Which gets colder in winter ? Southern Australia and South Africa

[Huasho]

The Humboldt Current coming off Antartica stays in the Pacific to Northern Chilean Waters, then heads W to Australia and N Zealand where again it heads back to the South Pole and the Cycle starts all over again.

Cold Waters indeed...The Artic waters are the coldests in the World, but here I presume The Coldest will be in the Pacifc area where The Humboldt keeps the Pacific Ocean in that Part of the world Chilly Willy. Thus Australia is me choice

[FrozenI69]

Originally Posted by Ethereal

For that purpose, I would say that Canberra is still colder because of its lower winter daytime temperatures, despite Bloemfontein's colder nights. Bloemfontein also has the propensity of getting warmish winter days, which is something virtually absent in Canberra.

I wonder why Cannebera is classified as a oceanic climate. It looks more like a subtropical climate to me.
Bloemfontein is a BSk climate so I imagine more extreme cold is possible.

[error-404]

Canberra is a hybrid of oceanic and subtropical highland, given its moderate elevation (600m). Sydney, somewhat NE of Canberra, is a true subtropical climate, Cfa with mean 19ºC, but oceanic influences bring its summer temperatures down to 24ºC on average.

Continental subtropical climates like SE US or China can see summer temperatures approaching or even exceeding 30ºC on average (Shanghai: 29ºC, Jacksonville: 28ºC)


Bloemfontein's record low is absolutely pathetic, a mere -10ºC - even Alice Springs, a tropical desert climate, has a record low of -7ºC. I imagine that temperature inversions in valleys in Lesotho could bring records below -20ºC, however, with the larger elevation range.

[FrozenI69]

Originally Posted by error-404

Canberra is a hybrid of oceanic and subtropical highland, given its moderate elevation (600m). Sydney, somewhat NE of Canberra, is a true subtropical climate, Cfa with mean 19ºC, but oceanic influences bring its summer temperatures down to 24ºC on average.

Continental subtropical climates like SE US or China can see summer temperatures approaching or even exceeding 30ºC on average (Shanghai: 29ºC, Jacksonville: 28ºC)


Bloemfontein's record low is absolutely pathetic, a mere -10ºC - even Alice Springs, a tropical desert climate, has a record low of -7ºC. I imagine that temperature inversions in valleys in Lesotho could bring records below -20ºC, however, with the larger elevation range.

Alice springs is a hot desert climate, the weather there is a lot like El Paso or Phoenix, which I wouldn’t call tropical.

[error-404]

Oops, my mistake from reading the climate data wrong. Alice Springs is a subtropical desert climate that sees 0ºC once most years even though it is at 23ºS; the 0ºC is probably due to elevation, as well (Alice Springs is above 500m).

A lowland desert climate at 23ºN or S probably hasn't seen -7ºC; Basra at 30ºN has a record low of -5ºC. Marble Bar at 21ºS is hot enough to be tropical though, and its record low is 1ºC. Ditto for Cabo san Lucas, also with 1ºC record low. The Sahara might be full of exceptions, however.

[Bisfbath]

Originally Posted by error-404

Canberra is a hybrid of oceanic and subtropical highland, given its moderate elevation (600m). Sydney, somewhat NE of Canberra, is a true subtropical climate, Cfa with mean 19ºC, but oceanic influences bring its summer temperatures down to 24ºC on average.

Continental subtropical climates like SE US or China can see summer temperatures approaching or even exceeding 30ºC on average (Shanghai: 29ºC, Jacksonville: 28ºC)


Bloemfontein's record low is absolutely pathetic, a mere -10ºC - even Alice Springs, a tropical desert climate, has a record low of -7ºC. I imagine that temperature inversions in valleys in Lesotho could bring records below -20ºC, however, with the larger elevation range.

I think -10ºC is pretty cold for a mainly mild-hot weather country. Bloemfontein isn't nearly the coldest place in South Africa but it is the coldest city by average winter low. The South African Weather Service gives the lowest recorded temperature in South Africa (not including subantarctic islands) as -20.1 ºC at Buffelsfontein near Molteno on 23 August 2013.

Bloemfontein has a Cwa/Bsk marginal climate with dry winters, so I expect most of the cold can be accounted for by clear skies in winter and altitude rather than cold weather coming up from Antarctica, which is why it tends to have rather warm winter days.

[error-404]

Thabana Ntlenyana, the highest point in South Africa, seems to see -20ºC at least once a year in winter, and average below 0ºC. It is at 29ºS, while Kościuszko is at 36ºS.