Which city is more prone to cold snaps in winter relative to their averages Miami or Vancouver?

[Dean York]

Originally Posted by Sickandtiredofthis

That's pathetic.

Northern Ireland has never seen 90F, let alone week after week of it. Pathetic.

[Mhc1985]

Weather can't be pathetic.

People can.

[BMI]

I'm going with Miami on this one.

Miami is in the east....do I have to say more

Vancouver in winter is rock steady to most places east of the rockies.

Couple times per winter they seem to get an "arctic outflow"
that give Vancouver a few days where it struggles to reach 0C and they get some snow
and people go nuts

Like Tom77Falcons mentioned....you have keep your fingers crossed
when you book a winter vacation in Florida...even south Florida.
It's no Jamaica or Barbados, lol.

That's part of the reason why the islands (in true tropics) are still popular
for winter fun in the sun.

Florida in winter is better golfing, not really going to the beach.
Locals generally don't swim in the ocean in winter, heated pools maybe.

[ABrandNewWorld]

Originally Posted by BMI

I'm going with Miami on this one.

Miami is in the east....do I have to say more

Vancouver in winter is rock steady to most places east of the rockies.

Couple times per winter they seem to get an "arctic outflow"
that give Vancouver a few days where it struggles to reach 0C and they get some snow
and people go nuts

Like Tom77Falcons mentioned....you have keep your fingers crossed
when you book a winter vacation in Florida...even south Florida.
It's no Jamaica or Barbados, lol.

That's part of the reason why the islands (in true tropics) are still popular
for winter fun in the sun.

Florida in winter is better golfing, not really going to the beach.
Locals generally don't swim in the ocean in winter, heated pools maybe.

A Florida cold snap lasts a couple of days and then rebounds to normal so if someone from a cold climate was there for a week, they'd likely get at least some beach weather. Most days Miami in mid-winter are between 72 and 80 F in the middle of the afternoon with bright sun and dewpoints in the 55-65 F and SST are around 70 F.

Similar to a coastal Southern California summer (minus the AM marine layer) and PLENTY of people at the beach in Santa Monica on a 75 F summer day with a SST that's even cooler (typically 66 F in July).

[nei]

Miami's winter max and min distribution. Isn't symmetric. Most days cluster about the same value, and there's a cold tail of rarer but much colder than average temperatures.





Haven't done Vancouver, but Portland Oregon doesn't show the same tail.

Spoiler

[ABrandNewWorld]

Originally Posted by nei

Miami's winter max and min distribution. Isn't symmetric. Most days cluster about the same value, and there's a cold tail of rarer but much colder than average temperatures.

Haven't done Vancouver, but Portland Oregon doesn't show the same tail.

Coastal SoCal winters will show the reverse pattern: not much standard deviation below normal but a large tail for above normal.

[Ethereal]

The deviation would be stronger in Miami due to the continental and "arctic" influence from the interior mainland.