Is the Pacific Northwest subtropical? (vacation, cities, island)

[Milleka]

[hdwell]

I believe the correct term for coastal Oregon and Washington is the Marine climate. It exists all the way from northern Cal to southern Alaska.

In Europe, the British Isles, much of France, the Netherlands, Belgium, western Germany and western Denmark and Norway (west coast) have this climate.

[ABQConvict]

According to Köppen, the inventor of the climate classification system that defines the term 'sub-tropical', even New York City is considered a subtropical climate (most years, not the ones it gets six feet of snow). The litmus is based on a 8/12 month average temperature of 10C (50F) or higher, and doesn't take into consideration other factors such as severity of winters or ecosystem/forest type, but it does define by yearly distribution patterns of rainfall.

There are alternate measures for assigning climates, but Köppen is the most used, it seems.

Under Köppen's system, Seattle, Portland, and Victoria, B.C. are classified 'Csb' which is 'dry-summer subtropical'.

Places like NYC and Atlanta are considered 'humid subtropical'.

All in all, I think that Köppen's climate classification is flawed. While it might be useful for statistical purposes, It is confusing to have a system where New York City; Tampa, Florida; Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Delhi, India are all supposedly sharing the same climate.

[FebruaryAir]

Milleka: I think that map is pretty good, but the Taiga shouldn't extend that far south imo, the Grasslands go as far north as Edmonton and Saskatoon.

[bryson662001]

Seriously?

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by FebruaryAir

Milleka: I think that map is pretty good, but the Taiga shouldn't extend that far south imo, the Grasslands go as far north as Edmonton and Saskatoon.

I didn't MAKE the map... just Googled it.

[Milleka]

This has been one of the strangest threads I think I've ever seen on this forum.

[ABQConvict]

I think this is a pretty normal thread. Unless discussing the criteria for climate classification is somehow strange.

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by Torresdale

I think it's considered a temperate climate. It does have rainforests though which most would tend to think are only in tropical zones.

It is temperate. North Idaho in the Northwest has the furthest temperate rain forest inland from an ocean.

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[TheWereRabbit]

Originally Posted by hdwell

I believe the correct term for coastal Oregon and Washington is the Marine climate. It exists all the way from northern Cal to southern Alaska.

In Europe, the British Isles, much of France, the Netherlands, Belgium, western Germany and western Denmark and Norway (west coast) have this climate.

yuppp

Marine climates exist pole-wards of Mediterranean climates (except in s. africa and australia where it is more west of the mediterranean areas).

Southern Chile, New Zealand, etc. The largest area of this climate is western Europe though, just north of the original Mediterranean climate. It almost always exists on west coasts and is therefore sometimes called "Marine West Coast'. On our west coast the dividing line between Mediterranean and Marine is somewhere in NorCal, although there is obviously some area that could be either.