Northern Hemisphere vs. Southern Hemisphere climates (hottest, warm, recorded, warming)

[deneb78]

Hey all,
Would you prefer to live in a city in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern hemisphere if given a choice?
For me, the Southern Hemisphere climates (outside of Antarctica and associated islands) are far superior. It lacks continental climates and thus dramatic temperature swings often associated with cities like Chicago, Beijing, Toronto and Seoul. Both the hottest and coldest inhabited places in the world are in the Northern Hemisphere (Libya, Siberia). Also, the southern hemisphere generally features much less pollution and cleaner air than the northern hemisphere due to less population density.


I just did some checking and the coldest temperature ever recorded for ANY city in the southern hemisphere is only 5F which is in Punta Arenas, Chile (53S) which is practically in the Antarctic. Virtually any continental climate will have a colder record low temperature.
Sure, summers in some southern hemisphere locations can be somewhat lacking but at least they don't have the extreme cold to contend with....which is important for me.

[Candle]

I would prefer to live in a place with a northern hemisphere climate.

That said, if I had to live in the southern hemisphere I would choose the following:

Canberra
Queenstown
Grytviken
Durban
McMurdo

Grytviken is the best I could find for South America and the vicinity. Chile is too dry and too wet/mild. Argentina is way too dry. The rest of the continent's weather is too hot/boring.

[ChesterNZ]

Originally Posted by deneb78

I just did some checking and the coldest temperature ever recorded for ANY city in the southern hemisphere is only 5F which is in Punta Arenas, Chile (53S) which is practically in the Antarctic.

-7 F has been recorded here in New Zealand and probably even lower temperatures have been recorded elsewhere. That wasn't in a city though.

The sun is closer to land in the southern hemisphere than to land in the northern hemisphere during the respective summers and further away in the respective winter periods. This means you generally get higher UV levels during summer in the SH than in the NH (at the same latitude and elevation), which means you burn a lot easier here. Also, winter sunshine is a little less intense, so doesn't have quite the same warming effect.

But the SH does generally have much less seasonal variation (even in coastal areas in many cases) simply because of the much lower land density. I personally prefer this, but I can see how it could be annoying to those who prefer four distinct seasons. Nowhere in the SH (to my knowledge) offers the same seasonality you get in the NH.

[ChesterNZ]

Originally Posted by Candle

Grytviken
McMurdo

Grytviken? McMurdo Station? Those places have among the most miserable climates on earth! And Grytviken is also one of the world's cloudiest places with only around 700 sunshine hours per year.

[§AB]

Sounds like Melbourne is a suburb of Grytviken.

[Derek40]

There are no continental climates in the Southern Hemisphere due to the lack of any appreciable land mass below 40 degrees latitude.
Even South America tapers rapidly here.
The climate is dominated by the Roaring 40's and Furious 50's, a constant westerly air flow that keeps the climate constantly cool maritime, but none of the extremes seen in the Northern Hemisphere.
The lack of extreme cold is not a bad thing, however extreme heat is seen in continental and western Australia, in fact Marble Bar WA is one of the hottest places on Earth.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by ChesterNZ

-7 F has been recorded here in New Zealand and probably even lower temperatures have been recorded elsewhere. That wasn't in a city though.

The sun is closer to land in the southern hemisphere than to land in the northern hemisphere during the respective summers and further away in the respective winter periods. This means you generally get higher UV levels during summer in the SH than in the NH (at the same latitude and elevation), which means you burn a lot easier here. Also, winter sunshine is a little less intense, so doesn't have quite the same warming effect.

But the SH does generally have much less seasonal variation (even in coastal areas in many cases) simply because of the much lower land density. I personally prefer this, but I can see how it could be annoying to those who prefer four distinct seasons. Nowhere in the SH (to my knowledge) offers the same seasonality you get in the NH.

The lowest temperature recorded in NZ is -21.6C (-6.9F) at Ophir in Central Otago. No NZ city has ever recorded anywhere near as low as 0F, or even near 10F (there is a record of a 14.4F low at Hamilton).

[ChesterNZ]

Originally Posted by RWood

No NZ city has ever recorded anywhere near as low as 0F, or even near 10F

That's just a consequence of the fact that all NZ cities are on the coast. If you live inland (or even inland hill suburbs of some cities) you can get close to the 10 F mark on rare occasions.

But very few inhabited places in NZ experience temperatures lower than -5 C in an average year (or higher than 35 C). The monotony of such a climate is hard for inhabitants of continental climates to comprehend.

[ADGreen]

I think I could find parts of both hemispheres that offer climates suitable to what I prefer. But if it came down to a simple decision, I would opt for Southern Hemisphere climates as (generally speaking) our winters are not as harsh and the variations are less.

Geographically, most of Australia does not really experience anything like most Northern Hemisphere winters

[§AB]

Originally Posted by Derek40

There are no continental climates in the Southern Hemisphere due to the lack of any appreciable land mass below 40 degrees latitude.
Even South America tapers rapidly here.
The climate is dominated by the Roaring 40's and Furious 50's, a constant westerly air flow that keeps the climate constantly cool maritime, but none of the extremes seen in the Northern Hemisphere.
The lack of extreme cold is not a bad thing, however extreme heat is seen in continental and western Australia, in fact Marble Bar WA is one of the hottest places on Earth.

Extreme heat can be seen anywhere in Australia, not just Perf and WA.