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The Pacific Northwest is NOT in the subtropics which range from 20 degrees to 40 degrees (or from the tropic of cancer northward to 40 degrees). It does not have a subtropical climate based on any scheme.
At sea level, the Pac NW does have one characteristic of a humid subtropical climate: its average Jan temperature is above freezing, and far above the -3C range set by the Koppen scheme. However, it does not have any other characteristic of the humid subtropical climate characteristic of the southeastern United States.
The Pacific NW does have some characteristics of a Mediterranean climate, namely relatively dry summers in most years. A true Oceanic or Marine climate (such as that of the British Isles) tend to have year round moisture. One might say that cities like Seattle and Portland have an Oceanic or Marine climate with some Mediterranean characteristics.
A Mediterranean climate is defined as an area that has mild wet winters & dry summers. The definition refers more to rain patterns than temperatures. Western Oregon & Washington have that type of rain pattern. The PNW is often referred to as "cool Mediterranean". The farther north one travels from the Oregon/California border the shorter the summers become. And they are described as being "Marine West Coast" climates. With the exceptions of Port Townsend & Sequim & Whidbey Island.
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.
To be fair, on this board people act like NYC is a very cold city with a weather similar to Chicago. The only similarity in weather between the two cities is during the summer months, when both are in the 80s and 90s, with NYC being more humid. The winters in NYC are much more mild, like 10 degrees warmer on average than in Chicago. Some of the lows Chicago ruotinely gets would be once-in-a-hundred-year events in NYC. Its true though that NYC gets lake effect snow once or twice a year and it does look pretty dramatic when you look at the pics.
To be fair, on this board people act like NYC is a very cold city with a weather similar to Chicago. The only similarity in weather between the two cities is during the summer months, when both are in the 80s and 90s, with NYC being more humid. The winters in NYC are much more mild, like 10 degrees warmer on average than in Chicago. Some of the lows Chicago ruotinely gets would be once-in-a-hundred-year events in NYC. Its true though that NYC gets lake effect snow once or twice a year and it does look pretty dramatic when you look at the pics.
Yes, but Chicago being colder than New York City, does not make New York City a sub-tropical climate of the likes of cities in the Caribbean or India. People from Chicago do not vacation in New York City to escape the cold continental climate of the Midwest.
I fully agree that many people portray New York City as very cold, but many people who do come from climates where winter temperature rarely stray below 50F much less freezing temperatures.
To be fair, on this board people act like NYC is a very cold city with a weather similar to Chicago. The only similarity in weather between the two cities is during the summer months, when both are in the 80s and 90s, with NYC being more humid. The winters in NYC are much more mild, like 10 degrees warmer on average than in Chicago. Some of the lows Chicago ruotinely gets would be once-in-a-hundred-year events in NYC. Its true though that NYC gets lake effect snow once or twice a year and it does look pretty dramatic when you look at the pics.
To be fair, the weather in New York City is closer to Chicago then it is to say Charleston, South Carolina. Claiming New York City is in the same climate region as the Carolinas is ridiculous to me.
This post is top of Google search results for a topic we're doing a report on, and I thought I'd at least give a little clarification. Western Washington is temperate. The tropics and subtropics are a region of the earth, not a climate. The sub tropics are a buffer region after the Tropic of Cancer (23.27 degrees).
However the talk about sub tropics in WA are due to changing climates. WA no longer has mild summers, but often extreme summers pushing 90 and 100 degrees, and in places over 120 degrees. This doesn't just translate to a generally hotter state though. Because of the convergence zones, etc we have also been seeing more dramatic winters with yearly snowfall in lowlands in western Washington where it was a rare treat 20 years ago.
This won't change the regions of our globe though and WA will never been in the tropics or sub tropics unless the whole planet tilts.
This post is top of Google search results for a topic we're doing a report on, and I thought I'd at least give a little clarification. Western Washington is temperate. The tropics and subtropics are a region of the earth, not a climate. The sub tropics are a buffer region after the Tropic of Cancer (23.27 degrees).
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No it’s not subtropical at all and pretty much the furthest thing from it.
Pretty much the entire PNW is above 45 degrees latitude north. Plus unlike the Atlantic and Gulf Coast the Pacific and Gulf of Alaska is pretty cold year around.
Temperate rainforests don’t exist in subtropical places. The largest temperate rainforests are in Washington and Alaska and get significant snowfall.
The term Pacific Northwest pretty much stretches from Oregon all the way into Southeast Alaska. That entire region is mostly “Maritime climate” with many different climate zones in between including Arctic, temperate, and even high desert.
The Cascades and Coastal ranges which makes up a large portion of the region has snow on the ground 12 months out of the year in many places. The largest area of Tundra in the lower 48 is in Washington State. East of the Cascades is more of a continental climate. The higher elevations above 3,000 feet in the PNW is also one of the snowiest places in the world. Officially many locations have recorded over 1,000+ inches of snow in a season. Unofficially 1500 inch snowfalls have been observed in the Olympic range and Coastal ranges of BC and Washington.
Even despite a few recent extreme heat events in British Columbia and Washington the summers are still pretty tame and mild compared to most of the United States and Canada. You won’t find a place with cooler summers that are populated.
The infamous June 2021 Heat dome over western Canada was considered a once in a 1000 year event. To say otherwise is an exaggeration. Even though summers have slightly warmed.
Last edited by Thealpinist; Today at 10:51 AM..
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