water I would think the numbers closer to Sullivan's Island would apply.
That being said I say hands down NewCastle wins. Pretty much everywhere in the USA is susceptible to arctic blasts. No such thing ever happens in Australia. To me, with latitude being equal, Australia will always win hands down. I don't care if summers are warmer, to me it is winter that makes a place sub-tropical. Newcastle does not get frost. You have to go to the Florida Keys to never have frost on the mainland in the USA.
If I'm in a place in winter like Charleston, and I have 2 to 3 weeks worth of low 40's high temps and lows at night in the 20's, with the occasional upper teens thrown in, it would not feel sub-tropical to me. If that is considered sub-tropical then people from Aus would be floored by what we would consider sub-tropical. If you can't grow oranges, it's not sub-tropical. I'm sure the vegetation in Newcastle, despite cooler summers, looks a lot more tropical than Charleston. What about semi-tropical? To me that is a better description as it means part of Charleston's climate is tropical, the summers, but certainly not the winters. I know many on CD don't agree, but to me sub-tropical means mildly warm winters without having to deal with temps in the 20's.
Can oranges be grown in SC without protective measures?
No. Florida often can't, let alone South Carolina.
The climate in the southeast is pretty interesting. Summers are very consistent and most record lows are only in the 50s and 60s. Summer cold fronts are almost non-existant. But their "proneness" to variable winter weather is fascinating.
Coastal South Carolina is nice since you at least get a breeze, which somewhat mitigates the heat and humidity. But once you go inland, the place feels like a steam bath with little to no wind, extreme heat, high humidity, and blazing sunshine.
No. Florida often can't, let alone South Carolina.
The climate in the southeast is pretty interesting. Summers are very consistent and most record lows are only in the 50s and 60s. Summer cold fronts are almost non-existant. But their "proneness" to variable winter weather is fascinating.
Coastal South Carolina is nice since you at least get a breeze, which somewhat mitigates the heat and humidity. But once you go inland, the place feels like a steam bath with little to no wind, extreme heat, high humidity, and blazing sunshine.
The southern East Coast and the South in general, have always been of interest to me and I would like to experience a summer there. Winter on the other hand, while generally warm, seems "spoilt" by the cold that can occur at times.
If I couldn't grow what I can now due to killing frosts, I wouldn't want to live there.
The southern East Coast and the South in general, have always been of interest to me and I would like to experience a summer there. Winter on the other hand, while generally warm, seems "spoilt" by the cold that can occur at times.
If I couldn't grow what I can now due to killing frosts, I wouldn't want to live there.
Charleston is in USDA hardiness zone 8b with pockets of 9a I think. However, it's important to keep other factors in mind if you want to compare. Despite your USDA hardiness zone being significantly higher, Charleston has a lot more summer heat and this alone would make the plants that you can grow there quite different than what you are accustomed to. So, in a way it's comparing apples to oranges. For example, I live in USDA zone 8 here but the plants I can grow in my garden are quite different than the plants that can be grown in places like Dallas and Atlanta because they get a lot more summer heat.
The southern East Coast and the South in general, have always been of interest to me and I would like to experience a summer there. Winter on the other hand, while generally warm, seems "spoilt" by the cold that can occur at times.
If I couldn't grow what I can now due to killing frosts, I wouldn't want to live there.
Summer there is very much like summer in Washington, DC, yet people wouldn't consider DC to be sub-tropical. Go to Charleston in the winter and you would be floored by how cold it can get pretty much routinely every winter. There is no consistency at all.
The only palm trees I have ever seen there are those very cold resistant Sabal Palm. The veg of Sydney, from pics I have seen, looks much more sub-tropical than anything in SC. Even the grass is dead brown in Charleston in the winter. To me Charleston didn't have a very jungly feel in the winter.
Summer there is very much like summer in Washington, DC, yet people wouldn't consider DC to be sub-tropical. Go to Charleston in the winter and you would be floored by how cold it can get pretty much routinely every winter. There is no consistency at all.
The only palm trees I have ever seen there are those very cold resistant Sabal Palm. The veg of Sydney, from pics I have seen, looks much more sub-tropical than anything in SC. Even the grass is dead brown in Charleston in the winter. To me Charleston didn't have a very jungly feel in the winter.
Wow.. that really is shocking considering on average they are much warmer in winter than here in Vancouver and our grass stays green all year round.
Summer there is very much like summer in Washington, DC, yet people wouldn't consider DC to be sub-tropical. Go to Charleston in the winter and you would be floored by how cold it can get pretty much routinely every winter. There is no consistency at all.
The only palm trees I have ever seen there are those very cold resistant Sabal Palm. The veg of Sydney, from pics I have seen, looks much more sub-tropical than anything in SC. Even the grass is dead brown in Charleston in the winter. To me Charleston didn't have a very jungly feel in the winter.
Charleston can be downright cold and dreary during the winter. I know over the past two winters there's been numerous days with highs only in the 30s and 40s. Whether it's in a continental climate or subtropical, I've always been enamored with the drastic changes in weather that can occur over the course of the year. Even the subtropical south with their very steady summers can't avoid wild temperature swings and cold winter weather.
Out of curiosity I looked up Charleston's record low maximums. Lowest high on record was 20 F on December 23, 1989. This in a place that struggles to fall below 75 F during the summer. Stunning!
Charleston is in USDA hardiness zone 8b with pockets of 9a I think. However, it's important to keep other factors in mind if you want to compare. Despite your USDA hardiness zone being significantly higher, Charleston has a lot more summer heat and this alone would make the plants that you can grow there quite different than what you are accustomed to. So, in a way it's comparing apples to oranges. For example, I live in USDA zone 8 here but the plants I can grow in my garden are quite different than the plants that can be grown in places like Dallas and Atlanta because they get a lot more summer heat.
Apples and oranges are a good analogy. We can grow oranges, they can't. It's also a good apple growing region here. Plants have to survive the winter before you can compare them. Heat requirement, while an important consideration isn't as significant as cold hardiness. I would think Charleston would have more climatic limitations than here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tom77falcons
Summer there is very much like summer in Washington, DC, yet people wouldn't consider DC to be sub-tropical. Go to Charleston in the winter and you would be floored by how cold it can get pretty much routinely every winter. There is no consistency at all.
The only palm trees I have ever seen there are those very cold resistant Sabal Palm. The veg of Sydney, from pics I have seen, looks much more sub-tropical than anything in SC. Even the grass is dead brown in Charleston in the winter. To me Charleston didn't have a very jungly feel in the winter.
I have a 2 year old Sabal Palmetto in my garden. These are meant to be very slow here due to low degree days, but it is growing faster than I would have thought. It is still a lot slower than most palms I have though.
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