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There are a few exceptions to this rule, but my rule for quantifying a truly hot summer (excluding very warm or "moderately hot" summers) is generally:
- A place with hottest month averages at 80/60F or higher is definitely a hot summer location
- Barring that an average high of 85F in the hottest month regardless of nighttime temperatures
- An average low of 65F or higher in the hottest month regardless of daytime temperatures
That should cover most places that I'd consider to have a hot summer. Humidity and haze may bump up other places that may not otherwise qualify up to hot summer status, for instance most spots on Hokkaido. The length of the summer is another factor in bumping up the heat rating; I'd consider a place to be kind of hot (at least) if it averages more than 4 months at 70/50F or higher. The presence or absence of very hot weather (90F+, 100F+) is also a factor, as is the presence or absence of significant cooling (lows <50F, <60F). There is also the matter of places with very high daily ranges that may not be adequately described even with the second criterion - if a place averages 30C in the afternoon but is near-freezing at night it's in a category of its own.
Not only do I think this has some accuracy on an objective scale, it also captures fairly well what I consider hot or what feels hot to me. In the example of the United States, the vast majority of the country ex-Alaska qualifies as having a hot summer, and virtually nowhere in the lower 48 has a truly mild or cool summer, and excluding mountain peaks the options are limited to a few isolated spots on the West Coast (such as Cape Blanco, Oregon which averages 59/50F in August). Alaska, of course, is like an entirely different country, and I have yet to find an Alaskan climate that has a truly hot summer by my standards, even if the interior can get pretty toasty at times.
Cape Blanco averages 68/53 in August. There are no coastal locations in the lower 48s that can average below 60F maximum in the summer month. It's not possible by any means. In North America, the furthest south for a sub-60F summer maximums should theoretically occur somewhere on the coast of Labrador.
hot summer = 27+ C/80+ F
very warm summer = 24-26 C C/75-79 F
warm summer = 22-23 C/72-74 F
cool summer = 19-21 C/66-71 F
no summer = < 18 C/ < 65 F
Only a small portion of Canada experiences a consistantly warm summer.
More than half of Canada by land area experiences no summer, but what I'd consider a "glorified spring."
Roughly, I'd say that to qualify as having a hot summer, a place must have a daily average (i.e. avg min+avg max/2) over 25°C - e.g. Brisbane would be hot, but barely. NYC would be the exact threshold (25.0°C in July)
A few major cities with what I consider hot summers :
Miami
Beijing
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Singapore
Brisbane
Dubai (obviously)
Seville
Athens
Delhi
Mumbai
Cape Blanco averages 68/53 in August. There are no coastal locations in the lower 48s that can average below 60F maximum in the summer month. It's not possible by any means. In North America, the furthest south for a sub-60F summer maximums should theoretically occur somewhere on the coast of Labrador.
According to this dataset, which looks reliable, and was taken over a 27 year period, it does. I've seen this phenomenon before, and the explanation is simple - the TWC data was taken from a station closer to the state park itself or in a town, let's say, and the WRCC station is right on the water. Most of the area of the state park is farther inland and thus has less maritime moderation than a station right on the water on a landmass that protrudes farther west. Point Reyes, California has a similar discrepancy, although that place is too far south to average sub-60F.
According to this dataset, which looks reliable, and was taken over a 27 year period, it does. I've seen this phenomenon before, and the explanation is simple - the TWC data was taken from a station closer to the state park itself or in a town, let's say, and the WRCC station is right on the water. Most of the area of the state park is farther inland and thus has less maritime moderation than a station right on the water on a landmass that protrudes farther west. Point Reyes, California has a similar discrepancy, although that place is too far south to average sub-60F.
Point Reyes by the water barely misses by a degree. See my links here:
Location: The Valley Of The Sun just east of Canberra
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trimac20
Subjective, anywhere where one experiences significant discomfort indoors without any form of cooling on a regular basis during the summer months.
Spot on. I think it's hard to put a temperature value on it, but if you have to modify the climate to remain comfortable, the summer is hot in a more objective sense.
How come Panama City has so coolish nights for such a wet, coastal, tropical (almost equatorial) urban area?!
Believe the Pacific Ocean and the mountains north of it are the culprit. Look at this city 56km northwest of Panama City, on the Caribbean coast. I believe the Pacific side of the Americas are cooler at night than Asian parts. Someone can correct me on this, I think it may have to do with upwelling currents, since isn't the warmest Pacific waters in the Americas around Acapulco?
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