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I’m more impressed by the Trewartha system than the Koppen system simply because the climate designations in the former are a better match with potential vegetation. For example, I lived in Seattle for awhile which Koppen also classes as Mediterranean based solely on 2 relatively dry months in the summer. However, those months are mostly warm rather than hot and the environment has gotten quite a bit of moisture the rest of the year. The drought stress on plants is not enough to foster more Mediterannean types of vegetation that must adapt to a substantially longer summer dry season and a shorter and drier wet season.
The only reason those 2 months get below the Koppen threshold at all is that Seattle has some rain shadow effect from the Olympics. In central Whidbey Island in the Puget sound, the rain shadow is more pronounced (around 20 inches of average precipitation per year) but the vegetation is basically the same as near Seattle. If Whidbey Island (or Victoria with a similar rain shadow effect) were truly Mediterranean, you could expect the vergetation to shift to broadleaved, sclerophyllous trees adapted to long, dry summers and cooler, moderately wet winters.
Vegetation is not an exact match for climate but given the extent of the large coniferous forests that extend from far northwestern California to southeast Alaska,you can make the case that most of that belt has a similar temperate oceanic climate rather than having patches of Mediterranean climate in the dryer areas.
Favorite Mediteranean cities I’ve been to: San Diego, Adelaide, Seville.
Pacific Madrone (Arbutus Menziesii) is a native broadleaf evergreen that you can find all over in Seattle, Victoria and even certain areas of Metro Vancouver. There are plenty of other broadleaf evergreens that grow in the PNW even ones adapted to warmer climates like Southern Magnolia.
Native vegetation doesn't always correspond with what you might expect from a place. There are many areas with true subtropical climates like in parts of the Southeast US which have native coniferous forests.
I’m more impressed by the Trewartha system than the Koppen system simply because the climate designations in the former are a better match with potential vegetation. For example, I lived in Seattle for awhile which Koppen also classes as Mediterranean based solely on 2 relatively dry months in the summer. However, those months are mostly warm rather than hot and the environment has gotten quite a bit of moisture the rest of the year. The drought stress on plants is not enough to foster more Mediterannean types of vegetation that must adapt to a substantially longer summer dry season and a shorter and drier wet season.
The only reason those 2 months get below the Koppen threshold at all is that Seattle has some rain shadow effect from the Olympics. In central Whidbey Island in the Puget sound, the rain shadow is more pronounced (around 20 inches of average precipitation per year) but the vegetation is basically the same as near Seattle. If Whidbey Island (or Victoria with a similar rain shadow effect) were truly Mediterranean, you could expect the vergetation to shift to broadleaved, sclerophyllous trees adapted to long, dry summers and cooler, moderately wet winters.
Vegetation is not an exact match for climate but given the extent of the large coniferous forests that extend from far northwestern California to southeast Alaska,you can make the case that most of that belt has a similar temperate oceanic climate rather than having patches of Mediterranean climate in the dryer areas.
Favorite Mediteranean cities I’ve been to: San Diego, Adelaide, Seville.
you are forgetting the distinction between warm summer (Csb) and hot summer (Csa) Mediterranean climates. It would be like claiming that oceanic (Cfb) and subtropical (Cfa) are the same climate.
There are only a few places that have Csb climates, but they have a similar look.
Also I think Trewartha does a pretty bad job, it doesn't differentiate between hot, warm and cool climates. It considers the hot deserts of the SW and the cold deserts of the intermountain west to be the same, it doesn't distinguish between the mild "oceanic" climates of the west and the more continental "oceanic" climates of the east. And it does a bad job distinguishing between rainfall patterns so Mediterranean climates usually end up as either desert, semi arid or subtropical.
Parts of the Eastern Andes range around the Candelaria desert in Colombia have a Mediterranean climate as stated by Koppen and other meteorological organisations.
No cities, but lovely towns like Villa de Leyva and Raquira. Also the valleys intersecting Bucaramanga and Pamplona.
Mediterranean climates aren't classified as a group of climates that feel the same - someone from Te Aviv, might not feel that Rome is a familiar climate. But they do share a sharply defined warm season/cool season rainfall ratio, and have winters with averages between 0 C and 18 C -the same applies to Vancouver.
The same applies to other climates in the C group -they're not groupings of climates that feel the same, but are climates which share the same influencing factors, defined within very broad numerical parameters.
There is a huge difference in climate btw Vancouver, Tel Aviv and Rome. Cowichan Valley comes close.
Have you guys ever lived in Vancouver? It's cold and rainy compared to any true mediterranean city
I’m more impressed by the Trewartha system than the Koppen system simply because the climate designations in the former are a better match with potential vegetation. For example, I lived in Seattle for awhile which Koppen also classes as Mediterranean based solely on 2 relatively dry months in the summer. However, those months are mostly warm rather than hot and the environment has gotten quite a bit of moisture the rest of the year. The drought stress on plants is not enough to foster more Mediterannean types of vegetation that must adapt to a substantially longer summer dry season and a shorter and drier wet season.
The only reason those 2 months get below the Koppen threshold at all is that Seattle has some rain shadow effect from the Olympics. In central Whidbey Island in the Puget sound, the rain shadow is more pronounced (around 20 inches of average precipitation per year) but the vegetation is basically the same as near Seattle. If Whidbey Island (or Victoria with a similar rain shadow effect) were truly Mediterranean, you could expect the vergetation to shift to broadleaved, sclerophyllous trees adapted to long, dry summers and cooler, moderately wet winters.
Vegetation is not an exact match for climate but given the extent of the large coniferous forests that extend from far northwestern California to southeast Alaska,you can make the case that most of that belt has a similar temperate oceanic climate rather than having patches of Mediterranean climate in the dryer areas.
Favorite Mediteranean cities I’ve been to: San Diego, Adelaide, Seville.
Victoria, BC does have native broadleaf evergreen trees.....Arbutus.
There is a huge difference in climate btw Vancouver, Tel Aviv and Rome. Cowichan Valley comes close.
Have you guys ever lived in Vancouver? It's cold and rainy compared to any true mediterranean city
Climates classifications under Koppen aren't organised by how they feel, but on the influences that give their patterns over the year.
Much of coastal Norway wouldn't feel like the climate where I am , but I can recognise the the same basic pattern exists between the two.
I've visited Vancouver and Seattle, and the weather didn't feel like my climate either.
Santa Barbara would be my favorite...pleasant 365 days of the year.
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