I know the headline makes no sense. However, I came across this map that shows where cities across the Atlantic from the US would show up in North America at the same latitude. .
https://digg.com/2019/map-north-american-cities-switched-cities-same-latitude
Frank II, I've seen similar maps, and it always impresses me with how far north most of Europe is. There are so many people who think places like Spain, Greece, and the Mediterranean in general, are all tropical with warm winter climates. Also something to think about in relation to climate change.
It's wild how little difference in latitude there is between Moscow and London-the value of being surrounded by water!
I like to add an article in German language about the weather differences along the 50th parallel - written by weather specialists.
The little illustration shows a significant difference of temperatures.
https://www.tagesschau.de/wetter/wetterthema/breitengrad-100.html
I recommend DeepL for bes translation from / to German.
A friend is doing a postal ship cruise these days and was in Hammerfest (Norway) yesterday which is located at the 70s parallel - very much North of Narvik at the top of the digg article. Even there it was not that cold like at two of the mentioned places on the 50th. The Gulf Stream - world's largest heat pump (?) - is working up there. Btw: Looking into the webcams up there shows beautiful Northern Lights.
Oh my gosh, I was talking to a friend from Chicago who was spending a few winter weeks in Sevilla. I commented that if all I wanted was the weather, I could stay home. How right I was! Sevilla is the same latitude and similar distance from the ocean winds as my town.
And golf was invented in St. Andrew's, which is close to the latitude of southern Alaska. As a golfer, I am continually astounded by this.....Fore!
Click the link that I have below & a map will appear showing Europe with the temperatures as of now. Then, click and drag the map westward to north America. Much of north America has more severe weather than most of Europe with excessive heatwaves in summer and freezing winters. That said, Atlantic storms can batter NW Europe and the British Isles were hit with one such storm in early December.
If you go to the menu on the website given below and change it to show sea temperatures, you will see that warm ocean currents (Gulf Stream/N Atlantic Drift) cross the ocean to NW Europe and that the sea water is warmer say in Ireland than at the same latitude on the east or west coast of Canada. The prevailing winds in Britain are westerlies and are thus warmed by the ocean. However, if easterlies reach western Europe in winter, it can be cold but Britain even has these winds warmed a bit by crossing the sea.
https://www.windy.com/-Temperature-temp?temp,48.763,-5.757,5
Thanks FrankII. Fun
And why is Europe so much warmer at similar latitudes?
Here's a short explanation of the "Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation" (AMOC).
https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/what-would-happen-if-atlantic-meridional-overturning-circulation-amoc-collapses-how-likely
A more general explanation is available from a podcast (The Climate Tipping Points) from the BBC's Justin Rowlatt & Laurence Knight. (especially the second of the five episodes, "Ocean Circulation", 14 minutes) .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m00180cc
Seems that a few people here never heard of climate zones. Latitudes are often a minor criteria for climate and weather of a region.
In the US we are all from someplace else and sometimes thats evident.
South of where I lived in Texas is a county that has two political factions, the Alsatians and the English.
North of where I lived is a town, birth place of the WWII Admiral Nimitz, where some of the very old folks still speak German. At the Naval Academy, Nimitz complained that everyone spoke English. A little further north is a town where they have been making good Czech Kolaches for going on 175 years. And not far from there is one of my favorite drinking holes, the SPJST Lodge #9 (Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas) in Snook.
In my Texas home town the last German language news paper was printed in the 1950's and our historic district is named after King Wilhelm I.
My two favorites are:
New Glarus, Wisconsin. Very Swiss town, sister city is Glarus, Switzerland. Has great food, including Swiss dishes, at the Chalet Landhaus. The Swiss Center of North America is there, as is the Swiss Historical Museum (old, re-created village). If you are a beer snob, the New Glarus Brewing brewery is just outside town, looks like an old castle.
Frankenmuth, Michigan. Sister city Gunsenhausen, Germany. Has lots of German festivals, Maifest, Bavarian Fest, etc... Frankenmuda Fratzen does shoe dancing, log sawing, lots of Bavarian music at the festivals. Lot of polka music. Famous for fried chicken.
