Re: Zones
Sounds about right, Tony. I've just returned from our Summer hols on the
Atlantic Spanish south coast, where "real" Med weather rules. We always
have to overcome the temptation to stop by at a garden center on the
coast and load up on those luscious climbers and flowering shrubs.
Bitter experience tells us that there is no way they will make it
through the first winter back home in Talavera, only 500 km away.
Damian Martin
Talavera, Central Spain
Tony & Moira Ryan wrote:
>
> Damian Martin wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for the offer Kay. What do you reckon we are?
> >
> > Very hot, very dry Summer, from June to mid September. Up to 40ºC some
> > days.
> > Cold spell from December to Feb. Hard frosts are common. Typically clear
> > sunny days with temperatures plumetting at sundown.
> > Mild Autumn and mild Spring, if we get one. Always some rain.
> > Our native vegetation seems to have to cope with typical Med. dry Summer
> > spells + sharp continental winter frosts.
> > Someone on the list mentioned that our climate is simmilar to northern
> > California. Can anyone verify this?
> >
> > Damian Martin
> > Talavera de la Reina - Central Spain.
>
> Hi Damian,
>
> This is interesting, as we live at almost the exact antipodes of where
> you are! (Wellington, NZ is exactly "opposite" Madrid, Spain), and yet
> our climate is substantially different.
>
> The differences are largely accounted for by the fact that we are
> isolated by thousands of miles (or kilometers) from any other landmass
> of significant size, so the surrounding ocean has an immense moderating
> effect on our climate, which has a much narrower temperature range than
> yours. -6C up to 28C would be our "outside" range, with -3 to 25C being
> more normal through most years.
>
> OTOH, on the coastal plain of our South Island - no more than 250 miles
> (say 400 kms) from here - they are downwind of the Southern Alps, and
> this situation causes something much closer to what you describe, with
> much wider swings of temperature, harder frosts in winter, and dryer
> summers than we get.
>
> Tony
> --
> Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
> Wainuiomata,
> New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
