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Lucky because of warmth? Lol. I like warmth, but not everybody does. So Australia is your paradise, but not to some that like winter. I see the lovefest between Canada and Australia continues.
Australia is as flat as a pancake compared to the rest of the continents, and lacks any decent mountain range. Some ways it is lucky, and some ways it isn't. Also one of the driest in the world. The fact of the matter is large swaths of the continent are basically uninhabitable. Europe is far far better in that regard if you ask me. That is why Europe was so successful at creating advanced first world countries.
Yes, Australia is the flattest continent but that doesn't matter to me really, as long as winters are mild to warm and snow free, that's the most important thing and in that regard Australia really is the lucky country compared to North America and East Asia. Large swaths are desert but I think in the future those could be opened up to large scale settlement like Las Vegas and Phoenix were in the past in the US with new technology on the horizon. All that is needed is the political will from Australia and that's an another matter entirely
Australia varies between temperate oceanic, to subtropical to tropical, along with mild and mainly hot deserts. There are no real continental climates due to the Southern Ocean, excuse me for being Captain Obvious.
To say Sydney is subtropical though on the basis of low record maximums is not the whole story.
Albany WA also has a record low max of only 7.3C, slightly less than Sydney, and has never recorded a low below freezing, but is it hardly subtropical.
Both places have record highs some 20C above the average maximum as well, but for the most part you are only going to get a lukewarm mid 20's in summer.
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Australia is a subtropical paradise, but not exceptionally warm for its latitude considering its annual mean temperature for the period 1971-2000 (airports).
In any event, I'm surprised arctic_gardener, coming to us all the way from Moose Jaw or some such, would consider Cairns "not warm".
Cairns is very warm by Canadian standards but I'm not looking at it from that perspective. I'm looking at it from the perspective of latitude and elevation, a point I've been reiterating. I would have expected Cairns, or for that matter any other major Australian city apart from Darwin, to be much warmer than it really is, for the latitude. Going a bit further south, one could contrast NZ with the UK. Even though the UK is much closer to the pole, it has summers comparable to or even warmer than those on the South Island. Australia and NZ are influenced by being surrounded by water and the fact that these oceans are cooled by a massive freezer located around 90 degrees S. This greatly influences the seasons of these two countries. In winter, the moderating effect of the ocean overcompensates for the Antarctic influence, but in summer, the two effects are additive.
Australia is a subtropical paradise, but not exceptionally warm for its latitude considering its annual mean temperature for the period 1971-2000 (airports).
Precisely. This anomaly can be tied to summer. All those European cities have hotter summers than their Australian counterparts, even though the European cities are closer to the pole. In winter, the effects are reversed but not enough to compensate for the summer anomalies.
The OP said Australia wasn't warm. This got under my skin, especially coming from a Canadian.
Lastly, Oodnadatta is not Australia's hottest city; far from it. A little work at the keyboard will give you the answer. Try googling a little bit more before rushing to post next time.
Let me help; I believe that this the hottest place in Australia (not a city, mind you):
Oh, I think you made a mistake. I'm the OP and I was saying that Australia is a "subtropical paradise". Remember?
Quote:
Originally Posted by L.A.-Mex
its funny that the LA Suburb you chose to hypothetically live in, Mission Viejo, that averages 90s in summer (not low 80s like Laguna Beach), you reffered to it as "mild" compared to your dream climate of Sydney, when every season is much warmer in the day and night (night is not much warmer) in Mission Viejo than that of Sydney's hottest microclimate (Penrith).
Actually, Mission Viejo has warmer winters than Sydney. Penrith and the rest of the suburbs inland are a few degrees warmer in the summer than MV's summers.
Australia is a subtropical paradise, but not exceptionally warm for its latitude considering its annual mean temperature for the period 1971-2000 (airports).
Italy is subtropical too. At least, right up to the parts near Milan where it starts to get cooler. Most of the Mediterranean is actually (Athens is exceptionally warm for its latitude). These cities tend to have long cool winters with short, noticeably hot summers. Australia is more stable and less extreme, especially in the winter. I take it these places see some snow in winter here and there?
Cairns is very warm by Canadian standards but I'm not looking at it from that perspective. I'm looking at it from the perspective of latitude and elevation, a point I've been reiterating. I would have expected Cairns, or for that matter any other major Australian city apart from Darwin, to be much warmer than it really is, for the latitude. Going a bit further south, one could contrast NZ with the UK. Even though the UK is much closer to the pole, it has summers comparable to or even warmer than those on the South Island. Australia and NZ are influenced by being surrounded by water and the fact that these oceans are cooled by a massive freezer located around 90 degrees S. This greatly influences the seasons of these two countries. In winter, the moderating effect of the ocean overcompensates for the Antarctic influence, but in summer, the two effects are additive.
It's not the cooling of the Southern Ocean making Australia or NZ "mild", it's the warming of the North Atlantic by the Gulf Stream which makes the UK and Ireland unusually warm for their latitude.
1)Parts of Australia are hot, other parts less so.
2) The Australian desert is dry, other places less dry.
3) Some cities in other countries might, or might not, have climates similar to certain Australian cities.
It took me five pages to reach this conclusion, perhaps I should be reading something else.
Yes, Australia is the flattest continent but that doesn't matter to me really, as long as winters are mild to warm and snow free, that's the most important thing and in that regard Australia really is the lucky country compared to North America and East Asia. Large swaths are desert but I think in the future those could be opened up to large scale settlement like Las Vegas and Phoenix were in the past in the US with new technology on the horizon. All that is needed is the political will from Australia and that's an another matter entirely
Those US cities get more than 50% of their water from large dams collecting water from the Colorado River (Rocky Mountain snow melt). The US also has far more groundwater than Australia btw. All those arctic fronts, and the winter instability of our climate also provide us with loads of water. We don't have a huge sprawling winter high pressure system that keeps us bone dry like China. So please tell me where is this large inland river water source, or 14,000ft mountains to provide potable water for inland Australia. It ain't there, and no technology is gonna get it, at least in our lifetimes. That part of Australia would struggle hugely to get that kind of Phoenix or Las Vegas development.
Groundwater available for allocation has reduced substantially in the last decade, and is now overused and over-allocated in many Groundwater Management Units (GMUs).
There has been a 90% increase in groundwater use across Australia between 1985 and 1996-97, to about 5000 GL/year. Overall, 32% of groundwater extracted is for urban-industrial use, 51% for irrigation and 17% for stock watering and rural use. South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria use more than 60% of groundwater for irrigation, while Western Australia uses 72% for urban and industrial purposes. Up to four million people in Australia depend totally or partially on groundwater for domestic water supplies.
The total volume of drinking quality groundwater (i.e. with less than 1500 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids) that can be sustainably extracted is estimated to be about 21 000 GL/year. However, many undeveloped groundwater resources are in remote areas. More importantly, most estimates of groundwater sustainable yields do not consider the impact of groundwater extraction on baseflows in rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands. Little is known about groundwater-dependent ecosystems (e.g. caves and aquifers) and their water requirements, although many contain unique or endemic species. Many land and water ecosystems depend on groundwater for at least some of the time, but the interactions between groundwater and these systems are poorly understood. In comparison with surface water, there is relatively little information on groundwater levels, use and quality and increased information is required if groundwater systems are to be managed sustainably.
Some groundwater resources are already overdeveloped, as the rate of extraction exceeds the rate of recharge (i.e. groundwater mining). These include the Great Artesian Basin, many small aquifers in the Murray-Darling Basin, the Perth Basin and aquifers along the east coast of Australia (Figure 21). Although the National Water Reforms Framework include provisions for groundwater, groundwater reform is lagging behind surface water reform in most states and territories.
The most important thing to you is snow free and warm. Well, you'll never find that in Canada. I suggest you get off your doff and start doing something about it, or you will be miserable your whole life. Pining and dreaming about the subtropical paradise of Australia isn't going to help you.
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