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Also, there is very little land in the SH south of 40 S. If you were to shift Australia 20 degrees south you might see a lot more snow there.
Yes, and if South America was in the current position, but turned "upside down", so that what now is the Amazon rainforest was at a latitude between 35 and 50 degrees S... That would produce true continental climates over there.
Also, there is very little land in the SH south of 40 S. If you were to shift Australia 20 degrees south you might see a lot more snow there.
You certainly would.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanfel
Yes, and if South America was in the current position, but turned "upside down", so that what now is the Amazon rainforest was at a latitude between 35 and 50 degrees S... That would produce true continental climates over there.
At first a picture popped into my mind of a snowy rainforest, which would be really cool, but that's not what you meant. If South America was turned upside down the Amazonian climate would be more like the Great Plains than the tropics, and it would feature regular snow.
Cool... I am curious as to what the annual snowfall in places like Invercargill and Queenstown is to make a comparison...
I've never seen snowfall stats for NZ towns
I lived in Invercargill for 6 years. It usually snowed several times a year but seldom settled, maybe once a year and probably only and inch or two. There was one year that was close to six inches, that stayed around for a week or so. Christchurch seemed like a snowier city to me.
Snow in Queenstown is much more common but still only settles 1 or 2 times a winter on average, The higher suburbs can have snow on the ground for a few weeks, some years. The biggest snowfall I saw there was 55 cm downtown, and 80-90 cm on the higher suburbs. I lived near Arrowtown (20 km from Queenstown) and snow was much more common there. It was common to have snow there, but nothing when I got to Queenstown for work.
There were goldmining towns ( a generous term) at altitude, where snow would have been on the ground most of the winter. Some of the places around here such as, Butchertown or Starvation Ridge, would have bleak winters indeed, if they had survived as towns,
Currently it's Bariloche by far, as the city has surpassed the 100,000 inhabitants at the 2010 census. The average amount of days with snow is 24 (1961-1990). In second place must come the Chilean city of Punta Arenas with about 15 days (I don't have the precise data). Then yes, Comodoro Rivadavia with 4 days. However, San Rafael, in central-western Argentina, although averages 3 days of snow per year, delivers very good snowfalls much more frequently than Comodoro Rivadavia. In the last one, most snowfalls are short and light, whereas in San Rafael accumulations of over 10 cm aren't odd. Unfortunately, I have no records of volume.
For Argentina I can give this list with data from the period 1961-1990:
Ushuaia (58,000 inhab): 48 days
Bariloche (110,000 inhab): 24 days
Esquel (33,000 inhab): 22 days
RÃo Grande (66,000 inhab): 17 days
El Calafate (17,000 inhab): 14 days
RÃo Gallegos (96,000 inhab): 13 days --very close to make the list, maybe it already qualifies--
Malargüe (25,000 inhab): 11 days
---
Comodoro Rivadavia (180,000 inhab): 4 days
San Rafael (115,000 inhab): 3 days
Mendoza (1,100,000 inhab): 1.5 days
There is no data for several towns of between 20,000 and 60,000 inhabitants such as San MartÃn de los Andes, Zapala, Pico Truncado and Caleta Olivia. I expect about 20/22 for San MartÃn de los Andes, 10/11 for Zapala and Pico Truncado and 5 for Caleta Olivia.
Mendoza must be the snowiest city of its size in the Southern Hemisphere by far. They experienced very significant snowfalls quite recently, in 2007, 2010 and 2013.
What's the snowiest inhabited place with a weather station in the southern hemisphere, not considering population? Is there anywhere in the entire hemisphere where there is any month with an average high <0?
What's the snowiest inhabited place with a weather station in the southern hemisphere, not considering population? Is there anywhere in the entire hemisphere where there is any month with an average high <0?
First of all, I guess you are excluding Antarctic and sub-antarctic stations.
I can only speak for Argentina, unfortunately our meteorological station network is terrible, and small isolated villages rarely have records. The same happens with Chile, which together with Argentina is likely to have most contenders. Even worse, I don't have any records of snow accumulation/volume, only days with snow, which can be misleading.
Considering records, the inhabited place with most snowy days in Argentina is still Ushuaia (48).
Once existed a station in Puente del Inca, a little village in the Andes of Mendoza Province. Although the number of snowy days is lesser (33 from period 1961-1970), I reckon that over 95% of its precipitation of about 320 mm falls as snow. As the village is side an international road that connect Mendoza (Argentina) with Santiago (Chile), the place is rather well known and usually makes the news at winter due to the huge amounts of snow that block the route. Nearby a higher village exists, Las Cuevas, where only last year the Meteorological Service installed an automatic station. Las Cuevas is still snowier, but I don't have data. An inhabited place with higher snowy days is Cerro Catedral (98 from period 1961-1970).
About stations with an average high below 0°C, I have never seen any out of Antarctica with the exception of Cristo Redentor, another closed station that existed in the aforementioned International Pass (Paso Internacional Cristo Redentor), but the spot is not inhabited. The average high for July is -3.5°C! Neither Puente del Inca and (probably) Las Cuevas have subzero average highs in any month. There is a permanent inhabited Mine Camp named Veladero which I guess it has average highs below zero. If curious look it up on Google Earth: 29°24'S/69°53'O
Mendoza must be the snowiest city of its size in the Southern Hemisphere by far. They experienced very significant snowfalls quite recently, in 2007, 2010 and 2013.
And funnily enough, Mendoza is very dry overall (223 mm / 8.8 in annually), and is driest in winter!!
Yes, but there are places with the same average temps in winter but with MORE rain, and nonetheless, they receive less snow or even no snow at all.
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