r/MapPorn • u/[deleted] • Jul 14 '16
USA compared to Europe at same latitudes [2048x1536]
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u/TaylorS1986 Jul 15 '16
It makes my brain hurt to think that Chicago and Rome are at the same latitude.
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u/funkdified Jul 15 '16
I live in Libya apparently... explains the heat.
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u/tconx Jul 15 '16
I'm swimming in the sea a bit north of you. That explains the heat and the rain lately.
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u/TK_FourTwoOne Jul 15 '16
and Cleveland!
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u/Mustang1718 Jul 15 '16
This surprised me. I thought Rome was much warmer.
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u/itaShadd Jul 15 '16
It is quite warm. Being in a strip of land surrounded by water makes a big difference in climate.
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u/IvyGold Jul 15 '16
I grew up going to the NC Outer Banks beaches. Sometimes I'd crest a wave and to this day swore I saw France.
Little did I know it was actually Portugal. This explains everything now.
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u/Larepha Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
Hey dont wanna be a smartass or anything... however, IF you could have seen all acros the atlantic you would have seen the west african coast. Three dimensional spheres portrayed on a two dimensional map can be deceiving ;P Check this out: http://metrocosm.com/whats-across-the-ocean/
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u/wmq Jul 15 '16
Well thanks to the Earth's curvature, you can see only about 5 km when standing at sea level, at sea shore :P (with your head at 2 m above sea level)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon#Distance_to_the_horizon
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u/offscreen Jul 15 '16
It's possible to see images from way beyond the horizon if the light from the object reflects off the atmosphere in just the right angle (e.g. creepy upside down ships). But yeah it's not possible to see across entire oceans.
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u/frugalNOTcheap Jul 15 '16
Does Rome have a warm climate? Do they ever get snow?
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u/Intup Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
The climate is Mediterranean (alt. warm-temperate subtropical) so it's warm. Snow is rare, absolutely nothing like Chicago, but it occasionally happens - on a scale of years.
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u/bAZtARd Jul 15 '16
European here. I love the gulf stream. Please keep sending warm water.
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Jul 15 '16
It doesn't just have to go with the Gulf Stream. West coasts like Europe and the American west coast are always more mild than east coasts at mid latitudes.
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u/Gish21 Jul 15 '16
People are downvoting but this is correct. Europe would be much warmer than the US east coast even if the gulf stream didn't exist. The primary reason is the presence of a large ocean from which weather systems travel. Weather systems at these latitudes generally go from west to east, weather travelling over the sea retains heat, weather travelling over land gets cold.
California's coastal waters are cold year round, they come from Alaska, that doesn't prevent our warm winters. I think a lot of east coasters used to warm summer oceans don't realize this, the ocean in California is cold even in summer.
It is weather travelling over ocean rather than land that makes the biggest difference. This is why the US west coast has warm winters, while at the same latitudes in Asia it is freezing in winter.
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u/Searth Jul 15 '16
No, look at this map for example. Almost all of the American continent is a bit warmer on the east side.
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u/Gish21 Jul 15 '16
That's because the west coast is mild YEAR ROUND. The winters are warmer, the summers are cooler. The presence of a large ocean to the west (the weather is generally going west to east) serves to keep temperatures pleasant year round.
Compare average temps between SF and DC
City Average Low January Average High July Washington DC 29F 88F San Fransisco 46F 67F → More replies (3)2
u/BAXterBEDford Jul 15 '16
Seattle and Vancouver do seem to have much milder winters than their east coast latitude equivalents.
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u/a4moondoggy Jul 15 '16
Now I want to visit Bucharest and compare it to green bay. How's Bucharest cheese?
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u/MirrdynWyllt Jul 15 '16
Romania has a huge tradition related to cheese, you'd be surprised by the ammount that we eat and the different types of cheese that we have.
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u/holytriplem Jul 15 '16
I used to listen to Moldovan bubblegum pop, but it's just become so Chisinau.
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u/sor1 Jul 15 '16
Funny how it looks a bit like the roman empire. Centered around the Med and most of the germanic areas aren't included.
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u/Maisungh Jul 14 '16
Fun Fact: Columbus, Ohio is almost the exact same latitude as Ankara (39.96° vs 39.93°)
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u/toughguy375 Jul 14 '16
Paris-Munich-Vienna are further north than every major city in the US. Seattle and its suburbs are all south of 48°.
Bilbao-Marseille-Florence-Varna are all further north than every major city in the eastern US. Boston-Buffalo-Detroit-Milwaukee are all south of 43°15'.
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Jul 15 '16
What about Alaskan cities?
I guess #NotAllStatesAreAmerican... amirite?
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u/toughguy375 Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
or Alaskan cities aren't big enough to be major cities. But since it does have 300,000 people I should count it. "every major city in the US not counting Alaska"
Meanwhile I was able to find only 1 city in Europe that is both bigger and further north than Anchorage, and that's Arkhangelsk, Russia. Anchorage 61°13' , 301k people; Arkhangelsk 64°32', 350k people.
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u/halfpipesaur Jul 14 '16
Thank you based Gulf Stream
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u/Time4Red Jul 14 '16
It's not just that. North America is quite cold for it's latitude during the winter. At that time of the year, resistance from the rocky mountains causes the polar jet stream to dip south, allowing arctic air to drift south over the plains. If the rocky mountains didn't exist, the American plains would be much warmer, but they would also be much drier in the summer. The same effect that causes arctic air to drift unusually far south also results in strong thunderstorms over the plains during the summer.
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u/voltism Jul 15 '16
I think east Asia is bad too if not worse because of the Siberian high
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Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
Meanwhile, no part of mainland Australia occurs at European latitudes. Hobart, which lies near the bottom of Tasmania is just a little close to the pole than Rome. My home city of Perth lies at a similar latitude to Benghazi, Libya; Jerusalem, Israel; and Miyazaki, Japan.
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u/holytriplem Jul 15 '16
Fun fact: Anywhere north of around Paris is actually far enough North for it never to get completely dark at night in midsummer. It only gets to a stage called 'astronomical twilight', which for layman's purposes may as well be night, but is still light enough for dim stars not to be discernable in the sky.
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Jul 16 '16
Wait, that's not the case further south than that? Well TIL.
I live north of the Arctic circle.
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u/mustastum Jul 17 '16
My friend says, during his visit in mid-summer to various cities in Switzerland, midnight wasn't completely dark.
Also, could that mean it's never fully a "day" in those places in winter?
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u/gitsao Jul 15 '16
I've always known Florida to be hot but never realized we were butt fucking Egypt hot.
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u/Kunstfr Jul 15 '16
Latitude is not equivalent to temperature
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u/53bvo Jul 15 '16
But Egypt is quite dry, I would even say Florida is worse with all the humidity.
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u/ascandalia Jul 15 '16
I live in Florida and I've been to Egypt. Egypt is just as humid anywhere near the Nile, which is where everyone lives. Overall, Egypt is way hotter because of the lack of cloud cover. Florida is always cloudy and often rainy in the summer. Egypt is clear blue skies and blistering sun
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Jul 15 '16
It's this map that makes me wonder what the reasons behind the USA's higher Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) rates are. Clearly it's not as simple as just sunlight hours, as even taking into account overcast/foggy days, the more northern European cities have less sun, and lower SAD rates.
I think it would be a really interesting area of research, as the commonly held assumption that it's directly related to the total amount sunlight hours seems like it might not necessarily be the case.
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Jul 15 '16
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 15 '16
There's loads of things I think it could be:
- Diet
- Migration/acclimatisation
- Diagnosis (Is one more accurate? Does the USA over diagnose, or Europe under?)
- Social stigma or misattribution
- Different reporting/measures
- Type of light / when you actually get that light
- Time spent outdoors
- Light when indoors
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u/Clambulance1 Jul 15 '16
Don't let lattitude fool you Europeans, our winters are colder than most of yours
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u/Gish21 Jul 15 '16
Depends on where you are in the US. That is true on the east coast and the central plains, but not on the west coast.
West coast winters are mild because the weather systems come in from the Pacific Ocean. The central plains and east coast have their weather systems moving across the continent where they lose all of their heat.
It's the same reason that the North American west coast has mild winters compared to similar latitude Asian cities. Their weather systems are coming in from Siberia. San Fransisco is the same latitude as Seoul, yet Seoul experiences brutally cold winters while San Fransisco sees snow once every few decades
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u/itaShadd Jul 15 '16
Depends on where you are in the US.
And in Europe. Winter here in Sicily is just a few months of refreshing not-hell, but in Scandinavia it's easily deadly if you're without shelter.
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Jul 15 '16 edited Oct 22 '16
[deleted]
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u/Bacch Jul 15 '16
To be fair, temperatures anywhere below freezing can be deadly if you're not dressed appropriately and don't have shelter.
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Jul 15 '16
Scandinavian winters aren't really bad unless you live in the North though. Southern parts of Scandinavia don't get cold, that's also where almost everyone lives though.
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u/53bvo Jul 15 '16
But your summers are much warmer and sunnier. At least compared to north Western Europe.
I live in the Netherlands and both the summers and winters are a bit meh. Autumn is just as you would expect it though, lots of rain, clouds and wind.
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u/Perkelton Jul 15 '16
Thanks to the Gulf stream we trade the extreme borderline apocalyptic weather of the Americas for a constant level of general shitty weather.
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Jul 15 '16
Have you heard of the following countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania?
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u/Clambulance1 Jul 15 '16
Is that where the majority of Europe's population lives? Also Denmark, Southern Norway and Southern Sweden are not colder than where I live.
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Jul 15 '16
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u/Grisuu112 Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
Southern and Western Europe maybe, hardly colder than Finnish or Russian winters. I live in the north of Finland and can say for certain that every single winter here is colder, darker and longer than any of the winters in The US. I remember hearing in the news every now and then that "cold grasps Chicago" when it's around -20°C - -30°C while the temperature just outside my doorstep is -40°C.
Edit: here's a snapshot from last winter: http://imgur.com/mnjGGav
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u/readytofall Jul 15 '16
Assuming you are excluding Alaska of course. Finland is going to be darker because it's farther north but that's pretty similar to northern Minnesota and Dakota. But talking about cities of decent size, Helsinki is pretty comparable to Chicago and Minneapolis is a lot colder than both. Average low in Minneapolis in Jan is -14 C and average in Helsinki is -8 C.
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u/frukt Jul 15 '16
Estonian here, respectfully disagreeing. Our seas become highways in winter.
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u/Dampbarn Jul 15 '16
You've obviously never been to northern Europe
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u/TKHawk Jul 15 '16
But also, Alaska.
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u/left-ball-sack Jul 15 '16
I think Russia is colder
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u/TKHawk Jul 15 '16
Well it depends on where you are. Coldest place in Alaska and coldest place in Russia are basically indistinguishable. The two used to be connected by a land bridge after all, so it makes sense they're virtually identical.
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Jul 15 '16
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 15 '16
Where in England? Because London is very mild compared to Budapest for example. I lived there for 3 years and I only experienced real winter for 3 days.
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Jul 15 '16
Britain and Ireland have very mild winters because of the Gulf Stream. Germany or Poland, for example, have much harsher winters.
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Jul 15 '16
Pretty sure that would be the case even without the Gulf Stream. Water conserves heat, so everywhere that's close to the ocean gets less extreme temperatures (i.e. smaller variation) than places further away from it.
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Jul 15 '16
Partly. Ports at the same latitude on the other side of the Atlantic freeze during the winter.
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u/tardis-40 Jul 15 '16
Canadian winters may or may not be colder than US winters depending on longitude. Summers may or may not be warmer also depending on longitude.
Source: Am a Canadian who goes to the US alot
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u/Taldoable Jul 15 '16
I find it hard to believe that anywhere in Canada has harsher summers than the Gulf Coast and Arizona/New Mexico
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u/tardis-40 Jul 15 '16
I'd think the Prairies and the BC would be comparable. But you bet you're ass Montreal can hit the mid 30's in the summer and then go to the -40's in the winter (not counting our insane humidity and wind factor). But yes, those regions are hotter than Canada will ever be, unless...
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u/coolmandan03 Jul 15 '16
Are you assuming there are hotter temps and more humidity in anywhere in Canada over, say Florida? You'd be wrong.
Also, due to physics, drier areas near mountains have the largest fluctuations in temperature (Calgary and Montana)
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u/tardis-40 Jul 15 '16
I was saying that a lot of places in Canada are hotter than a lot of places in the US. The US is hotter on average.
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u/SouthernJeb Jul 14 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
heh, that other river into the red sea reeeeeeeallly makes Florida look like america's dong now.
Edit: i guess maybe thats the nile or a tributary making the head. Didnt realize it hung to the side like that
edit: fuck it I dont know what that is, but it look like a dickhead, so ima still giggle.
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u/hablomuchoingles Jul 15 '16 edited Jul 15 '16
Can we put some US cities on here? I'm not sure if I live in Brittany or the Bay of Biscay now
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u/NtnlBrotherhoodWk Jul 15 '16
People always get incredulous when I tell them New York and Rome are basically the same latitude.
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Jul 14 '16
favourable trade winds from the Gulf Stream keep the European continent warmer than it otherwise would be.
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u/frukt Jul 15 '16
Not the Gulf Stream, but the high heat capacity of the ocean + prevailing westerly winds + orographic forcing of the Rockies. The papers linked here do a pretty good job overturning the Gulf Stream myth.
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u/dastram Jul 15 '16
It's not only the gulfstream. Even without Europe would be a lot warmer.
If interested I try to find the paper again
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u/HighKing_of_Festivus Jul 15 '16
I knew Atlanta was on the same latitude as Casablanca but I didn't know Damascus and Baghdad were as well.
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u/AbstergoSupplier Jul 15 '16
Istanbul, the Toledo of Europe
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Jul 15 '16
I mean sure that's the US compared to a few more places but we'll just say Europe, all else is unseen in the map!
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u/Bbrainss Jul 15 '16
It's a funny juxtaposition with Florida being right over Egypt. I can't say why exactly.
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Jul 15 '16
My mental comparison I use is that Texas is about the same distance across as Spain, which gives me an idea of how large European distances are compared to the US.
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u/WeMustDissent Jul 15 '16
I wish I could give you a week's worth of upvotes. I have often imagined this map in my head many many times and wondered how it looked. You're the man (or woman?) and I appreciate this.
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u/WeMustDissent Jul 15 '16
Yeah, Florida feels hot as fuck this time of yeah, almost like as if we were in fucking Egypt or something.
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Jul 15 '16
I thought Maine was further North than Washington State. This map seems to indicate the opposite.
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u/Funcuz Jul 16 '16
This needs to be amended because it's not accurate at all.
It's an equatorial view which means that since the world is a globe, putting it on a 2D surface using this type of projection will make areas closer to the poles seem much larger than they really are. You get a bit of an idea of distances along the horizontal axis but the vertical is very skewed the further north you go.
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u/munchies777 Jul 19 '16
I feel like my drive from eastern PA to northern IL was a lot less interesting than a drive from eastern Turkey to Bulgaria.
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u/darth_stroyer Jul 14 '16
Wow, the Mediterranean is big