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Cfa no contest, reliable rains every year are a must... Csa climates occur near deserts and are extremely susceptible to long period of drought.... i.e. california.... Cfa climates provide very warm temperatures PLUS reliable rains PLUS rains during the GROWING SEASON where Temps are warmest and things will grow.
Not in all Cfa climates though, they are not all very warm & many are too cool during the winter to support the growing of crops year round. Csa climates only need extra irrigation during the summer...
The population of Europe matched East Asia before a combination of two world wars centred on the continent, high emigration to the new world, and a declining birth rate caused its share of the world's population substantially decline.
Also debatable whether they are the most technologically advanced societies exist in the east. Nowhere in East Asia has sent a man to the moon, and the world's most cutting edge technology probably belongs to the US military.
Nowhere on Earth comes close to East Asia in regards to progress in the high-tech society. East Asia is building all sorts of cutting-edge tech to a level not seen in other parts of the world, like public transportation systems with Maglevs, advanced robots, the vast majority of gaming systems (i.e. Wii, Playstation, etc), super-fast internet, online grocery shopping at the subway, etc.
And even with your example of the US sending a man to the moon, and investing in the military, guess where it all came from? The US South, a humid subtropical region. With NASA, the rockets were launched from Florida, and the missions were guided by the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. With the military, spending is often encouraged by the South relative to the rest of the country.
Not in all Cfa climates though, they are not all very warm & many are too cool during the winter to support the growing of crops year round. Csa climates only need extra irrigation during the summer...
Many Csa climates get quite cool in winter for crops as well (i.e. Eureka, San Fransisco, Madrid, etc).
Nowhere on Earth comes close to East Asia in regards to progress in the high-tech society. East Asia is building all sorts of cutting-edge tech to a level not seen in other parts of the world, like public transportation systems with Maglevs, advanced robots, the vast majority of gaming systems (i.e. Wii, Playstation, etc), super-fast internet, online grocery shopping at the subway, etc.
And even with your example of the US sending a man to the moon, and investing in the military, guess where it all came from? The US South, a humid subtropical region. With NASA, the rockets were launched from Florida, and the missions were guided by the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. With the military, spending is often encouraged by the South relative to the rest of the country.
They openly showcase their technology more, it doesn't mean their knowledge is greater than the west's. A lot for the technology they do excel at, were first developed in the west relatively recently. Maglevs were first demonstrated in New York over 100 years ago, but they never really caught on due to the costs. The CGI technology used to produce high-end video games is often pioneered in Hollywood, the PlayStation is little different to the Xbox in terms of capabilities, and the technology behind the motion sensors in the Wii was first developed in 1981 by a Californian company called Datasoft. Although I will give Japan credit for its advances in robotics.
The rockets that got man to the moon were initially developed by Nazi scientists working in Germany during WWII, they were launched in Florida due to the climatic conditions, but could just have easily been launched from southern California.
The citation you provided makes reference to long growing seasons, this isn't true throughout all of East Asia, where the winters can be pretty brutal. It's making reference more towards places such as the American South.
Regardless, technology can develop virtually anywhere in the modern world because we have found ways to negate the elements. We don't worry about our food supply, and most technology is developed by people working indoors, negating the impact of climate. Although the premise of the question was, what was the best climate for civilization to emerge in?
If Cfa was subdivided into climates like Brisbane and Orlando, vs climates like NYC or DC, then I could understand voting for warm Cfa climates.
Brisbane is a better climate than Orlando as it doesn't suffer from as many tropical storms, and is drier. Both are far, far superior to NYC or DC, where people would die in the winter without adequate heating or protection from the elements.
Nobody is going to die from exposure in Lampedusa or Bodrum.
If Cfa was subdivided into climates like Brisbane and Orlando, vs climates like NYC or DC, then I could understand voting for warm Cfa climates.
Brisbane is a better climate than Orlando as it doesn't suffer from as many tropical storms, and is drier. Both are far, far superior to NYC or DC, where people would die in the winter without adequate heating or protection from the elements.
Nobody is going to die from exposure in Lampedusa or Bodrum.
That does make me wonder how China was able to make such a tremendous advanced civilization all these thousands of years ago. Their winters were downright cold and their summers were downright hot.
Thats why im such a fan of the climates of coastal Eastern Australia. Imagine a Northern Michigan summer and a southern Alabama winter, and that is Sydney
I think the best climate for a civilization is the climate of Valencia. Good temps all year round. Warmish winters, hot summers but nothing exaggerated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia#Climate
Lots of underground water to calm your thirst during the summer. And it has quite rainy summers for a Mediterranean Csa climate. In fact September has 70mm/2.76in of rain.
Oh, and the wettest season is the perfect season. The wettest is the 1st half of the autumn, not the winter as in most Mediterranean climates with that horrible cool winter rain. So another point for Valencia.
Valencia grows oranges (which need much rain) since 3 centuries ago, the actual irrigation systems didn't exist and they were draining them with underground waters... in Sevilla there is written presence of orange cultivars since the XVI century and it's also a Csa climate.
Valencia is terrible... hardly rains at all and rains nothing when you need it most in summer. Human populations will be highly susceptible to famines because of drought in valencia.
And Valencia still gets the rest of the bulk of its rainfall during the winter, so it gets its fair share of "that horrible cool winter rain" too... Not to mention the possibility of very cold snaps, the record lows are quite cold.
Valencia is terrible... hardly rains at all and rains nothing when you need it most in summer. Human populations will be highly susceptible to famines because of drought in valencia.
Nope. Underground waters.
So many years planting citrics there without modern style of irrigation don't approve your statement.
And again, Valencia is practically the best example for a Csa climate which has got a pretty decent rain all year round unless in July (and summers aren't rainless). Nothing to see with the US Csa climates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingGalah!
And Valencia still gets the rest of the bulk of its rainfall during the winter, so it gets its fair share of "that horrible cool winter rain" too... Not to mention the possibility of very cold snaps, the record lows are quite cold.
I don't think so. That happened 2 times in the history and probably will never happen again, the record low for November is -0.5ºC, December -2.8ºC (both on the last week of the month, on a 25th).
Even March never went under -0.4ºC and it was on 4th March of 1946... Just 2 times in history the temperature went below -5ºC and it was so exceptional and so rare that it probably will never happen again.
I already checked the extremes within 1961-2010 with the AEMET app and... the record low in January was -2.6ºC, in February -1.2ºC, in March 0.8ºC, in November -0.8ºC and in December -2.8ºC...
That was checking the older records, because checking the 1971-2010 data, November never went under 1.6ºC and December under -0.4ºC so yes, that probably will never happen again. In the 1981-2010 data, it never went under 1.2ºC in March or 1.6ºC in November too, and in December never under -0.3ºC... So the possibility of very cold snaps is 1/100 as it's proven now, you can also check it.
Most of the rainfall of Valencia falls on October, September and November in that order, now compare it to other places with Med. climates... LA, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Cyprus... November and the whole winter are wet. Valencia is probably the best example for a Csa climate so if it's not possible for humans on Valencia it's not possible on any Csa climate lol, Valencia hasn't got rainless summers as most Csa places.
In Valencia December gets the same rain amount as November, but most of the rainy days are on the 1st half of the month, which aren't already cool enough.
April and May are wetter than January, February and March. This doesn't happen on the typical Csa places mentioned above... again, a point for Valencia for more rain when the summer approaches.
And the point is it still does get most of the rest of the rainfall during winter, which will be as you describe "horrible cool winter rain".
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