Which summer cloud pattern do you prefer? Marine layer or afternoon thunderstorms? (day, humidity)

[kronan123]

Originally Posted by Joe90

Reading these posts of the marine layer is interesting. I think they might be a phenomenon of west coast Mediterranean climates only, as Cfb climates don't have the land/sea temperature difference.

indeed. to be honsest, i hadn't heard of the term "marine layer" before i read this thread.
here's a nice graphic on the formation of marine layers.

[dunno what to put here]

Did some searching of coastal fog in the UK and its formation sounds very similar to California's marine layer.

Coastal fog is usually a result of advection fog which forms when relatively warm, moist air passes over a cool surface. In the UK, the most common occurrence of coastal fog is when warm air moves over the cool surface of the North Sea towards the east coast of the UK.

When this happens, the cold air just above the sea's surface cools the warm air above it until it can no longer hold its moisture and so forces it to condense forming tiny particles of water which forms the fog that we see.

Coastal fog usually occurs in the spring and summer months when conditions begin to warm up but the sea (which warms more slowly) stays relatively cold.

Surely other countries experience something similar.

[Fiddlehead]

It think the main factor for marine layers is a warm,moist body of marine air passing over a cool patch. On the West Coast of the USA, the waters off shore are considerably warmer than the nearshore waters which get the upwelling associated with the south-flowing California current. When they pass over the colder waters they condense into stratus, which is pulled into coastal areas by inland heating.

I can imagine it could occur in any other locale where such conditions exist. For instance, I know it occurs in the Atacama Desert of Peru. The desert receives almost no rain, but nearshore areas do receive nightly fogs, and the plant and animals depend upon it.

[Joe90]

Thanks for the informative graphic. I think it must be a term mostly used in the US, where the west coast provides a stunning example of this phenomenon.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by GoldenZephyr

I don't think most people really know what the marine layer is like. Even thought I love thunderstorms, there is nothing like a SoCal summer.

Gentle clouds roll in during the evening to tuck you in at night like a blanket. The nights pleasantly cool, to where you can keep the windows open and be ever so comfortable. The perfect temperature air caressing your skin, so smooth, so soft.

Goldilocks humidity with dewpoints in the high 50's to low 60s and temps the same.

As morning comes, a gentle filtered light through the clouds in the morning, no harsh sun to wake you abruptly. Then as the day goes on, the warm sun gently peeking through the clouds in a heavenly golden glow.

The filtered light crescendoing throughout the day, with a warm afternoon, then as twilight approaches, the marine layer slowly reforming, again readying to tuck you back in, for a comfy nights sleep.

Southern California summers are truly a paradise.

That's too much gentle for me. I like my weather a bit more challenging.

Southeast Texas has thunderstorms pretty much every single day during summer, and the temperate, overcast days are plentiful from October to June.

[micC]

'Marine layer' is one of the most beautiful terms in the English language, for me. It sounds as refreshing as it is and it keeps the temperatures miraculously cool for the latitude. I was disappointed not to see it on my recent visit to southern California in June, except very early one morning when it was foggy. It was otherwise endless blue sky and warmer than average temperatures.

However, I would love to have some thundery activity and I very rarely get to experience such weather either at home, or in the places where I take my holidays, so at the moment I would go for that one.

[nei]

Originally Posted by Joe90

Reading these posts of the marine layer is interesting. I think they might be a phenomenon of west coast Mediterranean climates only, as Cfb climates don't have the land/sea temperature difference.

I think in late spring we had some version of the marine layer: stratus clouds on the coast and warmer inland. Lag means there's a big sea/land air temperature difference in mid and late spring. Nowhere as frequent as west coast Mediterranean climates, but the pattern occasionally pops up elsewhere when similar conditions arise.

[Caleb Yeung]

I would choose Southern CA's marine layer summers over the summers of the Southeast for the cooler temperatures, provided that other seasons have sufficient precipitation.

[jbgusa]

In the New York area cold frontal passages are often accompanied by dramatic thunderstorms. Unfortunately, during the summer, the cold front often hangs just to the south, giving us a dreary marine layer for days.

That once lasted about two weeks, during July 1969.

[TiffaNYC]

I choose the marine layer because I love the ocean. That being said, having lived only a few miles from the coast in Southern CA for years, and working in Malibu, I have experienced the marine layer, and I HATED it in the dead of summer because hello, it's summer, and I want HOT WEATHER! However, I now live in Colorado (temporarily), and I can't stand it here and I would gladly take being back in Southern CA over these crap thunderstorms in the middle of the day, and living in the boring/blah mountains, when I want to be on the coast. I actually like thunderstorms, but having them several times a week, in the afternoon, in summer, is extremely annoying and it makes it even worse that I'm not near the ocean anymore (the ocean is my "spirit animal" if you will, haha). So yeah. Marine layer, most definitely