History UsefulNotes / AmericanClimate

The Midwest[[note]]Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}}, Missouri, Nebraska, UsefulNotes/NorthDakota, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}, South Dakota, UsefulNotes/{{Wisconsin}}[[/note]] can be broken into two parts. The eastern half, huddled around the Great Lakes, enjoys a continental climate with similar conditions to the Northeast, including problems with lake effect snow. UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}, surrounded by lakes on three sides, is especially hard-hit from this, enough to make speaking the words "lake effect" during winter a regional BrownNote; on the other hand, the lake effect actually keeps Michigan substantially ''warmer'' in the winter (see SnowMeansCold for why) and much cooler in the summertime. It also provides inordinate amounts of rainfall (which benefits—or rather causes—Michigan's massive fruit industry as a side effect.[[note]]They grow peaches. ''Peaches''. Also grapes for wine worth drinking. They can't do that in Minnesota and Wisconsin.[[/note]]) Rainfall averages about 35 inches, slightly less than the Northeast due to its distance from the ocean.

Due to its size, the United States of America experiences a wide range of weather, from the arid deserts of the Southwest to the hot and humid Southeast to the colder northern states. There's also room for the occasional tornado and hurricane to squeeze in there.

Due to the geography, the Northeast[[note]]Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont[[/note]] generally experiences warm-to-hot summers, with average temperatures in the 80s and low 90s (though triple-digit temperatures usually only come a few days a year), and cold winters, with daily highs ranging from the high 20s to the low 40s and nighttime lows falling into the teens and single digits. Temperatures on the coast are moderated by the Gulf Stream, resulting in cooler summers and warmer winters in such areas, explaining why places like Cape Cod, the Hamptons and the Jersey Shore are such popular getaways. Heading further inland, the high altitude of the Appalachian Mountains produces cooler weather year-round, allowing them to support large winter resorts as well as a number of summer getaways (like the famous BorschtBelt resorts of the Catskills).

The South[[note]]:Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia[[/note]] experiences a generally subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers with daytime temperatures in the 90s and cool winters with highs typically running from the high 40s to the low 60s. During the summer, it's not uncommon for the daily highs to break into the triple digits. It's no coincidence that the boom of many "Sun Belt" cities, and with it the demographic transition to the South and West (and all the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan political consequences]] of that), coincided with the invention and widespread adoption of air conditioning -- while cold Northern winters could be easily beat with such low-tech means as warm clothing, heavy blankets, and fireplaces, their equivalents for cooling one off in the hot Southern summer (parasols, loose clothing, [[FireBreathingDiner spicy]] [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce food]][[note]]Spices trick the body into thinking that it's hotter than it actually is, activating the body's natural cooling mechanisms. Basically, the culinary equivalent of curing a headache with a GroinAttack. And now you know why Southern cuisine is so spicy. The same goes for Indian, Southeast Asian, southern Chinese, and sub-Saharan African cuisine.[[/note]]) aren't nearly as effective.

The Midwest[[note]]Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}, South Dakota, Wisconsin[[/note]] can be broken into two parts. The eastern half, huddled around the Great Lakes, enjoys a continental climate with similar conditions to the Northeast, including problems with lake effect snow. UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}, surrounded by lakes on three sides, is especially hard-hit from this, enough to make speaking the words "lake effect" during winter a regional BrownNote; on the other hand, the lake effect actually keeps Michigan substantially ''warmer'' in the winter (see SnowMeansCold for why) and much cooler in the summertime. It also provides inordinate amounts of rainfall (which benefits—or rather causes—Michigan's massive fruit industry as a side effect.[[note]]They grow peaches. ''Peaches''. Also grapes for wine worth drinking. They can't do that in Minnesota and Wisconsin.[[/note]]) Rainfall averages about 35 inches, slightly less than the Northeast due to its distance from the ocean.

The Southwest[[note]]UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, (Southern) UsefulNotes/{{California}}, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}[[/note]] is an overall dry region that can be split into two areas: the lowlands and deserts on one hand, and the uplands and mountains on the other. In the lowlands of Arizona, New Mexico, southern and western Utah, Nevada, and inland southern California, summer temperatures in the triple digits are the norm, and temperatures in the 110s and even 120s are not unheard of. The lack of humidity is a saving grace in many such areas, producing little added heat index. There is also a brief "monsoon season" (less intense than the classic Indian monsoon, but caused by similar processes) during the late summer, when subtropical moisture (and the occasional hurricane or tropical storm remnant) moves in from the south.

The Northwest[[note]](Northern) UsefulNotes/{{California}}, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming[[/note]] has two main climates, divided by the Cascade Mountains running through central Washington and Oregon and the Sierra Nevada range in northeastern California. To the east, summers ranging from warm to incredibly hot (occasionally in the triple digits in some areas) are paired with bitterly cold winters, and temperatures in the negatives are common. Rainfall is very light -- Spokane, Washington and Cheyenne, Wyoming, two of the "wetter" cities in the area, receive only about 15 inches of precipitation per year, and much of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho are either arid or semi-arid. This area has problems with blizzards and foehn winds, though water rights tend to overshadow these in the warmer seasons.

Though the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains get regular winter snowfall, as do Kentucky (which borders the Midwest), parts of Tennessee, and the Chesapeake Bay area (which borders the Northeast), snow of greater than six inches is rare in the Deep South or the lowlands south of Virginia. [[http://i.imgur.com/AvTH4d2.png Here]] is a county-by-county map of the amount of snow it takes to get school districts to cancel classes; south of Richmond, Virginia and outside Appalachia, any snow will usually suffice. This typically leads to a lot of ribbing from Northerners about how Southerners can't drive in the snow (most recently seen when two inches of snow [[http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/how-2-inches-of-snow-created-a-traffic-nightmare-in-atlanta/283434/ shut down Atlanta]] in 2014), though as the ground there rarely gets below freezing, Southern roads tend to have [[BossInMooksClothing layers of black ice beneath their shallow snows]]. The fact that Sun Belt cities tend to be more sprawling and reliant on automobiles likewise produces more opportunities for accidents, to say nothing of the fact that many areas have sizable populations living on steep, twisty mountain roads, which are bad enough in the best of circumstances, but when it's icy, muddy, and being driven on by a large, top-heavy school bus filled with small children, you can understand the "better safe than sorry" mentality. It's also why Southern roadways are usually much smoother to drive on than their Northern counterparts -- it usually doesn't get cold enough for the water seeping into the ground to freeze and open cracks and potholes.

Lately, the entire west coast has had to deal with intense firestorms during the tail end of summer, with the infernos so intense that there has actually been forecasts for ''fire tornados'', at times giving the area the worst air quality in the world, with at least one instance of the sky turning an apocalyptic orange.

Florida and the Gulf Coast, meanwhile, almost never get truly cold even in the winter. The last snowfall in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans was in 2008, UsefulNotes/{{Miami}} has only seen [[http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2002/alm02jan.htm one recorded snowfall]] in its entire history (in 1977), and frosts are rare enough in Florida that the state is quite famously able to support the growing of citrus fruits year-round. Needless to say, the first day when most of the country gets temperatures below freezing is often referred to as [[https://plus.google.com/+IrreverentMonk/posts/ihWspQYBT5k "National Hate Florida Day"]].

The western portion is [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest much rainier]], thanks to the mountains keeping the moist air from moving eastward (and leading to the water rights problems to the east). Both summers and winters are mild, with summer temperatures often hovering in the 70s and winter temperatures rarely falling below 40. Snow isn't unheard of, but not particularly common, excluding the more mountainous areas. Whereas the areas east of the mountains are dry, the areas to the west are almost stereotypically wet; UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} are always depicted as exceptionally rainy[[note]]Seattle itself actually receives only 37 inches per year, less than most cities on the East Coast, as it has dry summers and is itself in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Ditto for Portland, which sits in the rain shadow of the Oregon Coast Range. However, it ''is'' exceptionally cloudy and drizzly outside the summer -- between October and May, it's overcast six out of every seven days in Seattle.[[/note]], while UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's fog is almost as much a part of the city's image as cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, [[NewAgeRetroHippie tie-dye Volkswagens]] and [[{{Gayborhood}} rainbow flags]]. Creator/MarkTwain's famous joke about the San Francisco Weather ("The Coldest Winter I ever saw was a Summer in San Francisco") is widely believed by locals to be an accurate weather report for a July day..

!!'''Alaska and Hawai'i'''

Cold is the worst aspect of Alaska's climate, with strong winter storms in the Bering Sea bring in white-out conditions and large ocean waves.


!!Hawai'i
In contrast, UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} enjoys a tropical climate with warm summers and warm winters, though it's less humid than many other tropical regions. Hawai'i is the only state in the U.S. to not record a sub-freezing temperature, though snow isn't unheard of on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. At the same time, temperatures above 100°F are also unheard of. [[note]]Alaska is the other state in which over 100°F temperatures are unheard. In all the other states, the record high temperatures are at least 105°F.[[/note]] The state has the second highest rainfall average at 460 inches per year, though due to the mountainous features, dry portions on the islands are also commonplace.

During the late summer and fall, hurricanes are the biggest threat, affecting all of the Gulf states and the Eastern seaboard. Florida gets the short end of the stick, getting hit on both sides by 40% of all hurricanes. Texas isn't far behind, with a total of 83% of category 4+ hurricanes hitting either Texas or Florida. In total, only about 2 hurricanes hit the U.S. per year, but tend to cause more cost in damages and death than tornadoes. There's actually a significant overlap between hurricanes and tornadoes, since hurricanes and their remnants frequently generate tornadoes at a significant distance from the storm center.

The western portion is [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest much rainier]], thanks to the mountains keeping the moist air from moving eastward (and leading to the water rights problems to the east). Both summers and winters are mild, with summer temperatures often hovering in the 70s and winter temperatures rarely falling below 40. Snow isn't unheard of, but not particularly common, excluding the more mountainous areas. Whereas the areas east of the mountains are dry, the areas to the west are almost stereotypically wet; UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} are always depicted as exceptionally rainy[[note]]Seattle itself actually receives only 37 inches per year, less than most cities on the East Coast, as it has dry summers and is itself in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Ditto for Portland, which sits in the rain shadow of the Oregon Coast Range. However, it ''is'' exceptionally cloudy and drizzly outside the summer -- between October and May, it's overcast six out of every seven days in Seattle.[[/note]], while UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's fog is almost as much a part of the city's image as cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, [[NewAgeRetroHippie tie-dye Volkswagens]] and [[{{Gayborhood}} rainbow flags]]. MarkTwain's famous joke about the San Francisco Weather ("The Coldest Winter I ever saw was a Summer in San Francisco") is widely believed by locals to be an accurate weather report for a July day..

The U.S. has the highest amount of tornadoes in the world, typically around 1,300 per year. They are most common in the eastern half of the U.S., though every state has had at least 7 tornadoes (Alaska is the least at risk) since 1950. Texas has the highest concentration of tornadoes overall, though the state with the most tornadoes per square mile is Florida. When it comes to strong tornadoes (F/EF-3 and higher), Oklahoma tops the list. However, due to less measures taken in tornado safety (hurricanes are generally considered a more serious threat and safety measures are geared towards those storms rather than tornadoes), the Southeast is typically the worst hit in terms of damage costs and deaths.

Tornadoes are worst in the spring and early summer, though it is important to note that there isn't a "tornado season," as they happen year round, just in different geographical regions. During the winter months, tornadoes are most frequent in the Southeast, particularly in February and March, before shifting to the Plains in spring, and then moving into the Midwest and Great Lakes region during the summer months.

During the late summer and fall, hurricanes are the biggest threat, affecting all of the Gulf states and the Eastern shoreboard. Florida gets the short end of the stick, getting hit on both sides by 40% of all hurricanes. Texas isn't far behind, with a total of 83% of category 4+ hurricanes hitting either Texas or Florida. In total, only about 2 hurricanes hit the U.S. per year, but tend to cause more cost in damages and death than tornadoes.

Other severe weather events include Nor'easters, heat/cold waves, and flooding. While the former is region-specific, affecting the Atlantic side of the U.S., the latter two are much less choosy. Because of this, the U.S. has a much greater deathtoll from these (960 and 84, respectively). However, in general, Nor'easters have a greater reach, causing vast damage from the Gulf states to eastern Canada.

The coastal areas of central-to-southern California, as well as the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, have a climate that is unique in the nation. Called a "Mediterranean" climate after the largest area in the world to possess it, it is characterized by dry summers, wet winters, and mild temperatures either year-round or from mid-fall to mid-spring. Outside California, Southern Oregon, and the Mediterranean, it is only found in a few other places worldwide, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Santiago]], [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Cape Town]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Adelaide and Perth]]. Of course, since UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}} happens to be located in this tiny region, filmmakers often assume that this is what it's like in most parts of the world, leading to the trope ItsAlwaysSpring.

The western portion is [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest much rainier]], thanks to the mountains keeping the moist air from moving eastward (and leading to the water rights problems to the east). Both summers and winters are mild, with summer temperatures often hovering in the 70s and winter temperatures rarely falling below 40. Snow isn't unheard of, but not particularly common, excluding the more mountainous areas. Whereas the areas east of the mountains are dry, the areas to the west are almost stereotypically wet; UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} are always depicted as exceptionally rainy[[note]]Seattle itself actually receives only 37 inches per year, less than most cities on the East Coast, as it has dry summers and is itself in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Ditto for Portland, which sits in the rain shadow of the Oregon Coast Range. However, it ''is'' exceptionally cloudy and drizzly outside the summer -- between October and May, it's overcast six out of every seven days in Seattle.[[/note]], while UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's fog is almost as much a part of the city's image as cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, [[NewAgeRetroHippie tie-dye Volkswagens]] and [[{{Gayborhood}} rainbow flags]].

The western portion is [[TheOtherRainforest much rainier]], thanks to the mountains keeping the moist air from moving eastward (and leading to the water rights problems to the east). Both summers and winters are mild, with summer temperatures often hovering in the 70s and winter temperatures rarely falling below 40. Snow isn't unheard of, but not particularly common, excluding the more mountainous areas. Whereas the areas east of the mountains are dry, the areas to the west are almost stereotypically wet; UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} are always depicted as exceptionally rainy[[note]]Seattle itself actually receives only 37 inches per year, less than most cities on the East Coast, as it has dry summers and is itself in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Ditto for Portland, which sits in the rain shadow of the Oregon Coast Range. However, it ''is'' exceptionally cloudy and drizzly outside the summer -- between October and May, it's overcast six out of every seven days in Seattle.[[/note]], while UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's fog is almost as much a part of the city's image as cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, [[NewAgeRetroHippie tie-dye Volkswagens]] and [[{{Gayborhood}} rainbow flags]].

The Central Valley experiences hot, dry summers and mild to cool winters. The Sacramento Valley is a little wetter than the San Joaquin Valley.

The coastal areas of central-to-southern California have a climate that is unique in the nation. Called a "Mediterranean" climate after the largest area in the world to possess it, it is characterized by dry summers, wet winters, and mild temperatures year-round. Outside California and the Mediterranean, it is only found in a few other places worldwide, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Santiago]], [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Cape Town]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Adelaide and Perth]]. Of course, since UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}} happens to be located in this tiny region, filmmakers often assume that this is what it's like in most parts of the world, leading to the trope ItsAlwaysSpring.

!!!Alaska

Eastern Colorado is more like the Great Plains climatewise.

Foehn winds,[[note]]Also called Chinooks, which is where the name for [[CanucksWithChinooks the helicopter class]] came from[[/note]] strong mountain winds that blow over the mountain tops and warm the leeward side to startlingly high temperatures (records of raising the temperature nearly 100°F is not unheard of), are found in the more mountainous areas, particularly in Colorado. High snowfall and blizzards are also a problem in the mountains.

In contrast, [[{{Hawaii}} Hawai'i]] enjoys a tropical climate with warm summers and warm winters, though it's less humid than many other tropical regions. Hawai'i is the only state in the U.S. to not record a sub-freezing temperature, though snow isn't unheard of on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. At the same time, temperatures above 100°F are also unheard of. [[note]]Alaska is the other state in which over 100°F temperatures are unheard. In all the other states, the record high temperatures are at least 105°F.[[/note]] The state has the second highest rainfall average at 460 inches per year, though due to the mountainous features, dry portions on the islands are also commonplace.

Due to the geography, the Northeast[[note]]Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont[[/note]] generally experiences warm-to-hot summers, with average temperatures in the 80s and low 90s (though triple-digit temperatures usually only come a few days a year), and cold winters, with daily highs ranging from the high 20s to the low 40s and nighttime lows falling into the teens and single digits. Temperatures on the coast are moderated by the Gulf Stream, resulting in cooler summers and warmer winters in such areas, explaining why places like Cape Cod, the Hamptons and the Jersey Shore are such popular getaways. Heading further inland, the high altitude of the Appalachian Mountains produces cooler weather year-round, allowing them to support large winter resorts as well as a number of summer getaways (like the famous BorschtBelt resorts of the Catskills).