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I personally think if you take factors such as economics out of the equation, the population of the US would be concentrated further to the south, and more towards the mild west coast rather than the continental east coast.
Human population distribution has always been about economics which is intimately related to survival.
For a long time the largest population was in warmish temperate areas (but not too hot) because these were the "easiest" places for humans to live in pre-technological conditions.
As humans evolved and learned new things (making fire, using animal soins and fur to keep warm) this allowed for population growth in areas that would have been previously considered very hostile to humans.
The invention of air conditioning in the modern era, allowing for larger scale population growth in very hot areas, is just a latter stage of these evolutions.
To complain is the British way! I'd say most British people are negative about English weather. There's one or two on here that make it sound fantastic of course, but generally it's negative I'd say.
I've been to the US in winter, and although it's cold, it's generally quite sunny, and the sun is still quite strong. It was pleasant enough to sit out in the sun with a coffee in NYC. Nights are pretty cold, but not that bad tbh. I much prefer the fresh sunny cold over our damp cloudy winter.
If we had similar amounts of sun as you in winter, then I'm sure our averages would be much closer. In winter here, if it's clear, it's cold.
Of course spring and summer there's a huge difference. Once into April, you warm up very quickly, so by the end of April you have summer weather by my local standards. Having such a long and warm to hot summer is far more important to me than winter. Generally when Brits go abroad in summer, it's to places that would have summer temperatures similar to yours, so that says alot about what we want in summer. I can't speak for everyone, as not all people would like the heat and humidity, but generally speaking, I think most Brits crave heat. Of course when it does happen, everybody quickly complains about it being too hot etc!
The main issue with these debates, and I'm going to aim it at some of my fellow English forumers, is that they just do not take criticism of their weather and climate well at all. You can't cry about stereotypes whilst stereotyping other cities climates. If somebody has an opinion of a climate or whatever, you can't say that their opinion is wrong, just because they don't live here. Of course averages don't tell the full story, but they give you a good idea, and most people on here are intelligent enough to build a picture of what a place is like from those averages, other people's opinions and posts etc.
Btw, Tom. Where have you been? It seems like you haven't been on the forum for ages.
I took three trips to the US South, and tbh the usual winter hype I saw building on here in September caused me to give the forum a break.
Not only that I felt like I was constantly attacked for liking green winter landscapes and mentioning plants growing where vs other places. I felt attacked for my winter stability preferences. So, I thought I would just leave for the winter and was much better for me.
If I wanted to be a pain in the a... I could go back and drag up all the winter hype posts by the cold lovers on here that turned out to be totally bogus. We had by all accounts a very mild winter and I loved it. But if you go back and look at the winter thread you realize that cold lovers are very selective in the tweets and graphics they post to exaggerate cold. Imo everyone of them got egg all over their faces.
And hopefully now one poster from Chicago will have a more jaded look at J Bastardi, the phoney winter hype artist "forecaster" that never met a winter that wasn't going to be the coldest winter on record. JB is now a laughing stock of the meteo community and mostly discredited. I love that.
Only long term data using standardised methods count. NOAA satellite data only shows the warmest California sites cooler than upper North Island sites - that's to be expected when you consider than Motueka is warmer than Santa Barbara in the warmest month.
The temperatures at Torrey Pines are impressive, but unless they're long term, then they're just something that can happen at times - NZ also gets warmer water some years.
But Joe, given how much you claimed you enjoy swimming in your local area, I find it hard to believe you wouldn't find even the long term water temps of S. Calif enjoyable for a swim on a warm day. 68-70F is certainly not "frigid" compared to other places in the world with decent summer temps. New England for one, and the west coast of Portugal and North Africa.
I personally think if you take factors such as economics out of the equation, the population of the US would be concentrated further to the south, and more towards the mild west coast rather than the continental east coast.
you would be quite surprised at the number of people that move from here to FL and after a few years return because they missed the four season climate. Happens all the time.
you would be quite surprised at the number of people that move from here to FL and after a few years return because they missed the four season climate. Happens all the time.
You'd be surprised by how many "Boomerang Brits" return here from Australia, but I doubt they do so for climatic reasons.
But Joe, given how much you claimed you enjoy swimming in your local area, I find it hard to believe you wouldn't find even the long term water temps of S. Calif enjoyable for a swim on a warm day. 68-70F is certainly not "frigid" compared to other places in the world with decent summer temps. New England for one, and the west coast of Portugal and North Africa.
San Diego/ LA seen fine, but even as far north as Santa Barbara sees the warmest month about 1.5C colder than Motueka.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by Joe90
San Diego/ LA seen fine, but even as far north as Santa Barbara sees the warmest month about 1.5C colder than Motueka.
There seems to be a 5°F difference between Oxnard and Huntington Beach in the summer, so somewhere between Santa Monica and Oxnard is where it starts getting colder
There seems to be a 5°F difference between Oxnard and Huntington Beach in the summer, so somewhere between Santa Monica and Oxnard is where it starts getting colder
Yep, it does seem to change over a short distances- currents or upswelling maybe?
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