Your ideal climate?

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

I wouldn't change much about the climate here to be honest. I'd prefer more snow and proper cold in winter, more thunderstorms. A little more extreme weather in general to keep things interesting. But then the rarity of extreme weather in the UK makes it more special you could argue. I love the variability and unpredictablity of our climate. You never know what's coming beyond a few days. In many places you can make a confident bet on what the weather will be like in a few days without looking at any charts/forecasts and probably be correct. Good luck with that in the UK at anytime of year! Even when looking at the charts surprises lurk around the corner constantly.

 

But in the last 7 years the UK's weather has been more extreme.  Floods in '07 and '12, very cold winters - end of Dec 2009, Jan 2010, Dec 2010, the cold spring of 2013, very warm spring months (March 2012, April 2011), hot summer (July 2013) and hot spell in autumn (end of Sept/Oct '11).

 

This is continuing this very month of Sept 2013, with a hot start, then well below avg temps and looking like end of Sept is going to be quite a bit above average.

 

This forum is thriving as a result.  There are so many new weather fans like me who have appeared in the last couple of years, absolutely fascinated by what has happened and what is to come! 

 

Last year the record for the largest number of people viewing the model thread was broken, and I predict that will be beaten again this year if the "Beast from the East" materialises again later this year!

Edited September 18, 2013 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[cheese]

You have to remember that those are average temperatures. DC is right in the battleground area between the sub tropical air coming up Florida and the cold continental air from Canada. I suspect that a maritime influence also contributes to keeping average temperatures higher than more central areas at the same latitude.

 

For me that makes things all the more interesting - in February for example you could easily go from a pleasant 20C to a bone chilling -10C and being buried in snow within a matter of a couple of days. Our climate averages might not be that different for winter, but we have a much more homogenised version thanks to that pesky gulf stream 

Yeah, American climates have massive deviation in the winter months. Makes it very interesting, but it also means that getting snow for long periods isn't extremely likely. The most noticeable thing for a Brit in D.C in winter would be the colder nights.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/weather/1946651-rate-climate-mariehamn-land-islands.html

 

This one is amazingly good for an island location at 60 deg. North. Summers are incredibly warm and sunny considering it's in the middle of a cold sea- it doesn't seem to suffer marine stratomuck. Winters are cold enough to keep a snow and ice pack but seldom Arctic. Really shows up how rubbish the UK climate is when you compare Shetland at the same latitude. 

Yeah, the Baltic sea coasts/islands are sunnier than most of the UK. They are more sheltered from Atlantic dross. Compare Bergen, Norway to the Aland Isands - shocking. Bergen is a climatic disaster.

Edited September 19, 2013 by cheese

[Summer of 95]

Yeah, American climates have massive deviation in the winter months. Makes it very interesting, but it also means that getting snow for long periods isn't extremely likely. The most noticeable thing for a Brit in D.C in winter would be the colder nights.

Yeah, the Baltic sea coasts/islands are sunnier than most of the UK. They are more sheltered from Atlantic dross. Compare Bergen, Norway to the Aland Isands - shocking. Bergen is a climatic disaster.

The Lofotens are even worse- there are a couple of locations there that average above freezing every month, despite being north of the Arctic Circle! 

 

The Baltic seems to be helped by being almost freshwater and having no tides- it freezes and warms much more readily than other seas. Still mysterious how it avoids any equivalent of North Sea Muck though, Mariehamn' s sunshine from April to June in particular is astonishingly high compared to what we get in an easterly then.

[Mark Neal.]

My Ideal Climate would be  a chilly start to the year followed by snowy conditions into the February. March to bring some settled and milder conditions but with colder interludes with snow. April and May to be benign with lengthy settled conditions. June & July to see aa big fat high pressure over our shores with temperatures into late 20's and early 30c's. August to start off with warm and dry weather though thundery towards end of the month. September to be mixed, some misty and chilly mornings followed by some settled weather. October to see some Stormy low pressure systems to head our way and lasting into the first part of November. December to be cold and increasingly snowy as we bulit upto Christmas Day! 

[cheeky_monkey]

You have to remember that those are average temperatures. DC is right in the battleground area between the sub tropical air coming up Florida and the cold continental air from Canada. I suspect that a maritime influence also contributes to keeping average temperatures higher than more central areas at the same latitude.

 

For me that makes things all the more interesting - in February for example you could easily go from a pleasant 20C to a bone chilling -10C and being buried in snow within a matter of a couple of days. Our climate averages might not be that different for winter, but we have a much more homogenised version thanks to that pesky gulf stream 

Trouble with DC and many US cities east of the Rockies mountains is the high humidity in the summer..without AC living there would be unbearable during the summer months.

[Summer of 95]

Another horror here, looks like a year-round Shropshire summer with the temperature turned up 10 degrees :lol:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manta,_Ecuador

 

Very little rain most of the time , yet hardly any sunshine either and always humid. That June to December stretch is diabolical; cloudy, dry yet uncomfortably sultry for 6 months.

[March Blizzard]

Another horror here, looks like a year-round Shropshire summer with the temperature turned up 10 degrees :lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manta,_Ecuador

Very little rain most of the time , yet hardly any sunshine either and always humid. That June to December stretch is diabolical; cloudy, dry yet uncomfortably sultry for 6 months.

If that is accurate then that is a truly horrid climate!

[Gaz1985]

Another ideal climate for me would be the Northern Chile coast - somewhere like the city of Arica which averages only 0.76mm per year, so it basically doesn't really rain at all, and it is never cold either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arica#Climate

[chrcoluk]

my ideal is removing the extremes, so a warm winter followed by a cool summer.