US CLIMATE

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US CLIMATE

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 US Climate
The two major points in understanding the US
climate are:

1) Prevailing Winds

2) Precipitation

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds

The Prevailing (dominant) Winds of any place on

Earth are determined mainly by latitude.
(Northern and Southern Hemispheres)
1) 0° (Equator) to 30° The Trade Winds (East to
West)
2) 30°-60° Westerlies (West to East)

3) 60°-90° (Pole) Polar Easterlies

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US Climate: Prevailing Winds

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US Climate: Prevailing Winds

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
So… to understand what prevailing winds control
US climate, you need to the latitudes for the US…
Here’s a map of the US…

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US Climate: Prevailing Winds

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
The US is much further south than Europe. The
border with Canada is at 49° from MN to the
Pacific.
Here’s a comparison of North America and
Europe, with European cities placed on the
corresponding North American latitude.
My home town is on the latitude of Casablanca
and Cairo (but facing the ocean… so the climate is
not a desert, but very wet!)

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US Climate: Prevailing Winds

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
There are TWO prevailing winds at work.
The Westerlies dominate the US…in theory, but
the Trade Winds bring warm tropical air into
Florida and the Gulf of Mexico from the East.
That humid warm air moves up the East Coast all
year, pushed by meeting land and reinforced by
the Gulf Stream, which as its name says goes from
the Gulf of Mexico along the East Coast of the US.

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
Seasonal variations: Winter and summer
The Westerlies go further south in the winter. In CA,
there’s more rain in Southern CA, with problems that
brings to a Mediterranean climate.
For the he cool air from the Pacific becomes drier and
colder, very COLD, as they cover the continent, from
Canada to the Atlantic Coast and even to the Gulf Coast.
When this very cold dry air hits the humid air, snow falls.
It can be regular (on the southern Great Lakes) or violent
when the weather becomes a cycolne on the Northeast
coast (a Nor’easter… a blizzard with very strong winds)

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
Seasonal variations: Winter and summer
The Trade Winds go further north in the summer.
It’s the rainiest season on the East Coast. The
weather as far north as NY is hot and humid.
The tropical Gulf air moves northward to cover
the central part of the continent progessively from
February (the South) to July when it arrives in the
Northern Great Plains (even the plains parts of
MT, ND, SD).

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 US Climate: Prevailing Winds
Seasonal variations: Winter and summer
Obviously, between January and late summer, the
shock between these two masses of air (very cold
dry and very warm/hot humid) will be violent. It
causes thunderstorms, even tornados, from the
South in January/February (in LA, MS, AL, TX,
AR, TN, KY… and others… it varies from year to
year). This squall line moves north as the season
progresses. The risk of storms covers the entire
US east of the Rockies.

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 US Climate: Precipitation
Rain comes off the oceans, pushed by the winds.

If you were a rain drop, you would have two

enemies that could make you fall from the sky…

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 US Climate: Precipitation
1) An obstacle, like a person, a building and
especially and mainly mountains

(all year)

no real obstacle
(in winter) from mountains

a wall of
mountains
stops rain

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 US Climate: Precipitation
2) Distance traveled… the further away from the
ocean you come from, the fewer raindrops remain
& the dryer the land.
(all year)
SEMI ARID
East Coast: humid
Little moisture all year. Wettest in
from Pacific (mtns)
FL & Gulf Coast.
(in winter) or Gulf (distance)
Most rain in
All of the eastern
US gets sufficient summer
Rain from the
DESERT Atlantic. The Appala-
chians don’t block it.
Pacific Coast Rain blocked
from Pacific, far
Wettest in from Gulf
North (all
year)
Rains in CA
in winter 17
US Climate: Precipitation

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US Climate: Climate Regoins

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 US Climate:
And compared to Europe?
The temperatures along the Pacific Coast are
similar to Western Europe, mild and maritime
north of San Francisco and, Mediterranean south
of San Francisco.
The rest of the country is more comparable to the
OTHER side of the Eurasian continent (central
and Pacific Ocean areas, like Russia, Kazakhstan,
Japan, China, …). There are similarities in climate
at the same latitude, when you take into account
relevant factors (winds, oceans, mountains and
many others).
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 US Climate:
And compared to Europe?
Map of US climate compared to world cities (mainly Eurasia, but check out
Valdivia… I want to go there now, after seeing it on this map!)

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 US Climate:
And compared to Europe?
How cold does it get in winter?
Plant Hardiness is a worldwide indicator that is
important to farmers and gardeners.
It is the coldest temperature it gets in winter… the
coldest night of the year. (Plants die on that coldest
night, and it tells you how cold in general an area gets.)
Scientists have been measuring it over decades and
decades, and they make an average of the coldest
nights of many years.
For us it gives an indicator of US and other climates
across the globe, on how cold it gets. It doesn’t mean
the climates are
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US Climate: Compared to Europe:
Hardiness Zones

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US Climate: Compared to Europe:
Hardiness Zones

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US Climate: Compared to the World:
Hardiness Zones

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Hardiness Zones compared to World
Climate Zones

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US Hardiness Zones Warn is about global
warming

The lowest winter

temperature is rising,
because world
temperatures are
rising.

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