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I've been interested in weather most of my life, but didn't have much of an understanding of it until a couple years ago. I've seen some of the weather tables I drew back when I was 7 or 8, and unless the average January low in Denver is -4, I didn't know much then.
Anyway, I was wondering how you perceived your climate before you studied weather and how accurate that perception was.
My winter memories from being young are mixed. But almost all of them involve
1. Lack of winter
2. Snow, cold, but a completely clear sky.
3. Some ridiculous storm where the snow was half my height.
Now that I know about weather, I can confirm that most of these things have some truth to them. The lack of winter comes from a couple winters we had some times in the mid 2000's where we had very light snow and warm temperatures even in January. The cold but clear days reflects the high winter sunshine we get here in the NY area. Still, I never thought of my climate as being particularly sunny, which is also true, because over the year we are about the same as most cities in the Midwest and East. The large storms are also a feature of the Northeastern climate. I remember a number of separate storms, one where I (super-scientifically) measured 30 inches of snow. Another where I remember trying to run into the snow and just falling down because it was so deep. Some of the biggest storms in NY history occurred around that period.
Have any of you confirmed your weather intuitions, or have you been completely wrong?
I grew up in south east England and my general impression of the climate was that it was mild, often a bit too cloudy but dry. Certainly not wet or rainy. Sometimes hot in summer. As a kid I generally estimated the average high was somewhere in the mid 20's in summer and hitting 30 degrees a few times each year and this was proven correct. I remember as a kid seeing some outdated climate tabled for London saying the July mean temp was 17 degrees and saying "july's warmer than that in london" and it was because those averages were well out of date and the average was now around 18.5 degrees.
I began to realize that I actually enjoyed the seasons, not just constant temps. I still hate summer though, and I always will. I always had an interest, but I was downright stupid then.
My town is milder than I thought as a kid, I would have guessed that winter (Dec-Feb) had highs around the mid-40s (actually mid-50s), that Apr. and Oct. were in the high 70's for highs (actually low 70's). Finally, I would have guessed Jun-Aug as around 100. (actually 90).
However, I did know that the North was falsely considered too cool, as I probably would have guessed Philadelphia (family there) around 35/90 for jan/jul highs as a kid. (actually 40/87). I also got that not all places had strong seasons, guessing Florida as about 75/100 (actually 71/92).
Two things never changed. I still hate summer (you can tell by how sweltering I guessed them to be) and I still would be confused about why the adults seemed scared of the cold. In fact, I loved the cold even more than now as a kid, and I will never understand why the gym teachers never let us outside during the winter, my favorite time to be there .
My preferences, however, have. As a kid, my ideal climate would always be overcast and mid-50's for highs, mid-40's for lows. Now I see the value in seasons, a mix of sun and rain, etc.
Before joining this subforum I always say rather dumb things about weather, i don't wanna post here, i'm embarassed with my pre-weather forum thoughts about weather lol
Before joining this subforum I always say rather dumb things about weather, i don't wanna post here, i'm embarassed with my pre-weather forum thoughts about weather lol
Don't be, as a kid I thought that rainy areas were wet because they had a lot of lakes for evaporation. And that dry areas didn't have any lakes for the clouds to get any water from.
Didn't pay that much attention to overall climate until a few years ago. But watching thunderstorms was always one of my favorite things and I would get excited every time it happened. Some things never change lol. Since July 2011 was the most humid month on record in Lexington, for a while I thought we had great summers that were around 90/70 and always muggy. The reality is that in a continental location it depends so much on the particular year and patterns.
I grew up in south east England and my general impression of the climate was that it was mild, often a bit too cloudy but dry. Certainly not wet or rainy. Sometimes hot in summer. As a kid I generally estimated the average high was somewhere in the mid 20's in summer and hitting 30 degrees a few times each year and this was proven correct. I remember as a kid seeing some outdated climate tabled for London saying the July mean temp was 17 degrees and saying "july's warmer than that in london" and it was because those averages were well out of date and the average was now around 18.5 degrees.
I remember looking at some averages that said our January was 6/1 and July 22/11. Now we realise that those were from Gatwick, which isn't representative of anywhere in London (it's a frost hollow), and from the 61-90 series, one of the coldest of the 20th century. Heathrow during the same period was 7/2 in January and 23/13 in July.
I used to think Leeds was colder than it is - like 5/1 in winter, and 19/10 in summer, but this was based on dodgy climate data. Leeds city centre is more like 7/2 in winter and 21/13 in summer. In my location the nights will be a little cooler but daytime temps the same.
I always knew we were a dry city though - I never noticed a lot of rain growing up. Obviously it was cloudy and this was more apparent when I went to Spain for the first time when I was a kid. Stunning blue sunshine every day, some morning fog, and when we arrived back at Manchester Airport it was raining. Go figure.
When I was a kid and we didn't get a storm on a typical muggy summer hot day with storm threats, I thought nobody else was getting them.
But obviously when I started looking at radars and really getting into seeing whats going on and hearing reports recent years, I realize so many other areas do get storms while many miss.
Like take current radar for instance. NYC hasn't gotten a storm, Scranton probably either, clear day in Ithica but meanwhile there's been Severe Thunderstorms rolling through 70 miles north of NYC, all over CT and Southern PA.
Not everyone is going to get a storm. When I was a kid I thought it just didn't happen anywhere. lol
when I started looking at radars and really getting into seeing whats going on and hearing reports recent years, I realize so many other areas do get storms while many miss.
Tell me about it. Some more than others.
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