Which tropical city should I move to?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

only if you spare a gulf stream.

What do you mean?

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

What do you mean?

the gulf stream is what keeps your irish weather moderate.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

the gulf stream is what keeps your irish weather moderate.

Ah, okay. Yeah, sort of. I don't think the palms that grow in Ireland can grow in New York, despite us being closer to the tropics than them. I think most of the island of Great Britain can also grow palms. North America just has a harsher winter climate than western Europe.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Ah, okay. Yeah, sort of. I don't think the palms that grow in Ireland can grow in New York, despite us being closer to the tropics than them. I think most of the island of Great Britain can also grow palms. North America just has a harsher winter climate than western Europe.

exactly -- more moderate over there because of the gulf stream.

lucky us over much of north america -- we get the polar or arctic streams.

[jbermingham123]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Ah, okay. Yeah, sort of. I don't think the palms that grow in Ireland can grow in New York, despite us being closer to the tropics than them. I think most of the island of Great Britain can also grow palms. North America just has a harsher winter climate than western Europe.

Originally Posted by mrnyc

the gulf stream is what keeps your irish weather moderate.

The climate of Western Europe is a true anomaly. Take Tromsø, Norway, for example... Tromsø is a city well above the arctic circle, and its record low temperature is −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F) in February 1966.

This is the same as the record low temperature for the entire state of Florida—about 40 degrees latitude further south

[mrnyc]

^ yep, thats as good of a gulf stream effect example as any!

[Steely Dan]

most people's mental maps have europe much further south than it really is due to the gulf stream.

Rome is roughly at the same lattitude as Boston and Chicago, so like 90% of europe is north of those two cities.

but because so much of western europe has milder winter weather by comparison, many don't think of that being the case.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

The climate of Western Europe is a true anomaly. Take Tromsø, Norway, for example... Tromsø is a city well above the arctic circle, and its record low temperature is −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F) in February 1966.

This is the same as the record low temperature for the entire state of Florida—about 40 degrees latitude further south

Tromsø also has the world's most northerly university

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

exactly -- more moderate over there because of the gulf stream.

lucky us over much of north america -- we get the polar or arctic streams.

We get a gulf stream too on the Pacific side but, unfortunately, our temperate, fertile northerly region (The Pacific Northwest) is a narrow strip of land before the mountains begin and arid-ness and coldness take over. It's not like the Gulf Stream rolling over densely populated northern and western Europe before running out of steam somewhere over eastern Poland and becoming a continental climate.

Also, our continent's leeward side could be worse.

Harbin, China is on the same latitude as Montreal, or just slightly north of Minneapolis (45.45N).

Montreal's cold, but its average January low isn't -23C (-9F) like it is in Harbin.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Tromsø also has the world's most northerly university

Well, not if you count https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univer...re_in_Svalbard

Also, McGill owns/runs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill...search_Station , which is even farther North.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

We get a gulf stream too on the Pacific side but, unfortunately, our temperate, fertile northerly region (The Pacific Northwest) is a narrow strip of land before the mountains begin and arid-ness and coldness take over. It's not like the Gulf Stream rolling over densely populated northern and western Europe before running out of steam somewhere over eastern Poland and becoming a continental climate.

Also, our continent's leeward side could be worse.

Harbin, China is on the same latitude as Montreal, or just slightly north of Minneapolis (45.45N).

Montreal's cold, but its average January low isn't -23C (-9F) like it is in Harbin.

True. Seoul is about the same latitude as Nashville, but the city's average temperature range is about the same as Detroit.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

Ah, Utah. Land of the Mormons and the... palm trees

Go to St George. You’ll see plenty of palm trees. Very similar climate as Las Vegas.

Dallas is probably the largest inland city with palm trees, non-native of course. You see some in Atlanta but not nearly as many as Dallas.