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The South is a diverse meteorological region with numerous climatic zones, including temperate, sub-tropical, tropical and arid – though the South generally has a reputation as hot and humid, with long summers and short, mild winters. Most of the South – except for the areas of higher elevations and areas near the western, southern and some northern fringes – fall in the humid subtropical climate zone. Crops grow readily in the South due to its climate consistently providing growing seasons of at least six months before the first frost. Some common environments include bayous and swamplands, the southern pine forests, the warm temperate montane forest of the Appalachians, the savannas of the southern Great Plains, and the subtropical jungle and maritime forests along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Unique flora include various species of magnolia, rhododendron, cane, palm, and oak, among others. Fauna of the region is also diverse, encompassing a plethora of amphibian species, reptiles such as the green anole, the venomous cottonmouth snake, and the American alligator, mammals like the American black bear, the swamp rabbit and the nine-banded armadillo, and birds such as the roseate spoonbill and the extinct but symbolic carolina parakeet.
Since all debates on the matter scatter into some absurd debate of cherry-picked vegetation, and various people insisting that the eastern USA can't grow any warm climate plants, I though I'd try to settle this by asking about climate AND ecology: which region is most similar to the US?
If Sochi is a subtropical paradise, I'd love to learn about the native ecology of that region vs Atlanta or approximate areas of the US south.
I would say just East Asia and exclude Indochina. Mainly east-central China, southern Japan and southern South Korea. Places like Hefei, Shanghai, Wuhan, Busan, Nagoya. Inland southern China is an okay analogue too, but coastal southern China is basically like South Florida, maybe slightly cooler than South Florida for the average January temperature, but China's southern coast from Xiamen to Hainan has cold records of 0-3C. Off of mainland China, southern Hainan and southern Taiwan are very warm, basically like the Florida Keys. Okinawa and other southern Japanese islands are also like the Florida Keys.
I would say just East Asia and exclude Indochina. Mainly east-central China, southern Japan and southern South Korea. Places like Hefei, Shanghai, Wuhan, Busan, Nagoya. Inland southern China is an okay analogue too, but coastal southern China is basically like South Florida, maybe slightly cooler than South Florida for the average January temperature, but China's southern coast from Xiamen to Hainan has cold records of 0-3C. Off of mainland China, southern Hainan and southern Taiwan are very warm, basically like the Florida Keys. Okinawa and other southern Japanese islands are also like the Florida Keys.
…coastal southern China is not like South Florida. It’s subtropical and gets as cold, if not colder than Central and Northern Florida, Texas, and parts of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, which are climatically similar to North Vietnam and “Indochina”. The coconut palm can’t grow in places like Hong Kong or Macao like they can in South Florida. Xiamen has similar temperatures to Pensacola. It’s not that much different from a place like Brunswick, Georgia.
It’s hard finding places in China capable of the warmth South Texas can get in winter if you have to look outside of, like, Xishuangbanna, which is decidedly tropical.
…coastal southern China is not like South Florida. It’s subtropical and gets as cold, if not colder than Central and Northern Florida, Texas, and parts of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, which are climatically similar to North Vietnam and “Indochina”.
It always seems to be Canadians or others who live in high latitude places who make these erroneous comparisons when it comes the US southeast.
You have to get deep into Vietnam until you get a tropical climate like south Florida and this Canadian completely ignores that.
It always seems to be Canadians or others who live in high latitude places who make these erroneous comparisons when it comes the US southeast.
You have to get deep into Vietnam until you get a tropical climate like south Florida and this Canadian completely ignores that.
Yeah, you don’t get an official tropical climate until the southern half of Hainan Island and the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region, basically this tiny little portion of far southern Yunnan.
Oh sorry I wasn't aware that Bangkok was as far north as China, maybe I should take a look at the world map again as apparently I've misread it
The Canadian inferiority complex knows no bounds.
To me, saying the US South has a similar climate to East Asia and Indochina is like saying Coastal BC has a similar climate to the UK and France, rather than just saying it's like the UK. You're latching onto a region that is by and large a good bit warmer with little overlap. Less than 2% of the US South is as warm as the Red River region of Vietnam.
The majority of the southern US matches up best with Japan, with most of the rest of the US south resembling Fujian and Guangdong.
Coastal Fujian and Guangdong as a whole seem analogous to Florida, albeit with less sunshine, cooler winters and more intensely humid and rainy summers.
The Yangtze Basin (further north and further inland) seems analogous to the US Southern states directly north of the Gulf but south of Kentucky. Temperature wise, Houston is somewhere in between Shanghai and Guangzhou- with winters closer to the latter and summers a mashup between the two.
You can make an argument for tropical South Florida resembling the northernmost parts of Thailand (around Chiang Mai), even though the southernmost tip of Taiwan (around Kaohsiung) is a better fit.
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