The main climate and weather similarities and differences between the UK and the USA

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin

The United States sees severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes on a recurring basis. The United Kingdom receives its share of severe thunderstorms at any point during the year and even sees some tornadoes as well. Both countries have four distinct seasons of fairly equal length spring, summer, autumn and winter. The climate in these two unions is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. The British quarter can be divided into four quarters: North west cool summers, mild winters, heavy rains all year; North east cool summers, cold winters, steady rain all year; South east warm summers, mild winters, light rain all year, especially summer; South west warm summers, mild winters, heavy rain all year, especially winter.

In contrast, the United States covers a large area, thats why it has a number of different climate zones: The west of the US semiarid steppe climate midlatitude Desert climate

The central part humid subtropical climate Oceanic, Marine Westcoast climate Mediterranean climate

The north-east humid continental (warm summer) climate The south central and south pacific alpine, Highland climate

The United States includes a wide variety of climate types due to its large size, range of geographic features, and non-contiguous arrangement. In the contiguous United States to the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical. The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Range are alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington. The state of Alaskaon the northwestern corner of the North American continentis largely subarctic, with an oceanic climate in its southern edge and a polar climate in the north. The archipelago state of Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is tropical. Extreme weather is not uncommonthe states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and tornadoes regularly occur in the area of the Midwest referred to as Tornado Alley. The United States has more tornadoes than the rest of the countries of the world combined.

In the United Kingdom, the regional climates are influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and latitude. Northern Ireland, Wales and western parts of England and Scotland, being closest to the Atlantic, are generally the mildest, wettest and windiest regions of the UK, and temperature ranges here are seldom extreme. Eastern areas are drier, cooler, less windy and also experience the greatest daily and seasonal temperature variations. Northern areas are generally cooler, wetter and have a slight bigger temperature range than southern areas. Though the UK is mostly under the influence of the maritime tropical air mass from the south-west, different regions are more susceptible than others when different air masses affect the country: Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland are the most exposed to the maritime polar air mass which brings cool moist air; the east of Scotland and north-east England are more exposed to the continental polar air mass which brings cold dry air; the south and south-east of England are more exposed to the continental tropical air mass which brings warm dry air (and consequently most of the time the warmest summer temperatures); Wales and the south-west of England are the most exposed to the maritime tropical air mass which brings warm moist air. The British Isles have variable weather that changes from day to day and it is very difficult to predict or forecast the weather. Each country has its own weather that differs from others. In the USA people live in moderate and avoid extreme climate areas, but British people live all over the United Kingdom. These countries have a personified climate and weather that is like a stereotype. In the UK is rainy, but in the USA are tornadoes and hurricanes.

Wrote by: Ciobanu Elena, gr.252L