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It appears to me that after looking at the maps, that China has slightly more. It extends a bit further south than the continental US and thus will have a bit more subtropical land area
Agree, easily China,
in the USA only Florida, south Texas, and a tiny bit of Louisiana are below 30N.
China may have a slight edge over the eastern/southern U.S., but what about the Mediterranean, arid, and semi-arid climates in the southwestern U.S.? It really depends on how one defines "subtropical".
China may have a slight edge over the eastern/southern U.S., but it doesn't have a Mediterranean west coast, or a subtropical desert southwest, unlike the U.S., so it depends.
I'm counting California and Arizona in as well, not just Cf. If most of China wasn't a highland climate, they'd win hands down but notice how far south China goes, and only the extreme south is tropical? They have some pretty cold winters in that country
It appears to me that after looking at the maps, that China has slightly more. It extends a bit further south than the continental US and thus will have a bit more subtropical land area
But Chinese winters are colder than their U.S. counterparts at similar latitudes, which means the subtropical zone begins further south in China, which levels out the playing field.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed
I'm counting California and Arizona in as well, not just Cf. If most of China wasn't a highland climate, they'd win hands down but notice how far south China goes, and only the extreme south is tropical? They have some pretty cold winters in that country
I agree, and if this was Cfa-only, it'd be very close. But the southwest tips the scale in the U.S.'s favor.
But Chinese winters are colder than their U.S. counterparts at similar latitudes, which means the subtropical zone begins further south in China, which levels out the playing field.
I agree that Chinese winters are colder than their American counterparts at the same latitude but I asked which one has a larger subtropical zone. IMO, the subtropics begin at Zone 9 and above and about 1/3 of Eastern and Central China falls under that category. Zone 9 and above comprises a much smaller portion of the US landmass, hence why I think China has a larger subtropical zone.
I would have to say China has a larger Subtropical zone according to Adi's Classification .
ADI'S CLASSIFICATION For the US: East of the Interstate 35, Anything between Cape May, NJ and Jacksonville, FL is subtropical. South of Jacksonville, FL is Tropical and North of Cape May, NJ is Continental.
For China: South of Xian and east of Chengdu is Subtropical
But Chinese winters are colder than their U.S. counterparts at similar latitudes, which means the subtropical zone begins further south in China, which levels out the playing field.
I agree, and if this was Cfa-only, it'd be very close. But the southwest tips the scale in the U.S.'s favor.
I don't agree with this entirely. Just look at zone 9 in China, and zone 9 in the US. In China, there is fairly large area of zone 9 above latitude 30N. They even have zone 10 north of 30N lat. Pretty much the entire zone 9 in the eastern US is 30N and below. In fact, around the FL peninsula you have zone 8 at sea level below 30N.
You cannot look at average temperatures for everything with subtropical zones. Yes Shanghai has colder average temps than many places at the same latitude in the eastern US, but the annual winter minimum is higher there cause it is zone 9 (low temps between 20F and 30F). Atlanta is not in that zone, nor is most of south Carolina, AL, MS, GA, and part of peninsular FL. All this is due to the huge winter standard deviation we have in the eastern US due to the very large dips the Jetstream takes in winter over the eastern US. Either mountains are blocking the cold air in China or they just don't get those dips in the Jetstream like we do. They have much more landmass that is cold to the north of them, so maybe a combination of both. They also don't have a huge north-south mountain chain thru the middle of the country that can result in those large dips in the Jetstream. In the 1980's, air straight from the north pole situated itself right over the US South and killed scores and scores of palm trees and other plants. It also destroyed thousands of citrus trees in Florida. When is the last time that happened in China?
I would have to say China has a larger Subtropical zone according to Adi's Classification .
ADI'S CLASSIFICATION For the US: East of the Interstate 35, Anything between Cape May, NJ and Jacksonville, FL is subtropical. South of Jacksonville, FL is Tropical and North of Cape May, NJ is Continental.
Seriously, Baltimore suburbs subtropical? St. Louis? Southern Indiana and Illinois? Kentucky? Sheesh.
I have always found it a mystery as to why China doesn't have the same huge standard deviation in temps during the winter as the Eastern US. The ingredients seem the same to me.. You have a huge pool of supremely cold air to the north with the Siberian anticyclone. Places like Verkhoyansk record the coldest temps on Earth outside Antarctica. To the south you have the relatively warm South China sea. While it isn't quite as warm as the Gulf of Mexico, it is a huge contrast to the Siberian anticyclone in winter. Yet, Southern Chinese cities don't get the huge swings of temp that you get relatively all winter long in the US South east of the Rockies. Why is that? Are it the Rockies themselves the reason as is suggested or is there more to it?
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