Rate the Climate: Cape Hatteras (2020) (snow, hot, warmest, records)

[Can't think of username]

Found a premade weather box!

As much as it deserves a D- to live in, I give it an absolute A+ by my Southeast US weather monitoring criteria!
It meets literally all the criteria it has to, from minor to major:

-Long frost free season, minimum February 28/29 to December 1 and ideally at least February 20-23 to winter solstice.
2020 was February 23 to December 26 and even had a 'bonus' thrown in: the first frost of the 2019 timeframe didn't come until February 22 2020! Excellent compared to the usual of March 6-December 15 with no crossover monitoring.

-Above normal weather in general with warm records thrown in. There is an absolute SMORGASBOARD of that here.
2020 was the warmest year on record for Cape Hatteras with an annual mean 1.1C above usual, and every single major-monitoring month (October-April, esp. major in November-March) except December had warmer than usual average temperatures, with extremes also all being warmer than usual except October's monthly max (in fact November's 27C tied the all time record high for the month). Even my most minor category of summer heat monitoring was outdone: despite being known for its low summer standard deviation and moderate summer by Southeast US standards, that July only falls short of other Southeast US July averages in places like infamously hot I-35.

-Excellent performance for the latitude and averages. Averaging both out, Cape Hatteras' performance was the best in 2020 that I know of in all the Southeast US.

-Unusual (but not bad) discrepancies with other Southeast US places during above or below normal weather. In this case, the famous January 22 2020 cold front that was iguana-dropping for Miami (4C, coldest since 2010 and 1.8C below the usual seasonal low) but was quite lackluster for the Southeast north of South Florida: in Cape Hatteras' case the January 22 low was actually 5C, 1.8C warmer than Miami and 0.2C warmer than the average January low despite the strength of the cold front for Miami and the massive latitude decrease+temperature increase Miami has on Cape Hatteras.

-Precipitation swings (without bad consequences for the other criteria!) that go against an established pattern: in this case summer being a wet season and winter being a dry season as a whole. Most of winter was not dry, and while most of summer was wet, that 82mm of rain in July is a rather sharp dropoff from June, August, and September.

Like all of 2020's good Southeast US performances, it really is too bad that I did not monitor this firsthand. But hey, there's always the chance for any year to come along and blow 2020 away!

[memph]

A-. Hotter summer than I'd like, but great fall, winter and spring. Despite that, the summer heat never got too extreme, with an annual high of 34C.

In fact, Oakville TWN's heat island climate hit 34C+ several times on July 2020.
Jul 2: 35.0C
Jul 5: 35.0C
Jul 7: 34.5C
Jul 8: 36.0C
Jul 9: 35.0C
Jul 10: 35.5C
Jul 18: 35.0C
Jul 26: 35.0C
Jul 27: 34.0C

Other nearby stations like Pearson, Downtown Toronto and Hamilton RBG also had a lot of extreme heat that month.

The lack of cool nights in Cape Hatteras would be a definite downside though. But, not much drought, just a little dry in July (for how hot it was), but otherwise, lots of rain when it was needed (not needed in Jan).

I love the long 9 months frost free season. And the freezes that did occur were very light, not harmful to plants that are a bit hardier, and many plants grown in containers would've done fine if brought into the garage/sunroom for the few freezes that did occur.

[Can't think of username]

Originally Posted by memph

A-. Hotter summer than I'd like, but great fall, winter and spring.

I guess this helps answer my question a while back about what your ideal climate is. Sounds like for you a moderate Cfa would fill the bill.

Despite that, the summer heat never got too extreme, with an annual high of 34C.

In fact, Oakville TWN's heat island climate hit 34C+ several times on July 2020.
Jul 2: 35.0C
Jul 5: 35.0C
Jul 7: 34.5C
Jul 8: 36.0C
Jul 9: 35.0C
Jul 10: 35.5C
Jul 18: 35.0C
Jul 26: 35.0C
Jul 27: 34.0C

Other nearby stations like Pearson, Downtown Toronto and Hamilton RBG also had a lot of extreme heat that month.

I most definitely remember feeling that heat firsthand, if only I could have known at the time that we were besting Cape Hatteras. If you'd like some even more extreme examples of this:

1) Duluth also had an annual high of 34C in 2020, here's a premade box from the same source. Not only is this the air conditioned city, its July highs are barely warmer than Cape Hatteras' LOWS, on average LOL.


2) It's not 2020 of course, but there has been an example of that kind of thing just this year. This June - in both the spring part and the summer part - Minneapolis was hotter than Cape Hatteras for both average temperatures and monthly max despite averaging 4.4C colder: it was 29.7C/18C and max of 33C vs 26C/19.7C and max of 29C.
You'll probably hear and see more about it in January 2024: I intend to make a climate battle between the 2 when all the data is out with this as a major factor.

The lack of cool nights in Cape Hatteras would be a definite downside though.

Indeed: that is one of the very reasons I give it a D- for living in. 23C in July and 21C in August are at the mid-upper end of what I want the averages in those months to be and they are the coldest temperatures all month - very much a lack if I do say so myself!

I love the long 9 months frost free season. And the freezes that did occur were very light, not harmful to plants that are a bit hardier, and many plants grown in containers would've done fine if brought into the garage/sunroom for the few freezes that did occur.

Glad to hear I ain't the only one who enjoys it so much. Truth be told, you'd only have to bring those crops in on February 22-23 and December 26 with the rest a literal set it and forget it: those are the only frosts that year and with the comfortable-warm winter weather+summer heat they'd do great the other 363 days.

[wawa1992]

55.4% / E.

Winters far too warm, summers too hot, no snow, excessive seasonal lag.

Regular Cape Hatteras is a 69.3% / D+.

[Teegurr]

C-

Humidity/dewpoints are the main issue. The summer is way too steamy for me, but at least it doesn't last too too long such as in a place like Houston. The winter is very comfortable.