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I don't know if this has been done before, I'd be amazed if it hasn't.
It seems as though these south western corners of the US and Europe are often viewed as the best areas in their continents in terms of climate, and both are indeed very similar.
But which takes the crown?
Spain
California
Ideally judge each area based in their entirety, rather than specific climates.
Without Portugal, the Iberian peninsula doesn't stand a chance. All truly great peninsular climates except maybe one or two are found in Portugal, be it Lisbon, Aveiro or Porto.
California therefore wins by default for having Santa Barbara, Salinas and San Diego: none of which are matched anywhere in Spain save for Tarifa, which is a small microclimate on the southern periphery of the country if someone's missed it. Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Huntington Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica, Carson, Mountain View, Hayward, Marin City, Vallejo, Richmond, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo... plenty of wonderful climates on the Californian coast.
Without Portugal, the Iberian peninsula doesn't stand a chance. All truly great peninsular climates except maybe one or two are found in Portugal, be it Lisbon, Aveiro or Porto.
California therefore wins by default for having Santa Barbara, Salinas and San Diego: none of which are matched anywhere in Spain save for Tarifa, which is a small microclimate on the southern periphery of the country if someone's missed it. Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Huntington Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica, Carson, Mountain View, Hayward, Marin City, Vallejo, Richmond, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo... plenty of wonderful climates on the Californian coast.
I think the island climates, overall livability, and slightly more variation relative to its size, may tip it in Spain's favour. California has advantages in terms of sun angle, and having generally better winters and more sunshine. I'm genuinely interested to see how this goes.
Had I included Portugal, I think California would almost certainly lose.
I don't know if this has been done before, I'd be amazed if it hasn't.
It seems as though these south western corners of the US and Europe are often viewed as the best areas in their continents in terms of climate, and both are indeed very similar.
But which takes the crown?
Spain
California
Razza, that map of Spain is pretty bad and it's user made.
Can you please put the map of AEMET?
And just mainland Spain or the whole Spain with the Canary islands? In this case is cruel to compare California to Spain because just the Canary Islands beat anything out of Cali!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lommaren
Without Portugal, the Iberian peninsula doesn't stand a chance. All truly great peninsular climates except maybe one or two are found in Portugal, be it Lisbon, Aveiro or Porto.
California therefore wins by default for having Santa Barbara, Salinas and San Diego: none of which are matched anywhere in Spain save for Tarifa, which is a small microclimate on the southern periphery of the country if someone's missed it. Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Huntington Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica, Carson, Mountain View, Hayward, Marin City, Vallejo, Richmond, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo... plenty of wonderful climates on the Californian coast.
What? The best Iberian climates are on the south coast of Andalucia.
Porto is crappy near Málaga, although I guess it goes about preferences...
The greatest Iberian climates are from Valencia all the way to Algarve, in Portugal just Faro stands a chance...
Razza, that map of Spain is pretty bad and it's user made.
Can you please put the map of AEMET?
And just mainland Spain or the whole Spain with the Canary islands? In this case is cruel to compare California to Spain because just the Canary Islands beat anything out of Cali!
Mainland Spain. It's like including Hawaii in California if not
Razza, that map of Spain is pretty bad and it's user made.
Can you please put the map of AEMET?
And just mainland Spain or the whole Spain with the Canary islands? In this case is cruel to compare California to Spain because just the Canary Islands beat anything out of Cali!
Link the map you want me to use before the editing time frame runs out. I've put up an AEMET map, but it's tiny. And using the Canary Islands for Spain would be like using Gibraltar for the UK, I think it's a bit of a stretch.
Mainland Spain. It's like including Hawaii in California if not
Wonder who voted for Spain btw?
Hawaii doesn't belong to California...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Razza94
Link the map you want me to use before the editing time frame runs out. And using the Canary Islands for Spain would be like using Gibraltar for the UK, I think it's a bit of a stretch.
Ok, here you go
Btw California doesn't have a single chance, what about Oceanic or Continental (Pyrenees) landscapes??
The majority of California are shurblands, although the north is green, it's Mediterranean Csb forest, nothing to do with a Galician or Basque landscape... without counting that the mountains of California haven't got any chance with the Pyrenees.
Lommaren, you voted California because your dream climate is mild/warm in the summer and mild in the winter, but you didn't take account of the huge differences in the landscape and also for the people who like more continental climates, Cali has nothing to offer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgtheone
This is a tough one. I'm only really going for California because it has more rain in its mediterranean climates.
This is not a Mediterranean Spanish vs California battle. This is an entire Spain vs California battle. California doesn't stand a single chance... Many of it's territory is arid and the greener is Csb...
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