Your ideal climate?

[March Blizzard]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarck,_North_Dakota‎

I would not mind the climate of that place. Long cold winters and hot summers. Im not too mad about summer heat but i do like a variable climate,i like the seasons to be seasonal and i would get that at that place.

 

I'm drawn to the northern and western United States, too. On paper the likes of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas seem to have a very pleasant climate; Cold, snowy winters, warm dry summers, plenty of sunshine, low humidity and comfortable nights throughout the warmer months.

 

 

And the worst:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing

 

Vile climate. Winters that would bore me to death, 10C and cloudy for months with hardly any frost or sunshine. Summers just oppressive, you couldn't enjoy the heat because of all the rain and uncomfortably warm nights. March, April and October have OK temperatures but for some reason next to no sun- at the latitude of Cairo.

 

You're right, that climate is horrendous! Surely pollution contributes to the low sunshine hours? I can't imagine somewhere in central China being on a par with the Shetland islands for sunshine "naturally".

Edited July 25, 2013 by March Blizzard

[cheese]

The worst climate for me is Dubai which is a very dry tropical climate, so lacks the routine evening deluges of Miami, and has highs frequently in excess of 40C in summer, with relatively high humidity. Closely followed by Muscat, Oman.

[hillbilly]

the mother of all wintersfollowed by a long hot summer

[March Blizzard]

The worst climate for me is Dubai which is a very dry tropical climate, so lacks the routine evening deluges of Miami, and has highs frequently in excess of 40C in summer, with relatively high humidity. Closely followed by Muscat, Oman.

 

 For me Kuwait City would probably be the worst, with the likes of Singapore not far behind. Oppressive heat and humidity nearly all year round would murder me!

[Lettucing Gutted]

You're right, that climate is horrendous! Surely pollution contributes to the low sunshine hours? I can't imagine somewhere in central China being on a par with the Shetland islands for sunshine "naturally".

In addition to pollution another key factor for the low sunshine hours in Chongqing is the Asian Monsoon System.  The cool and damp Northeast winter monsoon acts like a giant fog machine drawing cool air from the north over the even colder East China Sea leading to widespread dense fogs and thick Stratus cloud which is maintained over the cold ground too.  Also the hot and humid Southwest summer monsoon generates lots of thunderstorms which merge into big Mesoscale Convective Complexes with extensive stratiform canopies.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Craig Evans

[Bottesford]

Ideally I want somewhere with average maxes of around 25c in summer and just above freezing in winter.

I'd like most rainfall to concentrate into the winter months with summer being generally drier.

I'm happy with a cold winter season so long as it wasn't too long (couple of months will do then quick recovery to 10-15c). 

Daylight hours - as long as possible in summer (Iceland style!) but not dropping below 10 hours in winter. Now that's impossible of course...

[AderynCoch]

And the worst:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing

 

Vile climate. Winters that would bore me to death, 10C and cloudy for months with hardly any frost or sunshine. Summers just oppressive, you couldn't enjoy the heat because of all the rain and uncomfortably warm nights. March, April and October have OK temperatures but for some reason next to no sun- at the latitude of Cairo.

Chongqing's summers look a lot like Shanghai's. I've been to the latter in July and it really is like being in a sauna. It's so humid you can almost drink the air, and it stays hot at night (not just warm). I've been to the tropics of Australia in summer and it was nothing like as humid as Shanghai. Needless to say nothing in this country comes close.

 

That said, being the meteoromasochist that I am I enjoyed the experience of trudging round in air like bathwater, so for me Chongqing's climate isn't a complete write-off. I'll raise you Campbell Island, New Zealand - the following may not be suitable for those of a nervous disposition:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Island,_New_Zealand#Climate

[Summer of 95]

Chongqing's summers look a lot like Shanghai's. I've been to the latter in July and it really is like being in a sauna. It's so humid you can almost drink the air, and it stays hot at night (not just warm). I've been to the tropics of Australia in summer and it was nothing like as humid as Shanghai. Needless to say nothing in this country comes close.

 

That said, being the meteoromasochist that I am I enjoyed the experience of trudging round in air like bathwater, so for me Chongqing's climate isn't a complete write-off. I'll raise you Campbell Island, New Zealand - the following may not be suitable for those of a nervous disposition:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Island,_New_Zealand#Climate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai

 

A bit cooler and drier than Chongqing in summer (31C/160mm vs 33/175), and it has much sunnier winters with a chance of snow. There's also that nice looking interlude between the two monsoons in October, while Chongqing just plunges from monsoon humidity straight to dreary overcast.

 

Only penguins live on Campbell, 28 million people somehow have to endure Chongqing's sorry excuse for a climate. It just has no redeeming features at all to me.

[AderynCoch]

Shanghai also has slightly higher summer minima and humidity. When I was there it was hotter than normal with mainly mid-to-high 30s in the day and high 20s at night. One day had a max of 39C and a min of 31C. The hostel I was staying at had no air-conditioning on the upper floor (apart from the bedrooms, thank god), so when you went up the stairs it was like walking into a wall of fire. Getting out of the shower you would dry yourself off with the towel only to find yourself covered with sweat!

 

I'd like to do Chongqing in summer at least once. It's one huge, hectic sprawl and at night it looks like something from Blade Runner. But yes those winter stats are pretty grim, though Lima's winters give it some stiff competition with its four straight months of low cloud and drizzle, and that's a city only 12 degrees from the Equator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima#Climate.

 

If you had to choose between living in Chongqing or Campbell Island, which would it be?

 

If we're taking climate and place into consideration, I'd probably go for somewhere in the northeastern USA or northern Japan: both have large amounts of snow in winter and very warm/hot humid summers. The only down sides to me seem to be 1) winter maxima being close to freezing, thus temperatures occasionally rising above and thawing some of the snow, and 2) the large amount of rain in summer, though if this mostly in the form of thunderstorms it wouldn't be a problem at all.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_New_York#Geography_and_climate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahikawa#Climate

 

The northeastern USA is sunnier in summer, but northern Japan gets more winter snowfall. Almost 300 inches per year is beyond epic (and that's just an average winter).

[Harve]

The populated parts of Quebec or most of Hokkaido. My least favourite would be Shetland or the Outer Hebrides.

[Mesoscale]

Minneapolis, Minnesota:

 

Hot summers and very cold winters, with snowstorms and thunderstorms common events.
This is definatley the place id love to live. If I could move there tomorrow I would!

 

 

Edited July 26, 2013 by Mesoscale

[forecaster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai

 

A bit cooler and drier than Chongqing in summer (31C/160mm vs 33/175), and it has much sunnier winters with a chance of snow. There's also that nice looking interlude between the two monsoons in October, while Chongqing just plunges from monsoon humidity straight to dreary overcast.

 

Only penguins live on Campbell, 28 million people somehow have to endure Chongqing's sorry excuse for a climate. It just has no redeeming features at all to me.

 

 

Campbell Island is very close to being the antipode of London. It just has an unbelievably rubbish climate by comparison! 

 

Something dodgy about those wikipedia reported sun hours though (apparently from NIWA). I just find it hard to believe that the Falkland Islands get 1000 hours more sunshine than Campbell each year, when both have relatively westerly similar climates.

 

I know some people that used to work on Campbell Island. It sounds like they enjoyed it, and the weather is wild if not at all pleasant. The other options in those days for observers were Raoul Island, which is quite a different proposition. 

[GRHinPorts]

Its interesting how varied peoples preferences and shows we don't necessarily all like the same weather patterns. I for one would quite happily never see snow again in my life - Its just so gawdamn white! I would quite happily take both Chongqing and Campbell Island over somewhere like this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_New_York#Geography_and_climate

[GRHinPorts]

Much of the USA gets much better summers than what we get here on average in the UK however it would definitely not be enough for me to compensate for the colder winters the two thirds of the North Eastern part of that country has to endure.

[Summer of 95]

Shanghai also has slightly higher summer minima and humidity. When I was there it was hotter than normal with mainly mid-to-high 30s in the day and high 20s at night. One day had a max of 39C and a min of 31C. The hostel I was staying at had no air-conditioning on the upper floor (apart from the bedrooms, thank god), so when you went up the stairs it was like walking into a wall of fire. Getting out of the shower you would dry yourself off with the towel only to find yourself covered with sweat!

 

I'd like to do Chongqing in summer at least once. It's one huge, hectic sprawl and at night it looks like something from Blade Runner. But yes those winter stats are pretty grim, though Lima's winters give it some stiff competition with its four straight months of low cloud and drizzle, and that's a city only 12 degrees from the Equator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima#Climate.

 

If you had to choose between living in Chongqing or Campbell Island, which would you choose?

 

Well, like forecaster I'm inclined to doubt Campbell is quite as cloudy as Wikipedia suggest. The weather station is on the northern side (ie facing south, in the southern hemisphere) of that long fjord, so must lose a lot of sun behind hills, especially in winter when it would only reach about 14 degrees altitude. Those two pictures on Wikipedia seem like they were taken on nice days. It probably has  microclimates too. I've been to Stewart Island in winter, and although it's cool and changeable there it's certainly not overcast all the time- I can't imagine Campbell is that much worse, although it will have much cooler summers.

 

The clear day on Campbell would be worth waiting for- pristine blue skies with no smog or aircraft pollution. And a clear night there would be something to behold, all those beautiful southern constellations with no light pollution (the Southern hemisphere definitely has the best of the stars) and it's in the right place place for aurorae. Campbell it is.

[conor123]

This would be my ideal climate, pay attention Telford Sun Shield

 

Jan:  5c  -5c

A mix sunny pleasant days & arctic storms giving major snow events) e.g similar to the Mid West USA winters such as in Denver, max's anywhere from sub zero to the mid teen's, many days up into the low teens after a sharp frost and sunny followed by below 0 and heavy snow would do nicely.

 

Feb: 11c   -2c

Similar to January to start with but an increasing number of warm days reaching the mid teens later in the month then occasionally thrown off with a big snow event.

 

Mar: 17c   6c

Frequent sunny days and frosty nights to start the month, then a slow increase in average temperature's with occasional days touching 20/21c. Late March 2012 basically.

 

Apr:  20c   9c

Around 300hrs of sunshine, still a lot of cool nights with warm days around 18-21c with low humidity, rain in the form of brief sharp showers or overnight.

 

May: 23c  12c

Around 350hrs of sunhine, 21-25c typically, breezy, but dropping nicely into the low teens by night, a few taster storms to break up the sunny days.

 

Jun:  24c  13c

Around 400hrs of sunshine, typically around 23-25c most days with the odd cooler day following overnight storms, never a cloud between 10am-4pm.

 

July: 25c  14c

Again around 400 hours of sunshine, 23-27c most days falling to around 12-14c most nights to keep it fresh, often breezy, low humidity, about 4 or 5 storms over the month.

 

Aug: 26c  15c

Unbroken sunshine everyday with any rainfall in the form of evening or overnight storms, amazing lightning displays, around 10 storms over the month but never a cloud by day. 24-27c on average but the odd 20/21c day to freshen things up, maybe a few days in the upper 20's giving way to violent storms by 9pm.

 

Sep: 25c  13c

Summer continues, any signs of Autumn only via some fresh nights getting close to 10c, otherwise cloudless skies everyday & around 24-26c first half, 22-25c second half.

 

Oct:  22c  11c

Sun still strong enough to provote convection, would maybe need some relief from the sun by now so frequent heavy downpours and storms interspersed in the late afternoon's/evenings with the odd clear sunny summery day, temperature's anywhere from 18c to 25c, always clear sunny morning's, none of that depressing murk!

 

Nov: 17c   7c

A mix of everything, plenty of warm sunny days in the upper teen's, even low 20's in the first half of the month, some violent downpours, then some frosty nights and maybe a snow event by the end of the month.

 

Dec: 7c   -2c

Sharp drop in temperature's from November, plenty of sunshine, some days in the low teen's but a good few day's around freezing & below to, some big dramatic changes over a short period of time e.g 13c and sunny one day and snowing the next.

 

So overall similar sunshine amounts to somewhere like Yuma , the dramatic summer storms of Europe and the sudden changeability of the Mid West US Winters.

Edited September 14, 2013 by conor123

[Gaz1985]

High pressure all year round, hot or warm and very dry, we can always use desalination plants for water we are an island of course.

[simshady]

Freezing cold or cool,icy, snowy, dry most of the time. Anything cool or cold. Warm or hot is very uncomfortable and pretty boring too!

[Bottesford]

A short (2 month) but intense cold/snowy winter followed by a rapid warm up into a pleasant spring then a long & reliable summer period. A short autumn damp then takes us back into the freeze again.

Months with mean min/max:

 

Jan -7 / -1

Feb 4 / 9

Mar 7 / 14

May 10 / 20

Jun 13 / 23

Jul 16 / 25

Aug 16 / 25

Sep 14 / 22

Oct 11 / 17

Nov 4 / 8

Dec -5 / 0

 

Driest period: Jun-Aug

Wettest period: Oct-Nov

 

Really my main changes are a shorter but colder winter, a longer and hotter summer and steeper & shorter transition seasons.

Most importantly - LOTS of sunshine!

[cheese]

Jan: -1/-6

Feb: -1/-6

Mar: 3/-3

Apr: 9/1

May: 16/6

Jun: 21/11

Jul: 23/12

Aug: 22/12

Sep: 17/9

Oct: 9/2

Nov: 5/0

Dec: 1/-4

 

This place, basically. Brownie points to anyone who can guess the location.

 

 

 

 

[Relativistic]

Nothing wrong with the climate here.

Edited September 14, 2013 by 22nov10blast

[MP-R]

Where there are benefits to our climate e.g. its effect on the beautiful countryside, there is a lot left to be desired and this thread shows just how most of us wish it was different. Here are my preferences for average max / average min / average rain / average snowfall.

 

JAN: 02C / -5C / 25mm / 50cm

FEB: 05C / -2C / 25mm / 25cm

MAR: 13C / 02C / 60mm / 5cm

APR: 18C / 06C / 45mm

MAY: 22C / 10C / 30mm

JUN: 24C / 13C / 15mm

JUL: 27C / 15C / 25mm

AUG: 26C / 15C / 40mm

SEP: 23C / 12C / 75mm

OCT: 17C / 08C / 100mm

NOV: 09C / 02C / 85mm / 5cm

DEC: 03C / -3C / 40mm / 30cm

 

Spring: Always the potential for cold blasts early on but mid-March onwards turning rapidly warmer by day but keeping nights fresh. Plenty of sunshine with rain concentrated in heavy, thundery showers or overnight fronts - enough rain to keep things growing.

 

Summer: A reliable season of abundant sunshine from varying sources but mainly on the very warm to hot side with rain coming in the form of heavy downpours and thunderstorms. Drier and sunniest earlier on when the sun is strongest with rising humidity through August and increase in storm frequency. Evenings warm enough to sit outside but nights just cool enough to sleep.

 

Autumn: Continuing summerlike in September but with plenty of thunderstorm opportunities. Turning more autumnal into October with a mixture of bright and sunny days and windy days from the first Atlantic storms. This theme continuing into November but markedly cooler with the first frosts before midmonth and the first snow before the end of the month.

 

Winter: Bitterly cold with emphasis on snow but also more sunshine than we have in our naff winters. Dull days compensated by snow on the ground, only melting when temperatures rising above freezing not thanks to mild mush moving in. Higher prevalence of brighter, colder and snowier northerlies rather than the pants easterlies.

 

I don't know if such a climate exists but basically continental winters and summers and moderately maritime springs and autumns would do it for me. 

Edited September 14, 2013 by Miguel Hugo Roberto

[Lake District Blizzard]

Perfect in my eyes would be... mean max / mean min / high max / lowest min  /  sunshine / rain

 

 

Jan 5c / -4c           10c / -15c   100hrs     75mm

Feb 7c / -3c          13c / -12c    120hrs     75mm

Mar 13c / 0c          21c / - 6c     180hrs    70mm

Apr 16c / 2c           26c / - 3c     210hrs    70mm

May 19c / 6c          28c / 3c        300 hrs   60mm

Jun   21c / 9c         31c / 5c        320 hrs   50mm

Jul    24c / 14c       36c / 10c      340 hrs   30mm

Aug  23c / 15c       32c / 12c      300 hrs    50mm

Sep  19c / 6c         28c / -2c       200 hrs    80mm

Oct   14c / 2c         21c / -7c       150 hrs    90mm

Nov   10c / 0c         18c / -9c       120 hrs    90mm

Dec   3c / -3c          13c / - 15c    100 hrs   95mm

 

Annual sun 2450 hrs

 

Annual rain 835mm

Edited September 14, 2013 by Lake District Blizzard

[Mesoscale]

Since we are back in business, I will reiterate my choices. I shall keep with Miguel’s format. Temperature Average (max and min) / Rainfall / Snowfall (Snowfall and rainfall mixed to show begining or end of season totals)All measurements are averages:JAN: -7C / -25C / 14 inches

FEB: -10C / -30C / 11 inches

MAR: 5C / -10C / 7 inches / 30mm

APR: 15C / -5C / 1 inch / 34mm

MAY: 22C / 5C / 20 mm

JUN: 27C / 17C / 145mm

JUL: 32C / 22C / 220mm

AUG: 31C / 19C / 123mm

SEP: 28C / 8C / 95mm

OCT: 19C / 3C / 130mm / 1 inch

NOV: 9C / -5C / 10mm / 3 inches

DEC: -3C / -11C / 9 inches46 - 60+ inches of Snow807mm - 900mm+ of Rain.2,500 - 2,800 hours of sunshine.

 

Summery:Winter:Extremely cold, wind chill temperatures can reach as low as -45C and general temperatures as low as -40C, Plenty of snow.Spring:Cold first half, warming up towards the third half of spring. Moderate snow fall followed up by minimal rainfall. Generally humidity is low but brings some periods of humidity.Summer:Warm to hot, thunderstorms bring heavy rainfall amounts during some afternoons, generally slow windspeeds causing rain to stay for longer periods. Temperatures can reach as high as 40c during hotter periods. Generally humid.Autumn:Warm to cool, Rain continuing in the first half of the month with Autumn storms bringing strong winds and rain. Second half continues with autumn storms with a mix of rain and snow. Humid to moderately humid during the first third of autumn, dropping off towards the middle of the season.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Mesoscale

[cheese]

A true lover of extremes! Doesn't exist on Earth, though.

Edited September 14, 2013 by cheese