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I was involoved in an intersting debate that had me really thinking about climate classification/opinion. Not so much in the climate classification (Koppen...etc) sense of the word …but people’s opinion/perception.
Here is a map of annual mean temperatures.
Most people who live on the USA mainland would expect that the southern half of Florida has the warmest climate in the USA. This is proven by anyway one chooses to examine the data (average annual mean temperature, mean monthly temperatures, mean minimum winter temperatures, mean maximum winter temperatures…etc, etc).
However, when one compares subtropical coastal southern California to the subtropical coastal Gulf/ south Atlantic …it becomes more confusing:
While the Gulf/ South Atlantic coastal regions have warmer annual mean temperatures and more hot months… cities like Los Angeles and San Diego have higher winter minimum temperatures (Dec – Feb) by a few degrees…and less extreme lows (in number and record). Los Angeles and San Diego have only a few nights a year that fall in the upper 30’s…while on 5 to 10 nights a year the temp in New Orleans or Jacksonville falls to below 32 F/0 C (not frost free). New Orleans has had the temp fall into the 20's for a few hours once in a while. Yet, the Gulf/south Atlantic is technically the warmer climate.
So the question is which would you consider the “warmer climate” (without going into flora/fauna debates)?
Most of Zone 1 should have similar number of lows below 40 F compared with coastal California,
plus you map shows annual means,
and annual means have nothing to do with how severe a winter is, specifically.
England would be on the border of Zone 3 - Zone 4. Buxton Derbyshire weel into Zone 4 and places on the south coast, south central and east such as London into Zone 3.
Most of Zone 1 should have similar number of lows below 40 F compared with coastal California,
plus you map shows annual means,
and annual means have nothing to do with how severe a winter is, specifically.
That's pretty much my take on it as well.
If you compare Los Angeles, CA and say New Orleans, LA...New Orleans is really the warmer climate. Places in the upper red zone (1) like New Orleans, while they have more cold hours on a handfull of nights...and lower annual minimums...still have the warmer climate overall. I wanted to steer clear of the flora/fauna because it gets confusing: They can grow oranges outside of New Orleans in general...yet there are no allagators in southern Califorina (lol).
I think most Americans fail to realize that the Gulf/south Atlantic...outside of Florida...is the warmest region of the USA.
If you compare Los Angeles, CA and say New Orleans, LA...New Orleans is really the warmer climate. Places in the upper red zone (1) like New Orleans, while they have more cold hours on a handfull of nights...and lower annual minimums...still have the warmer climate overall. I wanted to steer clear of the flora/fauna because it gets confusing: They can grow oranges outside of New Orleans in general...yet there are no allagators in southern Califorina (lol).
I think most Americans fail to realize that the Gulf/south Atlantic...outside of Florida...is the warmest region of the USA.
I agree... on average it is the warmest region of the continental USA outside of Florida but because of occasional cold snaps which southern California doesn't get, you can grow more types of subtropical vegetation there than in the Gulf area (i.e. more species of palm trees will grow long term in Southern California than in the Gulf coast area of the South outside of Florida). Also, most citrus won't survive long term outside of much of Florida, a good chunk of California, parts of Southern Arizona and South Texas in the continental US because of these cold snaps which come around about every 10 years or so and decimate the citrus crops. Even in central Florida, cold snaps can kill the citrus groves once in a great while.
Ultimately its the Gulf/South Atlantic. Compare Galveston to San Diego or LA...Galveston is MUCH warmer...besides parts of S.tex and S. Fla....nothing is warmer as far as hardiness goes....with a jan low of 51F...it signifigantely beats LA by 2-3F...the Gulf is the warmest body of water in the US...although LA has few nights of temps in the upper 30's...the temp rarely exceeds 65F where s. fla can easilt exceed 70 and even 75F..and if you include the keys then 80F..so while s cal rarely has temps in the 30's..it rarely exceeds 65F..which makes it cooler than the gulf/s atlantic regions.
Zone 1 in Arizona is usually a consistent coolness followed by consistent hot, BUT it's a dry heat.
Zone 1 in South Texas and Florida have to depend on the cold fronts that blow through sometimes, plus, Zone 1 in Texas usually will get very humid and hot due to the Gulf or mountains in the west in Mexico. Florida while consistently warmer for longer doesn't get as hot due to the effects of the waters around it.
It's funny because down here in South Texas where Zone 1 ends on the top is usually where cold fronts "die" and never reach here.
So Zone 1 in South Texas is the worst! Hot and humid!
Followed by Zone 1 in South Florida, consistently warmer.
Then Zone 1 by Arizona, the hottest, but cooler longer, and it's a dry heat.
By how long the winter is:
South Florida(Miami, Naples)
South Central Florida(Sarasota,Melbourne)
Lower Rio Grande Valley(Brownsville, South Padre Island)
Central Florida(Tampa, Orlando)
South Texas(Laredo, Corpus Christi)
Low Desert Arizona(Phoenix, Tuscon)
North Florida-South Central Texas(Houston, Jacksonville)
By how hot the winter is:
Lower Rio Grande Valley
South Florida
South Texas
South Central Florida
Central Florida
North Florida/South Central Texas
Low Desert Arizona
By how hot the summer is:
Low Desert Arizona
Lower Rio Grande Valley
South Texas
North Florida/South Central Texas
Central Florida
South Central Florida
South Florida
Longest growing season:
South Florida
South Central Florida
Lower Rio Grande Valley & Central Florida
South Texas
Low Desert Arizona
South Central Texas/North Florida
Last edited by Zone13; 07-04-2010 at 10:23 AM..
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