Toronto, Ontario is about the same latitude as southern Oregon. However, I'm sure many Torontonians would exchange the winter weather of southern Oregon for their own any day.
Not as snowy as you’re imagining. 2 months max of snow and way sunnier than Oregon during the winter. 71 degrees this week for Halloween while Oregon is in the 50s.
Eurasia is exactly the same phenomenon, so it isn't unique, it is in fact even more severe in Eurasia because the continent is larger. Europe is just the western part of Eurasia, so of course it is more like the west coast of the USA. NorthEast and East asia is in fact even more severely continental and colder than eastern North America at the same latitude.
Yep, Vladivostok, Russia and Portsmouth, NH are at the same latitude (43N) and Vladivostok has an average low of 5F in January while Portsmouth is 16.3F. Portsmouth also has an annual average of 47.6F while Vladivostok is 41.2F.
Japan is actually a pretty good climatic analog for the US East Coast, and the Sea of Japan also generates "lake effect" snowstorms along the country's west coast similar to the blizzards along mainly the western shores of the Great Lakes, despite Japan actually extending even further south.
@@greasher926 Change the prevailing winds to a easterly the UK would probably have long hot dry summers, and cold winters, with precipitation mainly of snow. A lot dryer, but we would have more snow
@@Sam88-l4k dry summer Mediterranean climates are located on the western side of continents. If the winds changed direction the UK would have a similar climate to Kamchatka.
North America's west coast is a pretty good climatic analog for Western Europe and even Northwestern Africa at the same latitudes. Southeastern Alaska=southern Norway, Denmark, and Scotland; northern British Columbia=NW Germany, the Netherlands, England, Wales, and Ireland; southern British Columbia=central Germany, Belgium, and northern France; Washington State=southern Germany, Switzerland (in parts of the Cascades you might think you were in the Alps), and central France; Oregon=northern Italy, southern France, and northern Spain; northern California=central Italy, central Spain, and northern Portugal; central California=southern Italy, Sicily, and southern Spain and Portugal; southern California=Tunisia, northern Algeria, and Morocco; Baja California (Mexico)=Western Sahara (seriously, it becomes a straight-up desert the further south you go).
@@andyjay729I would just change the definitions for Italy a little: The border between California and Oregon is barely north of Rome, which is in the southern part of central Italy. By the time you reach cape Mendocino you’re already far south of Naples and Apulia. The Bay Area is at the latitude of Sicily. So I would just split Oregon into two, and say: northern Oregon = northern Italy, southern Oregon = central Italy, Northern California = southern Italy, Central California = Sicily.
The Rockies also impede the westward expansion of the cold. It's not a never situation though, when you get your big snow/ice events... it is most commonly due to an Arctic High directed SW though the Rockies... while weaker onshore flow brings the moisture but not enough umph and mixing to replace the air back through the ID/MT Rockies. It is odd configuration but it happens enough, affecting the Willimete Valley and Columbian Plateau MUCH more than the Puget coast.
Lived in LA, OR and DC area. The eastern seaboard is HEll on earth in the summer. Hot and HUMID. A/c all summer long, sweat like crazy. The south is hot from coast to coast.
Im a WestCoaster. Spent a week in/around D.C. It rained on at least one of the days. I remember cuz it was raining _and_ it was over 90*. And i was thinking "how tf can these people handle this!!?!!"
@@SomethingEpic777 I live in OR now, lived in/around DC for 15 years. The east coast heat goes on night and day. Peeps live on A/C. The flowering plants do really well in that area so east coast spring is really colorful and special. Here in OR, lots of plants have thorns... even in the lawns sometimes. East coast not so many.
Visited Portland few years ago and could not get over how incredible the weather and scenery were! The people there however seemed to have lost their sense of sanity and basic ability to reason.
@@flennboyd6413 Funny you should say this because much of the country apparently believes Portland and Los Angeles are hellscapes. Where people are raped in their Teslas out in public and babies are sacrificed to the devil constantly. Yet you say that people here are crazy because we have it too good. Which is it????
I love the Pacific North West. Snow is such a pain to drive in. I rather deal with rain than snow any day. When I was a kid though I did feel like we missed out on the snow, especially since it usually snowed after Christmas
Maybe one day if I work hard enough and sell all of my possessions and my body, I can maybe afford to live in a cardboard box under a bridge littered with heroin needles on the West Coast, unfortunately all I can afford is a decently sized two story in a quaint old streetcar suburb, having to deal with such awful things as beautiful snowy winters and not having to worry about earthquakes or wildfires
Bad/Lazy Photoshop job. Or just a lack of understanding of map projections. Perhaps the use of an equirectangular map onto a sphere with rather correctly drawn 30° and 60° latitudes. (Correctly drawn because sin(30)=0.5 and sin(60)=0.86.) In reality, since the Earth in this case is being viewed from the equator, and the latitudes are drawn with their proper distortions from an equatorial perspective, a map projection that stretches the equatorial regions vertically and shrinks the polar regions vertically is necessary. The other option would be to keep the current map but make the 0-30°, 30-60°, and 60-90° regions equal in vertical size. It could be reasonably presented in either fashion, but the way it is currently... it's a bad mismatch.
Same as in the Euroasian continent. Westerly winds moderate Europe and prevent low temperatures. For example, Lisbon and Pyongyang have the same latitude. Lisbon has never experienced snow, while Pyongyang repeatedly has very cold winters and lots of snow. Geographically though, there is a huge difference between N. A. and Euroasia. Mild air from the west is blocked by huge mountains in the US and Canada, while it can travel across the european plain for thousands of kilometers eastward, so that even places like Poland and Belarus have milder winters than for example Calgary in Canada.
as someone who lives on an island around Seattle, we get snow maybe once a year for half a week. usually in the beginning of January and mid to late February.
The Pacific Ocean and the wind blows mostly west to east is the reason why the west coast is warmer. The west coast gets mostly warm ocean winds while the east coast gets mostly cold land winds. It can briefly get cold on the West Coast. I live in Seattle and last winter we had a day where the low was 15 and the high was 22, the winter before last we got a big ice storm and a few winters ago we got almost a foot of snow. Most of the time its in the 40's but there are a few days each winter where the wind briefly switches to north/northeast and it plunges into the 20's/30's. Even though its warm at sea level if you climb up into the mountains the winters are very harsh. Paradise ranger station at 5,500 feet elevation on Mt Rainier has an average April 1st snow depth of 180" and an average annual snowfall of 650". Paradise usually is snow covered from early November until the 4th of July. I remember one winter where the roof of the 3 story Paradise Inn was barely poking out of the snow and that summer the snow didn't melt until mid August. Above about 9,000 feet on Mt Rainier the snow never melts.
Yep, I live in Southern CA and when those winds switch to the north, it can get really cold here (for Socal that is). Two winters ago, they got wet snow at Disneyland that melted as soon as it hit the ground but to get it at all was crazy. That was continental air over us.
-9- to -5 degrees celsius. ohhhh poor baby how did you manage? try a saskatchewan winter and come back to me. you probably don['t even know what a windchilll is pacific northwest boy.
Which is important in 2 ways. It means it's very snowy in the Great Lakes and also not as cold in the interior Midwest due to the lakes modulating the extreme cold
@@billtooke6642cascades in Washington and Oregon and Sierra Nevada in California get far more snow than anywhere in the northeast can imagine. The west gets more snow
Because continental air is colder. Seriously, when we in Seattle get the Fraser Valley winds from interior BC in the winter as opposed to storms from the Gulf of Alaska, it gets cold.
@@andyjay729 so cold current runs down from alaska and also brings air masses And that makes it warmer in winter in Seattle If the Jet Stream dip is abnormally far west near the ocean then its ALSO cold Except much colder
I'm disappointed that you didn't talk about lake effect snowfall from the Great Lakes. Some places like Buffalo, Rochester, and Cleveland can get some very huge snowfall totals from this lake effect.
California's mountains can put Buffalo to shame though. The storms come all the way across the Pacific in the winter, leading to light rain in LA, heavy rain in San Fran and 10 FEET of snow in Sierra's. [the story in the Shining takes place in the Sierra's]
"In the summer time you'd be surprised just how warm it gets up here." No joke. My dad and I took a cross continental bicycle ride in 2003. We tried staying pretty far north, about 2/3rds of the trip was in Canada. The Thermometers in British Columbia were showing 40C (104F) for what seemed like a week straight. We came back to the US in Montana. I'd never been so happy to see a thermometer showing 95F in my life.
I really liked your map images to show the points about trends and elevation. Can you please post those sources so I can look at them myself? Also, are the mountains in the west part of why that weather goes east when it comes down from Canada, or is it more so winds? I would have expected the winds to carry the weather more western as it goes south
The only thing that wasn’t clearly spelled out here is that since land typically freezes a lot faster than the ocean, the westerlies that blow toward the east coast are colder than those which go over the ocean and hit the west coast. I say that because while we get bouts of cold and warm air, but there are also times when the weather is just normal, and not very cold or very warm. Also, the Arctic air movement doesn’t follow one pattern all or even most of the time, it really varies. Sometimes the Arctic blasts move toward the Mid-Atlantic like in 1994, other times they do not, like in 2024 where the air went further south and dodged us completely. Other times cold air will come from Quebec instead of western Canada.
There are 4 true seasons in most of the west, even Nevada has fall foliage and snow in winter. California has some of the deepest snow in the country and the skiing season lasts till late May/early June most years
Seasons are why allergies exist. Wind pollenating species of plants release their jizm when there is a timing advantage for their reproduction because of the corresponding disadvantage created by seasons when plants cannot grow. In the desert and arid valleys and plains this cycle is in the form of rain vs no rain. In places where it snows its when its too cold to grow or warm enough to grow. This means that living somewhere that is uniform in both temperature and rainfall is ideal for people with severe allergies. Or, where the air doesn't come from over land but over water, a positive pressure displacement protection from pollen. IE you shouldnt get allergies in the tropics.
I’ve lived in Seattle for 25 years and when I travel to the south or the east coast everyone’s always so surprised to hear that some years we don’t even see any snow at all
So boiled down: 1) at that latitude air flows from west to east due to complicated atmospheric physics stuff, and 2) water retains heat and moderates temperatures, while land loses and gains heat and so magnifies temperatures. The PNW has air from water blown over it so it is moderate. The east coast has air from land blown over it so its temperatures are more extreme.
Not to mention all that arctic air moving right over the great lakes. That's why upstate New York can get more snow than the the biggest ski resorts in the Rockies.
A correction: the 45th parallel doesn't play a part in the border between New Hampshire and Canada (it's a Connecticut River watershed thing). It's nice during the summertime when a shot of cool Canadian air makes its way into the northeast, but that usually triggers t-storms and unsettled weather.
1:55 - That map's depiction of the northern hemisphere and its latitudes made my eyes bleed. (At least the map at 3:28 was better, but still noticeably off in the other direction.)
While the Gulf Stream current does move up the Atlantic Coast, it takes a right turn at the Carolinas and heads across the Atlantic towards Europe. The prevailing winds blow in a direction that prevents the warmth of the Gulf Stream from warming the East Coast. The only exception is southern Florida where is a warmed by the Loop Current and the Gulf Stream during the Winter. Europe is warmed because it is directly in the path of the Gulf Stream and the prevailing winds carry the warmth of the Gulf Stream into Northern Europe.
I’ve lived on the east coast my whole life (mostly ny and a little nc) and it’s definitely a little give and take. But I’d much rather take the few negatives here than dealing with water shortages and wildfires that you guys deal with on the west coast. Plus our southern beaches are warmer.
Hopefully in nyc we can continue to have sunny skies and 60s and 70s through December 🎉🎉🎉 it’s been amazing the past 2 months ! Mostly sunny 🌞 dry and warm ..
The east coast has a more continental climate, that's why it's colder in winter. The interesting thing is that winter arrives earlier in the west than in the east; in the west of the US December and January tend to be the coldest months, while in the east it's January and February. What causes this? Does the cold air from the north move to the northeast of the US later in winter?
I have lived in both Portlands (Oregon and Maine) and can attest to the fact that in Oregon the overall climate is milder than in Maine, although it does get a lot more rain. However, for reasons unknown to me the people are more whacked out… my theory is it’s due to all the excessive weed consumption in the West Coast.
To pick a nit, it's North America is "farther south," not "further south." 'Farther' refers to a literal physical distance whereas 'further' refers to a logical or temporal progression such as "Let me take that argument one step further."
its not a mystery as the weather travels from the west to the east and on the west coast you have the huge pacific that will moderate any extreme cold temperatures from the arctic
Good video. Prevailing westerlies aren't just a northern hemisphere thing, they're a mid latitude thing as the southern hemisphere gets westerly winds too in the same latitudes.
I love how your channel talks about technology and geography too, two random topics to be put together but I love it since I also love both topics 😂 side note Gulf Stream isn’t the only thing that makes Europe warmer than it supposed to but it’s also because of prevailing winds the blows from West to East and this happen all over the world that’s why North American West Coast is milder than East Coast just like Europe is warmer than East Asia and US and Canada East Coast and for comparison North American West Coast is slightly colder and rainier on average than Europe because how it’s shaped, Europe is more like a giant peninsula hence makes it more milder but still those two Western side is still milder than its Eastern counterparts
If your comparing only costal area like 0 ft elevation vs 0 ft elevation then yes the east is colder… as soon as you get away from the ocean not so much In general because of the mountains out west and predominantly high elevations western USA has colder winters, longer winters, and vastly more snowfall than anywhere out east. Look at the best ski resorts or the ones with the longest season. All out west. Also look at record low temps in the US by state. All western states first. Nice video though
Well, parts of Washington State are MUCH snowier than anywhere in the Eastern United States. Mt. Rainier is the snowiest place in the United States, at least the snowiest place that has a weather station. It is true that Seattle and Tacoma don't get a lot of snow, though.
Hopefully we make 6 km inflatable artificial mountains so we can make it snow on top of the mountain and we understand how elevation is creating weather and hopefully we can remake the Arctic in any region we want by doing these experiments and I believe the reason why regions can be at the same altitude but have different weather conditions is because the upper atmosphere is closer to the ground in certain regions than in other regions in particularly regions where salt water which is making the upper atmosphere be further away and freshwater which is causing the upper atmosphere to be closer to the ground I'm from my assumption I can assess that in all probability there's no dew on top of salt water and there's dew on top of freshwater and all probability what symbolizes the distance of the upper atmosphere
Displaying a weather map of Canada showing temperatures in Celsius alongside a map of the U.S. showing temperatures in Fahrenheit is very misleading to say the least. But it appears to help your argument, doesn’t it?
@@20xx-mm-dd What aspects about the weather exactly? The closer you are to an ocean, the more mild your climate is going to be. The northern hemisphere's jetstream flow brings the mild ocean air towards the PNW, while it doesn't have as much of an effect on New England. However, you'll notice that New England is almost always warmer than the northern plains at the same latitude, precisely because of the proximity to the ocean.
Great video and a good explanation - but showing the USA on its own, without Canada, makes no sense when discussing continental effects. Glad that you brought us back into the picture - even if was to blame us for the cold and those wicked nor'easters😊 Sorry about that!
I've been saying this for a long time. Chicago is not that far north. If it were in Europe it would be near Bulgaria. But because we don't get enough of those warm currents from the south we have to suffer 🥶
So Canadians are ‘cold’. I always thought of them as ‘warm’. Huh… who would have thought that underneath that warm outward kindness is a cold interior.
Canada, the Rockies,(the Rocky Mountains) and the pacific (ocean). That’s all he’s talking about here. Canadian cold air comes down and gets pushed east. But warmer air from the Pacific Ocean (west) hits the Rocky mountains and never goes past them. I live in colorado so I can see this personally. West Colorado is almost desert but east Colorado is more temperate.
Southern Chile, caspian coastline of Iran, black sea coast of Turkey, west coast of Scotland, west coat of Norway, New Zealand, Britanny, Galicia, Japan, China and Tasmania would like to have a talk with you.
As a resident dude of the west coast 🤙 I like to visit my fellow eastern dudes, but I can’t do it winter! Instant regret! Lol but I’m glad I did visit in the winter the few times I did go. It’s colder than a brass monkeys ass back there! Lmao but damn, it’s pretty dope. Los Angeles is the smallest concrete jungle of the big three. Chicago & NYC. LA is way smaller than them both. It’s nice to peace out ✌️ for a while and go back east. They got some damn good pizza back there! Dope geography science video! Good ol USA. Having all them geographic features.
Toronto, Ontario is about the same latitude as southern Oregon. However, I'm sure many Torontonians would exchange the winter weather of southern Oregon for their own any day.
It’s always raining in pnw
@@duckymomo7935better than always snowing. 4-5 month rain and stops. Rest of the year is beautiful. Nothing wrong with that
@@Oophgangalways snowing in Toronto? Toronto maybe gets 2 months of snow max, if that. It’s Halloween and the temperature is 72 while Portland is 50.
Not as snowy as you’re imagining. 2 months max of snow and way sunnier than Oregon during the winter. 71 degrees this week for Halloween while Oregon is in the 50s.
About the same latitude as Florence Italy too. id take that winter
Eurasia is exactly the same phenomenon, so it isn't unique, it is in fact even more severe in Eurasia because the continent is larger. Europe is just the western part of Eurasia, so of course it is more like the west coast of the USA. NorthEast and East asia is in fact even more severely continental and colder than eastern North America at the same latitude.
Yep, Vladivostok, Russia and Portsmouth, NH are at the same latitude (43N) and Vladivostok has an average low of 5F in January while Portsmouth is 16.3F.
Portsmouth also has an annual average of 47.6F while Vladivostok is 41.2F.
Japan is actually a pretty good climatic analog for the US East Coast, and the Sea of Japan also generates "lake effect" snowstorms along the country's west coast similar to the blizzards along mainly the western shores of the Great Lakes, despite Japan actually extending even further south.
@@andyjay729 this is very true. Winter in Hokkaido/Niigata are entirely different world with Tokyo.
@@greasher926 Change the prevailing winds to a easterly the UK would probably have long hot dry summers, and cold winters, with precipitation mainly of snow. A lot dryer, but we would have more snow
@@Sam88-l4k dry summer Mediterranean climates are located on the western side of continents. If the winds changed direction the UK would have a similar climate to Kamchatka.
You forgot to mention the Polar Vortex… La Niña and El Niño play a significant role in North America weather.
I live in the Netherlands. Same here; West coast warmer. Ideal for saving on heating in the winter.
North America's west coast is a pretty good climatic analog for Western Europe and even Northwestern Africa at the same latitudes. Southeastern Alaska=southern Norway, Denmark, and Scotland; northern British Columbia=NW Germany, the Netherlands, England, Wales, and Ireland; southern British Columbia=central Germany, Belgium, and northern France; Washington State=southern Germany, Switzerland (in parts of the Cascades you might think you were in the Alps), and central France; Oregon=northern Italy, southern France, and northern Spain; northern California=central Italy, central Spain, and northern Portugal; central California=southern Italy, Sicily, and southern Spain and Portugal; southern California=Tunisia, northern Algeria, and Morocco; Baja California (Mexico)=Western Sahara (seriously, it becomes a straight-up desert the further south you go).
@@andyjay729I would just change the definitions for Italy a little: The border between California and Oregon is barely north of Rome, which is in the southern part of central Italy. By the time you reach cape Mendocino you’re already far south of Naples and Apulia. The Bay Area is at the latitude of Sicily.
So I would just split Oregon into two, and say: northern Oregon = northern Italy, southern Oregon = central Italy, Northern California = southern Italy, Central California = Sicily.
Haha I see what you did there
This is some of the best content I've ever found on yt. Subscribed.
Interesting information. I'm from Everett, Washington. I've always wondered why we don't get much of cold temperatures and / or snow.
The Rockies also impede the westward expansion of the cold. It's not a never situation though, when you get your big snow/ice events... it is most commonly due to an Arctic High directed SW though the Rockies... while weaker onshore flow brings the moisture but not enough umph and mixing to replace the air back through the ID/MT Rockies. It is odd configuration but it happens enough, affecting the Willimete Valley and Columbian Plateau MUCH more than the Puget coast.
Lived in LA, OR and DC area. The eastern seaboard is HEll on earth in the summer. Hot and HUMID. A/c all summer long, sweat like crazy. The south is hot from coast to coast.
Im a WestCoaster. Spent a week in/around D.C.
It rained on at least one of the days. I remember cuz it was raining _and_ it was over 90*. And i was thinking "how tf can these people handle this!!?!!"
@@SomethingEpic777 I live in OR now, lived in/around DC for 15 years. The east coast heat goes on night and day. Peeps live on A/C. The flowering plants do really well in that area so east coast spring is really colorful and special. Here in OR, lots of plants have thorns... even in the lawns sometimes. East coast not so many.
@@SunriseLAW Call me crazy, but *IF* i need to live somewhere hot, id rather take 120* desert-/dry-heat over humid-95*.
@@SomethingEpic777me too, less mosquitoes in socal too
Visited Portland few years ago and could not get over how incredible the weather and scenery were! The people there however seemed to have lost their sense of sanity and basic ability to reason.
same in LA
@@flennboyd6413 Funny you should say this because much of the country apparently believes Portland and Los Angeles are hellscapes. Where people are raped in their Teslas out in public and babies are sacrificed to the devil constantly. Yet you say that people here are crazy because we have it too good. Which is it????
I love the Pacific North West. Snow is such a pain to drive in. I rather deal with rain than snow any day. When I was a kid though I did feel like we missed out on the snow, especially since it usually snowed after Christmas
East Coast may be colder, but we all know the West Coast is cooler
True facts!
Left coast is the best coast.
living on the west coast is a personality trait
That’s a good one bro 😂😂 Greetings from from the other side of beach 😊
Maybe one day if I work hard enough and sell all of my possessions and my body, I can maybe afford to live in a cardboard box under a bridge littered with heroin needles on the West Coast, unfortunately all I can afford is a decently sized two story in a quaint old streetcar suburb, having to deal with such awful things as beautiful snowy winters and not having to worry about earthquakes or wildfires
Always wondered why Seattle/Vancouver was generally warmer than the Eastern parts of NA.
So it's Canada's Fault LOL. This was so interesting 🙂
"It seems everything's gone wrong, Since Canada came along.."
@@anonUK LOL
I want pancakes and maple syrup now.
@@anonUK”It’s not even a real country anyway…”
No its not op
As someone from seattle this random video answered a ton of questions I had my whole life. 👍👍
I will watch
What was that map at 1:55?? The equator is slightly off, but the 30 degree latitude is *completely off!*
Bad/Lazy Photoshop job. Or just a lack of understanding of map projections.
Perhaps the use of an equirectangular map onto a sphere with rather correctly drawn 30° and 60° latitudes. (Correctly drawn because sin(30)=0.5 and sin(60)=0.86.)
In reality, since the Earth in this case is being viewed from the equator, and the latitudes are drawn with their proper distortions from an equatorial perspective, a map projection that stretches the equatorial regions vertically and shrinks the polar regions vertically is necessary.
The other option would be to keep the current map but make the 0-30°, 30-60°, and 60-90° regions equal in vertical size.
It could be reasonably presented in either fashion, but the way it is currently... it's a bad mismatch.
I love the video! This style of editing is the best
😂good job editing crabcrab
I will watch
Get rid of Canada is what I concluded from this?
But how? Maybe just blame it.
Then that only shows how elementary, your mind thinks!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Always wondered why the weather in Vancouver was better than states under the border of Canada
Same as in the Euroasian continent. Westerly winds moderate Europe and prevent low temperatures. For example, Lisbon and Pyongyang have the same latitude. Lisbon has never experienced snow, while Pyongyang repeatedly has very cold winters and lots of snow. Geographically though, there is a huge difference between N. A. and Euroasia. Mild air from the west is blocked by huge mountains in the US and Canada, while it can travel across the european plain for thousands of kilometers eastward, so that even places like Poland and Belarus have milder winters than for example Calgary in Canada.
Nice clear explanation, thank you
2:50 is why I love the lower east coast. Even if it’s snowing 30 minutes away, we get rain. It’s similarly moderated
Thank you for this video. I’ve been asking myself this questions for so long!
I will watch
That was awesome. Thank you for the visuals and clear explanation. Very educational.
Solid. I knew most of the facts, but never really put it together the way you have here. Thanks.
One of my favorite fun facts is that Portland Oregon is farther north than Portland Maine.
This helps me explain to my friends in Washington State why Vermont winters are so dangerous
Nicely done and very informative. ...and complicated. Never considered it.
Interesting, now I understand! 😊
as someone who lives on an island around Seattle, we get snow maybe once a year for half a week. usually in the beginning of January and mid to late February.
The Pacific Ocean and the wind blows mostly west to east is the reason why the west coast is warmer. The west coast gets mostly warm ocean winds while the east coast gets mostly cold land winds. It can briefly get cold on the West Coast. I live in Seattle and last winter we had a day where the low was 15 and the high was 22, the winter before last we got a big ice storm and a few winters ago we got almost a foot of snow. Most of the time its in the 40's but there are a few days each winter where the wind briefly switches to north/northeast and it plunges into the 20's/30's. Even though its warm at sea level if you climb up into the mountains the winters are very harsh. Paradise ranger station at 5,500 feet elevation on Mt Rainier has an average April 1st snow depth of 180" and an average annual snowfall of 650". Paradise usually is snow covered from early November until the 4th of July. I remember one winter where the roof of the 3 story Paradise Inn was barely poking out of the snow and that summer the snow didn't melt until mid August. Above about 9,000 feet on Mt Rainier the snow never melts.
Yep, I live in Southern CA and when those winds switch to the north, it can get really cold here (for Socal that is). Two winters ago, they got wet snow at Disneyland that melted as soon as it hit the ground but to get it at all was crazy. That was continental air over us.
Yet the East coast is very hot in the summer
West gets warm wind? San Francisco has entered the chat.
-9- to -5 degrees celsius. ohhhh poor baby how did you manage? try a saskatchewan winter and come back to me. you probably don['t even know what a windchilll is pacific northwest boy.
Didn't even mention lake-effect snow
Which is important in 2 ways. It means it's very snowy in the Great Lakes and also not as cold in the interior Midwest due to the lakes modulating the extreme cold
@@billtooke6642cascades in Washington and Oregon and Sierra Nevada in California get far more snow than anywhere in the northeast can imagine.
The west gets more snow
how does cold rainy air blowing onto seattle keep it warmer in winter ?
Because continental air is colder. Seriously, when we in Seattle get the Fraser Valley winds from interior BC in the winter as opposed to storms from the Gulf of Alaska, it gets cold.
@@andyjay729 so cold current runs down from alaska and also brings air masses And that makes it warmer in winter in Seattle If the Jet Stream dip is abnormally far west near the ocean then its ALSO cold Except much colder
in the west coast the winter forecast is usually on what elevation it snows instead of rains
Exactly. Good explanation. It's why I moved from Quebec to Victoria British Columbia.
Excellent explanation.
I'm disappointed that you didn't talk about lake effect snowfall from the Great Lakes. Some places like Buffalo, Rochester, and Cleveland can get some very huge snowfall totals from this lake effect.
California's mountains can put Buffalo to shame though. The storms come all the way across the Pacific in the winter, leading to light rain in LA, heavy rain in San Fran and 10 FEET of snow in Sierra's. [the story in the Shining takes place in the Sierra's]
"In the summer time you'd be surprised just how warm it gets up here."
No joke. My dad and I took a cross continental bicycle ride in 2003. We tried staying pretty far north, about 2/3rds of the trip was in Canada.
The Thermometers in British Columbia were showing 40C (104F) for what seemed like a week straight.
We came back to the US in Montana. I'd never been so happy to see a thermometer showing 95F in my life.
Curious how much the Appalachian mountains mitigate this effect? (from polar wind from Canada in northeast)
Really great video!
I really liked your map images to show the points about trends and elevation. Can you please post those sources so I can look at them myself? Also, are the mountains in the west part of why that weather goes east when it comes down from Canada, or is it more so winds? I would have expected the winds to carry the weather more western as it goes south
The only thing that wasn’t clearly spelled out here is that since land typically freezes a lot faster than the ocean, the westerlies that blow toward the east coast are colder than those which go over the ocean and hit the west coast.
I say that because while we get bouts of cold and warm air, but there are also times when the weather is just normal, and not very cold or very warm.
Also, the Arctic air movement doesn’t follow one pattern all or even most of the time, it really varies. Sometimes the Arctic blasts move toward the Mid-Atlantic like in 1994, other times they do not, like in 2024 where the air went further south and dodged us completely. Other times cold air will come from Quebec instead of western Canada.
Great video! But looks like the map reference several times like at 0:39 is the percent probability of 1 inch of snow on Xmas.
Nice lookin maps you have there
I definitely prefer getting 4 true seasons on the east coast. Good snows and nice hot summers that make you want to enjoy the water.
There are 4 true seasons in most of the west, even Nevada has fall foliage and snow in winter. California has some of the deepest snow in the country and the skiing season lasts till late May/early June most years
Does Miami have four seasons?
Seasons are why allergies exist.
Wind pollenating species of plants release their jizm when there is a timing advantage for their reproduction because of the corresponding disadvantage created by seasons when plants cannot grow. In the desert and arid valleys and plains this cycle is in the form of rain vs no rain. In places where it snows its when its too cold to grow or warm enough to grow.
This means that living somewhere that is uniform in both temperature and rainfall is ideal for people with severe allergies. Or, where the air doesn't come from over land but over water, a positive pressure displacement protection from pollen.
IE you shouldnt get allergies in the tropics.
Have you lived on the west coast? We have seasons
I’ve lived in Seattle for 25 years and when I travel to the south or the east coast everyone’s always so surprised to hear that some years we don’t even see any snow at all
So the Gulf Stream is lowkey the real MVP here. I need to read more about this! 🌊❄
So boiled down: 1) at that latitude air flows from west to east due to complicated atmospheric physics stuff, and 2) water retains heat and moderates temperatures, while land loses and gains heat and so magnifies temperatures. The PNW has air from water blown over it so it is moderate. The east coast has air from land blown over it so its temperatures are more extreme.
The east coast stretches from Miami to Maine. Seems you’re more referring to the northeast. SC on down has mild winters
Not to mention all that arctic air moving right over the great lakes. That's why upstate New York can get more snow than the the biggest ski resorts in the Rockies.
I just thought if the prevailing wind was east, the UK would have long hot dry summers and colder snowier winters
A correction: the 45th parallel doesn't play a part in the border between New Hampshire and Canada (it's a Connecticut River watershed thing).
It's nice during the summertime when a shot of cool Canadian air makes its way into the northeast, but that usually triggers t-storms and unsettled weather.
1:55 - That map's depiction of the northern hemisphere and its latitudes made my eyes bleed. (At least the map at 3:28 was better, but still noticeably off in the other direction.)
While the Gulf Stream current does move up the Atlantic Coast, it takes a right turn at the Carolinas and heads across the Atlantic towards Europe. The prevailing winds blow in a direction that prevents the warmth of the Gulf Stream from warming the East Coast. The only exception is southern Florida where is a warmed by the Loop Current and the Gulf Stream during the Winter. Europe is warmed because it is directly in the path of the Gulf Stream and the prevailing winds carry the warmth of the Gulf Stream into Northern Europe.
I’ve lived on the east coast my whole life (mostly ny and a little nc) and it’s definitely a little give and take. But I’d much rather take the few negatives here than dealing with water shortages and wildfires that you guys deal with on the west coast. Plus our southern beaches are warmer.
Hopefully in nyc we can continue to have sunny skies and 60s and 70s through December 🎉🎉🎉 it’s been amazing the past 2 months ! Mostly sunny 🌞 dry and warm ..
The east coast has a more continental climate, that's why it's colder in winter. The interesting thing is that winter arrives earlier in the west than in the east; in the west of the US December and January tend to be the coldest months, while in the east it's January and February. What causes this? Does the cold air from the north move to the northeast of the US later in winter?
I have lived in both Portlands (Oregon and Maine) and can attest to the fact that in Oregon the overall climate is milder than in Maine, although it does get a lot more rain. However, for reasons unknown to me the people are more whacked out… my theory is it’s due to all the excessive weed consumption in the West Coast.
Ocean currents and prevailing winds. That’s it.
Because of their geological location… in other words they aren’t just different places. There, that is why.
To pick a nit, it's North America is "farther south," not "further south." 'Farther' refers to a literal physical distance whereas 'further' refers to a logical or temporal progression such as "Let me take that argument one step further."
its not a mystery as the weather travels from the west to the east and on the west coast you have the huge pacific that will moderate any extreme cold temperatures from the arctic
California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico is just one BIG HOT desert
Except for the California coastal regions, valleys and mountains.
Good video. Prevailing westerlies aren't just a northern hemisphere thing, they're a mid latitude thing as the southern hemisphere gets westerly winds too in the same latitudes.
I love how your channel talks about technology and geography too, two random topics to be put together but I love it since I also love both topics 😂 side note Gulf Stream isn’t the only thing that makes Europe warmer than it supposed to but it’s also because of prevailing winds the blows from West to East and this happen all over the world that’s why North American West Coast is milder than East Coast just like Europe is warmer than East Asia and US and Canada East Coast and for comparison North American West Coast is slightly colder and rainier on average than Europe because how it’s shaped, Europe is more like a giant peninsula hence makes it more milder but still those two Western side is still milder than its Eastern counterparts
For the meantime we’re so much warmer than the west coast here so in southeast
If your comparing only costal area like 0 ft elevation vs 0 ft elevation then yes the east is colder… as soon as you get away from the ocean not so much
In general because of the mountains out west and predominantly high elevations western USA has colder winters, longer winters, and vastly more snowfall than anywhere out east.
Look at the best ski resorts or the ones with the longest season. All out west. Also look at record low temps in the US by state. All western states first.
Nice video though
I agree with you 100%.
I live in Seattle and to get a decent snowfall is a tall order.
Well, parts of Washington State are MUCH snowier than anywhere in the Eastern United States. Mt. Rainier is the snowiest place in the United States, at least the snowiest place that has a weather station. It is true that Seattle and Tacoma don't get a lot of snow, though.
Hopefully we make 6 km inflatable artificial mountains so we can make it snow on top of the mountain and we understand how elevation is creating weather and hopefully we can remake the Arctic in any region we want by doing these experiments and I believe the reason why regions can be at the same altitude but have different weather conditions is because the upper atmosphere is closer to the ground in certain regions than in other regions in particularly regions where salt water which is making the upper atmosphere be further away and freshwater which is causing the upper atmosphere to be closer to the ground I'm from my assumption I can assess that in all probability there's no dew on top of salt water and there's dew on top of freshwater and all probability what symbolizes the distance of the upper atmosphere
Where are the glacier's out East?
Pacific ocean, mountain, winds, those are the answers
TLDR:
The arctic blast is blocked by the mountains in the west, so the cold winds coming down go east.
Flatlanders get ice blasted.
Displaying a weather map of Canada showing temperatures in Celsius alongside a map of the U.S. showing temperatures in Fahrenheit is very misleading to say the least. But it appears to help your argument, doesn’t it?
So why is it so dry in California?
Maybe the relatively cold water?
Two words.
Continental Climate.
These two words explain so much about not just North America, but the whole world.
how does that explain the weather in the PNW?
@@20xx-mm-dd What aspects about the weather exactly? The closer you are to an ocean, the more mild your climate is going to be. The northern hemisphere's jetstream flow brings the mild ocean air towards the PNW, while it doesn't have as much of an effect on New England. However, you'll notice that New England is almost always warmer than the northern plains at the same latitude, precisely because of the proximity to the ocean.
Interesting. The Arctic air blasts tend to follow the bed of the ancient North American Seaway.
East coast is hotter
Great video and a good explanation - but showing the USA on its own, without Canada, makes no sense when discussing continental effects. Glad that you brought us back into the picture - even if was to blame us for the cold and those wicked nor'easters😊 Sorry about that!
I've been saying this for a long time. Chicago is not that far north. If it were in Europe it would be near Bulgaria. But because we don't get enough of those warm currents from the south we have to suffer 🥶
So Canadians are ‘cold’. I always thought of them as ‘warm’. Huh… who would have thought that underneath that warm outward kindness is a cold interior.
Does anyone have a simpler explanation? Im italian and i cant understand all the video bc im trying to learn English
Canada, the Rockies,(the Rocky Mountains) and the pacific (ocean). That’s all he’s talking about here. Canadian cold air comes down and gets pushed east. But warmer air from the Pacific Ocean (west) hits the Rocky mountains and never goes past them. I live in colorado so I can see this personally. West Colorado is almost desert but east Colorado is more temperate.
Hard to make simpler than that but maybe at least you can translate.
Cold climate and snow are two different and fairly loosely correlated things.
the pacific warm ocean current is still no where as strong as the Atlantic gulf stream
Cause they don’t have as many hot people.
Toronto is at same latitude as the French Riviera on the Mediterranean.
Did I stumble upon a Canadian broadcast or something. What is he talking about?
So Western Europe is warmer, because Northern Sea makes a moderate effect on climate, making it less warm at summer and less cold in winter.
The north east has Great Lakes that create a lot more snow than in the north west.
Nowhere else on earth will you find a temperate rainforest but in the Pacific Northwest.
There are temperate rain forests in numerous regions of the world with similar climates, like Southern Chile and New Zealand, among others.
Southern Chile, caspian coastline of Iran, black sea coast of Turkey, west coast of Scotland, west coat of Norway, New Zealand, Britanny, Galicia, Japan, China and Tasmania would like to have a talk with you.
Welp I sure learned something new today!
Good points but @1:55 latitudes and Hadley cell are wrong
Ahh that explains why in Ohio where I live, we experience 95F summers and -5F winters :) Gotta love it.
PNW is cold 100% of the time. The coastline in WA and Oregon is NEVER warm.
You never been Florida and California, have you ?
☘️(Oceanic Thermal Conveyor System)
This video could have been shorter and saving us all time by saying it’s because of the mountains . The mountains block the cold air.
Connecticut has been above normal for several days low to mid 80s.
W vid
if you go inland to eastern WA it gets very cold in the winter
I've lived in L.A for 39 years 60° here is cold and if it rains omg it's on all the news channels like what's going on???? 😂
As a resident dude of the west coast 🤙 I like to visit my fellow eastern dudes, but I can’t do it winter! Instant regret! Lol but I’m glad I did visit in the winter the few times I did go. It’s colder than a brass monkeys ass back there! Lmao but damn, it’s pretty dope. Los Angeles is the smallest concrete jungle of the big three. Chicago & NYC. LA is way smaller than them both. It’s nice to peace out ✌️ for a while and go back east. They got some damn good pizza back there! Dope geography science video! Good ol USA. Having all them geographic features.