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The Appalachians aren't high enough to block cold air coming from the northwest, but they do an excellent job of drying out the awful winter cloudiness that forms over the Great Lakes.
I grew up near Pittsburgh, PA and winters were always cloudy and dreary. Then I spent a year in Allentown, PA and I couldn't believe how sunny it was all winter.
There's an element of truth to the saying, "it's always sunny in Philadelphia." At least compared to cities like Pittsburgh and Erie west of the mountains.
Usually for a mountain range to effectively block a cold airmass, it's peaks have to be 10k ft or higher, cold airmasses usually sink down below 10k ft
How much warmer can an east coast city, say NYC, be if the mountains in Pennsylvania and Upstate NY were 10K?
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by antinimby
How much warmer can an east coast city, say NYC, be if the mountains in Pennsylvania and Upstate NY were 10K?
Basically, two things would happen, your "cold" days would maybe be 5-10° below current norms rather than 20°+ below, and you would get a katabatic wind (Santa Ana,Chinook) on some other days that would send you 20°+ above current norms, so I would venture that winter in NYC would be more similar to winter in Shanghai, China (more stable, slightly warmer averages)
The much lower Ouachita Mountains in SE Oklahoma create a significant rain level difference between nearby, parts of Northern Texas vs those mountain areas in Oklahoma. Their is an abundance of water run off and large man made lakes that fill quickly in OKlahoma and represent solutions to some water problems near by.
The cascades are good at blocking cold air, and they are not nearly that tall. WA only has 4 peaks taller than 10K one of which is a satellite peak on mt. Rainier. OR has another 4 peaks taller than 10k. Instead I would say a good height would be when the mountains reach the timberline. Here in WA that is between 5 and 6k which the majority of the cascade mountains are of this height.
Wait ... I did not realize that timberline was variable! Here in Colorado it starts at about 11K.
Having spent time on both sides of the Appalachians (TN/NC), I can say that they are plenty tall enough to create big differences in the weather an temperature on either side. The uplifting cold air on the western slope creates some really significant variances in snowfall totals. For example, its not uncommon to see 12"+ snow totals in Roan Mountain, TN (around 2500 feet on the upslope) and 1" in Blowing Rock (about 25 miles east at 2500 feet on the downslope).
On the other hand, when lows are passing to the south, cold air tends to dam on the eastern side of the mountains and is not able to move further west. Bowing Rock will get significant ice storms while its perfectly sunny and warm on the western slopes.
Basically, two things would happen, your "cold" days would maybe be 5-10° below current norms rather than 20°+ below, and you would get a katabatic wind (Santa Ana,Chinook) on some other days that would send you 20°+ above current norms, so I would venture that winter in NYC would be more similar to winter in Shanghai, China (more stable, slightly warmer averages)
A lot of the cold air nowadays comes obviously from the northwest, as well as from the Hudson Bay, so if you block that access off...how would the cold blasts make it past the mountain peaks? I think our winters would be something similar to Dushanbe
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by Warszawa
A lot of the cold air nowadays comes obviously from the northwest, as well as from the Hudson Bay, so if you block that access off...how would the cold blasts make it past the mountain peaks? I think our winters would be something similar to Dushanbe
You would get cold air funneling down from Labrador and the Maritime Provinces, the same way that our cold air here in SW Arizona comes from the Gulf of Alaska
You would get cold air funneling down from Labrador and the Maritime Provinces, the same way that our cold air here in SW Arizona comes from the Gulf of Alaska
I wish, cold air from there is nothing like cold air from the Canadian praires.
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