Comparing Latitudes
Shortly after arriving in the British Isles, we became aware of the fact that Europe isn't the same as Caspar as far as weather goes. We started wondering just how Europe really stacks up latitude-wise to other familiar cities around the globe, and puzzling about how best to display this interesting bit of information. Herewith is our first try.
Several things jump out of a graphical representation like this. First, northern Europe is the latitudinal equivalent of Canada! And when we say that San Francisco and Caspar have "mediterranean" latitudes, we're being generous ...to the Mediterranean.
What latitude fails to address is local climatic patterns related to ocean currents and meteorological regimes. The North Pacific is a harsh regime, driven by its connection to the arctic, and hence the climate in Caspar is cooler than cities at comparable latitudes near the Med. The Gulf Stream has, so far, brought northern Europe tropical warmth, but no such current exists in the Pacific.
