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Well of course Launceton is far from my ideal climate but it is very good for its latitude particularly in winter and certainly better than everywhere in Canada in just about every way.
To be honest, I'm very jealous of almost all Southern Hemisphere climates because even in the higher latitudes, winter is pretty much a non-event with almost no lying snow. Compare Launceton to Omaha, NE which are at the same latitude. Where would you rather spend the winter?
Most people would find a Launceston winter a definite "event".
I have been down there in late April, and it was far from warm.
What is more, summers in Tasmania are very prone to being frequently interrupted with cold spells and low pressure systems.
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day - just about every year they run into strong southerly fronts and big ocean swells.
Most people would find a Launceston winter a definite "event".
I have been down there in late April, and it was far from warm.
What is more, summers in Tasmania are very prone to being frequently interrupted with cold spells and low pressure systems.
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day - just about every year they run into strong southerly fronts and big ocean swells.
You'd soon change your notion of what "cold" means if you spent a few winters in the US at Launceston's latitude (except perhaps in the far west).
You'd soon change your notion of what "cold" means if you spent a few winters in the US at Launceston's latitude (except perhaps in the far west).
Over 50% of January days in Chicago don't get past 32F. NZ'ers and Aussies would be shocked. Don't ever go there in winter unless you seriously like cold.
Over 50% of January days in Chicago don't get past 32F. NZ'ers and Aussies would be shocked. Don't ever go there in winter unless you seriously like cold.
I lived in Chicago for a year, getting one of its better winters. Still damned cold, and I think the sunshine stats. were a tad optimistic.
Most Australians have no true concept of winter, as far as I'm concerned. Having spent time in Sydney several times in late August, with 75% of the posisble sunshine on average, I found it comical to hear the breakfast TV host talking of the end of "winter". I think some people may be led astray by a few extremists on this forum whose thermostats are at nothing like the average setting ...
I grew up in Scranton, PA and went to school at Univ. of MD and noticed the increased sunshine in MD. I'm now in sunny SoCal! But anyways, Scranton's cloudiness is pretty interesting since much of eastern PA comprises the sunniest region of the state (Philly, Allentown, Harrisburg, York). I believe Scranton is on the Appalachian Plateau, which makes a hook from Pittsburgh to Scranton. That has an effect on the cloudiness. Another is the Great Lakes. You might think Scranton is too far from Lake Erie, which is correct. But, it is not too far to get the effects of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Scranton is cloudy like upstate NY during winter (Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo) due to the moisture coming off the lakes. Combine the Appalachian Plateau and the moisture off of the Great Lakes, and you'll get pretty grey cloudy weather in Scranton much of the year. NEPA may in fact have a little bit higher sunshine hours than Western PA, but not that much.
I know what you mean. I used to live in Carbon County so not very far from where you grew up
Quote:
Originally Posted by RWood
You'd soon change your notion of what "cold" means if you spent a few winters in the US at Launceston's latitude (except perhaps in the far west).
There's nowhere on the southern hemisphere that can get as cold as the U.S. or Canada. What cold is to Australians is mild to cool weather to most Americans . At my latitude in the U.S., which is 1° off Launceston, it gets FAR colder here than Tassy usually is. We had a week of subzero °C lows here, I doubt Launceston ever gets that cold. Seems too oceanic
Most people would find a Launceston winter a definite "event".
I have been down there in late April, and it was far from warm.
What is more, summers in Tasmania are very prone to being frequently interrupted with cold spells and low pressure systems.
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day - just about every year they run into strong southerly fronts and big ocean swells.
It sounds like your idea of winter is not warm, rather than seriously cold.
It would be better to compare to Launceton to maritime climates in North America at a similar latitude. Really only the west coast near the Oregon / California border. None of the coast climates are very good, Eureka is rather awful compared to Launceton. Going inland gives a decent climate but with more cold snaps.
The point I was trying to make was that the Southern Hemisphere lacks cold continental climates like we have in the middle latitudes in the northern hemisphere.. that's why I'm so envious of Southern Hemisphere climates because aside from polar climates, this climate type is the one I dislike the most. And as it stands now, nobody lives in Antarctica permanently whereas people live in the northern polar regions...
If you mean mid-latitudes cyclones as storms passing through I don't think the Great Lakes gets an especially large number of cyclones passing through. From my experience in living in upstate NY, the cool season tends to have clouds that hang there sometimes with light drizzle or snow. It's not really from storm tracks passing through but just a generalized low pressure that hangs there.
New England is a more of a location for storm track convergence, but much of New England (except the nothernmost parts) are sunnier than the Great Lakes. New England gets more precipitation than the Great Lakes in the cool season (excluding the regions that get localized high lake effect precipitation — but those are only areas immediately next to the Lakes) yet is sunnier.
No doubt Northern New England is a region where a lot of mid latitude cyclones (or low pressure areas) pass through…along with the Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence Valley. From what I understand, each of these areas is most active in the cool season (November – through April)…and much less active in the warm season, when mid latitude cyclones are fewer, weaker, and travel more northerly tracks (through Ontario and Quebec).
However, in terms of total numbers of mid latitude cyclones (or low pressure areas)…the Great Lakes has the greatest frequency of low pressure centers in the USA outside the PNW…and much more than Northern New England. This occurs because unlike New England, several of the main mid latitude storm tracks across the USA mainland converge or pass through the Great Lakes. These areas are known as “cyclogenetic areas”. These include the 1)Colorado cyclogenetic area…the 2)Alberta cyclogenetic area….the 3)Gulf cyclogenetic area…and the 4) PNW/Alaska cyclogenetic area.
Although highly simplified…this map (below) shows each of these cyclogenetic areas. The heavy blue line off the East Coast is the Gulf cyclogenetic area, which becomes the famous “nor’easters” that strike the New England and Canadian Maritime Provinces in winter with heavy snow. You can see that the area centered around the central Great Lakes seems to be the center of where mid latidue cyclones pass through in the central/eastern USA. The higher precipitation in some parts of New England in the cool season compared to the Great Lakes is due to the greater intensity of precipitation in New England - this becasue of a larger source of humid air (the Atlantic Ocean). New England is sunnier than the Great Lakes, because lows/storms pass through Northern New England quicker as the jet max is normally faster where temp gradients are strongest.
I lived in Chicago for a year, getting one of its better winters. Still damned cold, and I think the sunshine stats. were a tad optimistic.
Most Australians have no true concept of winter, as far as I'm concerned. Having spent time in Sydney several times in late August, with 75% of the posisble sunshine on average, I found it comical to hear the breakfast TV host talking of the end of "winter". I think some people may be led astray by a few extremists on this forum whose thermostats are at nothing like the average setting ...
Wiki gives Chicago more sun hours than Philadelphia, yet NOAA lists Chicago as having less % possible than Philadelphia (54% vs. 56%). So, maybe Chicago is more like 2400 hours or so.
On the other hand, the Aus BOM lists Sydney has having around 2550 if you average between the airport and observatory. There is a big diff though in that Sydney is sunnier in winter, while Chicago has low hours in winter and much higher than Sydney in summer.
I prefer more sun in summer. NOAA gives Chicago 67%, 66%, and 62% for June, July and August (higher than where I am). So while Sydney has nowhere near 70% in summer, Chicago actually does.
In fact, 220 hours (Sydney in January) is actually pretty poor by American standards for summer. I think most Americans would be floored that Sydney is apparently that cloudy in summer. 7.1 means hours of sun per day in Jan with 14 hour days =51%. Not many places in the US average that low in summer.
I never knew Sydney was so cloudy in summer. As someone said before, Sydney does a great marketing job as all the pics show Sydney with nothing but blue skies around that opera house.
In fact, 220 hours (Sydney in January) is actually pretty poor by American standards for summer. I think most Americans would be floored that Sydney is apparently that cloudy in summer. 7.1 means hours of sun per day in Jan with 14 hour days =51%. Not many places in the US average that low in summer.
I never knew Sydney was so cloudy in summer. As someone said before, Sydney does a great marketing job as all the pics show Sydney with nothing but blue skies around that opera house.
Perhaps those photos are from the winter.
Very few places in the US are as sunny as Sydney in the winter. That sunshine distribution looks very odd to me.
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. At my latitude in the U.S., which is 1° off Launceston, it gets FAR colder here than Tassy usually is. We had a week of subzero °C lows here, I doubt Launceston ever gets that cold. Seems too oceanic
