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My climate: hot, long summer, no winters, a very brief period of cool weather, and a good chunk of comfortable transition months. Usually sunnny enough and with rain and sun evenly distributed through the year.
That more or less is a subtropical climate for me.
I don't really use the word; I'm more likely to say "it's too hot in the summer" than anything else.
That's basically my definition. Too hot in the summer and not cold enough for regular snow in the winter. I don't think of NYC as subtropical because it seems to get a good snowfall or two every winter.
Warmest subtropical city would be something like San Antonio where it still qualifies for subtropical because of yearly precip levels but because of being on the cusp of the transition belt to semi-arid it has precip minimum in summer causing summer highs to be in the upper 90's. Being far enough south it doesn't get many cold fronts and stays in 60's in the winter.
Coldest subtropical city fitting the >50 description would be something like Raleigh where there are cold fronts in the winter but average winter high is above 50. Summer is hot and humid but nothing like Houston or San Antonio because of tropical systems and high rainfall rates in summer keeping temps down.
I'd say subtropical climates are hard to define as I see them as representing a large range of transitional climates with widely varying characteristics. I do agree though that calling NYC's or Washington DC's climates subtropical seems like a misnomer. Broadly speaking, I'd define such climates as having:
-Warm to hot summers (average maximums exceed 24C/75F)
-A noticeably cooler winter period (average maximums are less than 24C/75F)
-Little, if any snowfall
-Average maximum temperatures in the coldest month exceed 10C/50F and average minimum temperatures are above freezing
In the USA, I'd say that the climate starts getting borderline tropical in coastal areas south of Tampa, the rest of the gulf coast states are at least subtropical imo. The far northern boundary for my subtropical definition would be around Virginia Beach along the coast, and for inland areas around Charlotte. Certain areas of the Californian coast such as downtown San Francisco or Eureka are not sufficiently warm in summer and I think of more as cool temperate.
I'd say subtropical climates are hard to define as I see them as representing a large range of transitional climates with widely varying characteristics. I do agree though that calling NYC's or Washington DC's climates subtropical seems like a misnomer. Broadly speaking, I'd define such climates as having:
-Warm to hot summers (average maximums exceed 24C/75F)
-A noticeably cooler winter period (average maximums are less than 24C/75F)
-Little, if any snowfall
-Average maximum temperatures in the coldest month exceed 10C/50F and average minimum temperatures are above freezing
In the USA, I'd say that the climate starts getting borderline tropical in coastal areas south of Tampa, the rest of the gulf coast states are at least subtropical imo. The far northern boundary for my subtropical definition would be around Virginia Beach along the coast, and for inland areas around Charlotte. Certain areas of the Californian coast such as downtown San Francisco or Eureka are not sufficiently warm in summer and I think of more as cool temperate.
but that qualifys a lot of the oceanic climates into the subtropical category? with that characteristic, then Mar del Plata would be subtropical.
Ill say subtropical summers should be more hot than warm. Like average high above 28 or general average above 22c-
but that qualifys a lot of the oceanic climates into the subtropical category? with that characteristic, then Mar del Plata would be subtropical.
Ill say subtropical summers should be more hot than warm. Like average high above 28 or general average above 22c-
Yes that's true but its's only my definition, Koppen's official criteria states that the average 24-hour temperature should be 22C+ in the warmest month to be classed subtropical. To me MDP could be considered subtropical, I'm looking more for warmer temperatures in the winter rather than necessarily hot summers...but that does include a very wide range of climates admittedly.
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with that characteristic, then Mar del Plata would be subtropical.
