Exactly! Unlike Florida, which has the North American continent to its west, Italy is bordered to the west by a vast ocean, further warmed by the Gulf Stream, which brings moist but mild currents across Europe. Additionally, Italy is shielded to the north by the high Alpine chain, which limits and partially blocks Arctic-polar air masses.
In reality, the most intense frost that can hit the Italian peninsula and my Sicily doesn't come from the Arctic, but directly from Russia. The problem is that retrograde easterly flows—from Siberia to Italy via the Balkans—are rare precisely because of the Earth's rotation.
But since 'Mother Nature' knew long ago that I would be born here, she made sure I ended up in a region even more 'allergic' to Russian freezing air than the rest of Italy. Not only because it's the southernmost region, but also because when Siberian air finally manages to reach the main island of the Mediterranean, it first has to cross the Adriatic Sea, then climb over the Apennine mountain range (with peaks exceeding 2,000 meters), and finally—Nature is truly cruel—it must fly over a second and wider stretch of the Mediterranean, the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea.
All these obstacles make my island practically immune to deep freezes and low-altitude snowfall. If you think about it, it's easier for it to snow on the coasts of Central-Northern Florida than in Sicily. It's a shame when you consider that Northern Florida sits at a tropical latitude between 27° and 30°N, while the northern coast of Sicily, where Palermo is located, is at 38°N—the same as Maryland or Delaware.
It's no coincidence that a coastal city like Ocean City (Maryland), at the exact same latitude as Palermo, has average January highs and lows of 7.0°C and -2.4°C (44°F/27°F), a shocking record low of -21.0°C (-6°F), and sees snow every winter. In contrast, 'unlucky' Palermo has a January average low of 11°C (52°F)—which is higher than Ocean City's average high—and average highs between 14°C and 15°C (57-59°F).
The only documented cold records for Palermo city in the last 100 years or so are -0.5°C (31°F) at the Astronomical Observatory (which is 40 meters up on the roof of the Norman Palace surrounded by greenery; other urban stations have never even dropped below zero). Snow is an extremely rare and brief phenomenon, and when it does happen, it's a dusting as thin as actual dust.
Honestly, to be more 'jinxed' than this, I would have had to be born on Mercury!
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
I thought this was interesting. Tropical locations that can freeze:
• Video Link
One of the funny ones is that Florida runs north-south, so if winds from a weather system point exactly the right way, cold northern air can be funneled down the peninsula, dropping temperatures toward 0.
Italy's geography is similar but I guess westerly flow and the Atlantic as well as the mountains might interrupt similar wind patterns (whereas northwest winds in North America bringing arctic air down are quite common). Florida and vicinity is quite flat. And Sicily is more like Cuba. One place in Cuba did recently hit 0 during the freak cold snap. |
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