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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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This might apply more to temperatures, because the rainfall regime of the PNW differs alot from Western Europe. While Western Europe is wet year round, the PNW has a definitely summer dry season.
Melbourne is like San Jose or something in temps but the rainfall pattern is totally different. Melbourne has no wet/dry season.
Ive always thought NYC has a very similar temperature and Rainfall regime to Milan, Italy. As with most North American vs European cities, the american one is far sunnier, usually due to the typically dull winters in europe.
Northern Michigan has a similar climate to Kiev, Ukraine, also.
This might apply more to temperatures, because the rainfall regime of the PNW differs alot from Western Europe. While Western Europe is wet year round, the PNW has a definitely summer dry season.
Melbourne is like San Jose or something in temps but the rainfall pattern is totally different. Melbourne has no wet/dry season.
Yeah we call it a Marine West Coast climate here but, I would say a more accurate description would be a Mediterranean climate. You can check the weather forecasts from Vancouver, WA to Bakersfield, CA and you'll notice either all 10 days or 9 days it's sunny sunny sunny in the summer. During the winter, it's raining or cloudy almost daily for months. Sounds like a typical Mediterranean climate to me except in Oregon, southern Washington, and northern California it's wetter than SoCal, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
Yeah we call it a Marine West Coast climate here but, I would say a more accurate description would be a Mediterranean climate. You can check the weather forecasts from Vancouver, WA to Bakersfield, CA and you'll notice either all 10 days or 9 days it's sunny sunny sunny in the summer. During the winter, it's raining or cloudy almost daily for months. Sounds like a typical Mediterranean climate to me except in Oregon, southern Washington, and northern California it's wetter than SoCal, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
While it's true the Pacific Northwest (namely the coastal region north of San Francisco to west coast Canada (Vancouver)…has a summer dry season – it is far from a Mediterranean climate:
First, most true Mediterranean climates (think LA, Perth, Cape Town, Haifa, etc) have very little rainfall annually – normally less than 30 inches. Many like San Diego, Athens, or Santa Monica have less than 18 inches of rain annually. Next, except for periodic episodes in deep winter, subtropical high pressure dominates the Mediterranean climate 7 to 9 months a year – meaning clear, sunny, low humidity weather prevails.
The Temperate Oceanic zone (Do) has almost the complete opposite pattern. Beyond, the short time frame from July to early September (when the North pacific high moves to its most pole ward position), storm after storm rough seas, cloudy skies, and long periods of dripping weather seems to be quite common.
This is why modern climate classification has separated these two zones into Mediterranean climate (Cs) and temperate oceanic climates (Do).
While it's true the Pacific Northwest (namely the coastal region north of San Francisco to west coast Canada (Vancouver)…has a summer dry season – it is far from a Mediterranean climate:
First, most true Mediterranean climates (think LA, Perth, Cape Town, Haifa, etc) have very little rainfall annually – normally less than 30 inches. Many like San Diego, Athens, or Santa Monica have less than 18 inches of rain annually. Next, except for periodic episodes in deep winter, subtropical high pressure dominates the Mediterranean climate 7 to 9 months a year – meaning clear, sunny, low humidity weather prevails.
The Temperate Oceanic zone (Do) has almost the complete opposite pattern. Beyond, the short time frame from July to early September (when the North pacific high moves to its most pole ward position), storm after storm rough seas, cloudy skies, and long periods of dripping weather seems to be quite common.
This is why modern climate classification has separated these two zones into Mediterranean climate (Cs) and temperate oceanic climates (Do).
Ahhhh I see. True, Oregon does have more rain than what a Mediterranean climate normally has. Now I know for sure
Seville is located on the map with north of Sacramento and Fresno. The two cities have autumns, winters colder than Seville, fundamentally the months of November, December and January and the average annual temperature of Sacramento and Fresno is lower than that of Sevilla
Sevilla should be located closer to Bakersfield. Bakersfield has an average temperature of 18.5 º C and 18.2 º C Sevilla in a similar time period of approximately 1951-1990 ( Sevilla ) 1961-1990( Bakersfield )
Yeah we call it a Marine West Coast climate here but, I would say a more accurate description would be a Mediterranean climate. You can check the weather forecasts from Vancouver, WA to Bakersfield, CA and you'll notice either all 10 days or 9 days it's sunny sunny sunny in the summer. During the winter, it's raining or cloudy almost daily for months. Sounds like a typical Mediterranean climate to me except in Oregon, southern Washington, and northern California it's wetter than SoCal, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
There is a big difference between maritime climate and a Mediterranean climate. For starters Mediterranean climates are quite a bit warmer, and sunnier. Southern California is pretty much a dead on fit. Mediterranean climates almost never dip below freezing in the winter time, even at night. Furthermore the summers tend to be quite a bit warmer (average highs above 80). None of the PNW cities have an average summer month above 80 degrees, and are typically much wetter in the winter. Plus like wave hunter already pointed out. The northwest coast of North America is pretty much inundated with low pressure systems out of the Gulf of Alaska most of the winter into the early spring.
Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland all fit in the maritime climate of N. Western Europe perfectly (I.E. UK, Ireland, Northwest Coast of France, Denmark etc.) In fact its pretty much identical.
Last edited by skihikeclimb; 08-22-2011 at 08:51 PM..
Like others already said, they don't. They only fit temperature-wise. Rainfall is more evenly distributed in western Europe than it is in the PNW, the latter being also significantly sunnier. Even in winter, Seattle is sunnier than London or Paris.
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