Poll: Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Virginia: Something for both the Cool and Warm fan? (climate, hot)
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With all these rate the climate threads it seems the cold and warm lovers are never offered a truly middle ground - thus the voting is all A’s and F’s (depending on the perspective):
So I’d tried to find a location that was both hot summer and cold winter “lite”: Meaning that warm weather fans get some truly hot and sunny weather for the beach/pool (but it’s not very hot for very long – to please cool weather fans).....and cool weather fans get at least to feel frosty mornings and maybe even a fleeting flake or two (yet there is almost never an accumulation – to please warm weather fans). All the while sunshine is abundant and precipitation is modest the whole year.
Virginia Beach/Norfolk has maybe 10 days a year below 20 F and 10 days a year above 95 F. Beyond July/August and Jan/Feb…the rest of the year (i.e March, April, May, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec)… is middle of the road mild (not too hot nor too cold). Virginia Beach is in the rough transition zone from Temperate to subtropical climates, so it seems to have many of the weather elements that both sectors have, yet seems to avoid the worst vices of both.
Is it possible, can we please both the cold and warm weather fans?
Noble attempt to send a peace offering to both contigents, but I'm afraid we're also split another way: people who like strong seasonal variation and those who don't!
I'm with the small seasonal variation camp, so I'd rather a climate like San Francisco, which never gave me true heat but wasn't cold, to places on the eastern side of the continent that give both heat and cold generously like St. Louis, MI:
I'm a cold weather lover and I rate this climate a D. I don't think Norfolk, VA is even close to being a middle ground, it favors the warm side easily for most of the year. I'd say a place like Omaha, NE or Des Moines, IA, which are both continental climates with average annual temps around 50 F, are much more of middle ground than Norfolk.
Noble attempt to send a peace offering to both contigents, but I'm afraid we're also split another way: people who like strong seasonal variation and those who don't!
I'm with the small seasonal variation camp, so I'd rather a climate like San Francisco, which never gave me true heat but wasn't cold, to places on the eastern side of the continent that give both heat and cold generously like St. Louis, MI:
Well, one must try to please both the warm and cold weather fans
I used VA beach because when you look at the hard numbers...while there is hot weather, it is certainly not over bearing 110 F hot weather that one would find in the American desert areas (Yuma, Phoenix, Palm Springs…etc). Also, unlike the deep subtropical cities like Miami, New Orleans, and Houston…etc the hot season is not as long in Norfolk/VA Beach.
On the other hand, while winters are cool in Norfolk –they are moderated by the Atlantic, so they are not cold. VA Beach winter temps are not far off San Francisco. The better part, that unlike San Francisco, Norfolk/Va Beach gets warm early in the year…and there is an extension of mild weather in deep into fall. Also, the problem with all West Coast climates much above 33 – 34 latitude is the ocean waters are freezing; The Pacific off San Francisco is around 58 F much of the warm months (which are not all that warm)….while in Norfolk/VA Beach the Atlantic is often in the 77 to 80 F range.
Norfolk has only 3 months (J/J/A) that have temps that are in the 80's. Leeds must see several 80 F days in summer, it would not be all that different I would think.
Average maximum temperature in July in Norfolk is 86.8f
Compared to 67.8f in Leeds (probably where my intolerance of heat comes from)
Indeed the temperature in Leeds exceeds 80f at least once every year.. in fact this year it reached 86f, doesn't mean I enjoy it though!
I didn’t know it was quite that cool in summer in Leeds. One of the things I’ve notice reading these blogs, is that northern European and Canadian folks often have a very low tolerance for heat. I think in a country like the United States, China, Australia,etc there are few places one can go to get a cool summer, so most people are used to hot weather in summer and tolerate it even if they don’t like it.
The more I read these weather blogs…the more it seems that humans just have so many different tolerances to their thermal comfort. Then when you add in how people acclimate to their climate over time…you really see there are no “prefect climate” only acceptable levels of tolerances for each person. I see this often when I meet a married couple; one can’t take the heat…the other hates cold with a passion. Many times, one person wins the battle (normally the one who is too far beyond their tolerance thresholds –lol)…and the other partner caves and moves to the warmer or colder climate. What happens after enough time is so predictable – now one person is really, really miserable. What they learn after moving around for awhile – it's better to really enjoy a portion of the weather year (and find a way to tolerate the seasons you dislike)…then to move to a location that one person is totally unhappy in.
It's really only slightly cooler than Nashville, and I moved away from that area largely due to the hot weather. So as a heat hater, I'd give Norfolk a solid D, while Nashville gets a low D-, probably an E if we'll allow. I couldn't honestly give Nashville an F because they do get a decent winter.
I didn’t know it was quite that cool in summer in Leeds. One of the things I’ve notice reading these blogs, is that northern European and Canadian folks often have a very low tolerance for heat. I think in a country like the United States, China, Australia,etc there are few places one can go to get a cool summer, so most people are used to hot weather in summer and tolerate it even if they don’t like it.
The more I read these weather blogs…the more it seems that humans just have so many different tolerances to their thermal comfort. Then when you add in how people acclimate to their climate over time…you really see there are no “prefect climate” only acceptable levels of tolerances for each person. I see this often when I meet a married couple; one can’t take the heat…the other hates cold with a passion. Many times, one person wins the battle (normally the one who is too far beyond their tolerance thresholds –lol)…and the other partner caves and moves to the warmer or colder climate. What happens after enough time is so predictable – now one person is really, really miserable. What they learn after moving around for awhile – it's better to really enjoy a portion of the weather year (and find a way to tolerate the seasons you dislike)…then to move to a location that one person is totally unhappy in.
That's one of the things that struck me when I started reading this site - people shop around for a climate that suits them. You can't do that in this country because we don't have enough climatic variety to make it worthwhile, so people just don't think in those terms (unless we're talking emigration - I suspect we wouldn't have so many English people retiring in southern Europe or starting new lives in Australia/Canada etc if we had the equivalent climates here).
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