Why is Brownsville, Texas so cloudy during winter?

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Asagi

Cold yes...but not -5C cold. GFS is also the model with the coldest forecast

That figure shows the unique "subtropical" climates of Texas. Where else on earth at these latitudes and elevations would see temps like that? No not China, China has colder averages but just look at a jet stream model. China is far more consistent than N. America. The jest stream just does not meander much over there but as soon as it crosses the Pacific all hell breaks loose.

[marlaver]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

That figure shows the unique "subtropical" climates of Texas. Where else on earth at these latitudes and elevations would see temps like that? No not China, China has colder averages but just look at a jet stream model. China is far more consistent than N. America. The jest stream just does not meander much over there but as soon as it crosses the Pacific all hell breaks loose.

It depends the way look at it though. For example, this was Wuhan, the analog of Austin, Texas, on February
2019: https://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynr...REV&enviar=Ver
and on January 2018: https://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynr...REV&enviar=Ver

As you can see, while in N. America the "peak" of the cold snaps are sharper (at least on average, I have the intuition that in absolute terms the things may be somewhat even), in the other hand central China can have large periods of sustained cold with very below normal temps, as shown in those tables. Average maxs for January and February in Wuhan are 8.1ºC and 10.7ºC, respectively.