Personal climate classification systems

It still doesn't get around the issue of cold winter climates like NYC and DC being lumped in with Brisbane.

I'd rather NYC and DC be grouped with Brisbane than the likes of Winnipeg...

Angler's Common Sense™ Climate Classification System

(Revision as of 31 Aug 2021 @ 4:50 PM)

Tropical (A)  

Precipitation (Pattern):

• Rainforest (f) = Driest month > 150 mm, or annual precipitation > 3,000 mm

• Grassland (m) = Driest month 25–150 mm

• Savanna (w) = Driest month < 25 mm

Thermal:

• Equatorial (e) = Coolest month > 24° C

• Tropical (t) = Coolest month > 16° C 

Precipitation (Aridity—only applicable if requirements met; otherwise, no extra letter may be added):

• Equatorial Desert; Tropical Desert (H) = Annual precipitation < 400 mm; < 300 mm respectively

Subtropical (B) 

Precipitation (Pattern):

• Uniform (f) = Evenly-distributed precipitation

• Monsoonal (s) = Summer or Autumn precipitation at least twice that of winter or spring

• Mediterranean (w) = Winter or Spring precipitation at least twice that of summer or autumn

Thermal:

• Subtropical (a) = Annual mean > 16° C; ≥ 9 months > 10° C

Precipitation (Aridity—strictly confined to the Subtropical category):

• Desert (H) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima < 250 mm

• Scrubland (K) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima 250–450 mm

• Bushland (L) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima > 450 mm

Temperate (C)

Thermal:

• Temperate (a) = Annual mean 10°–16° C; coolest month > 0° C; ≥ 4 months > 10° C

• Continental (d) = Annual mean 8°–16° C; coolest month < 0° C; ≥ 4 months > 10° C

• Cool Temperate (T) = Annual mean < 10° C; coolest month > 0° C; ≥ 4 months > 10° C

• Hemiboreal (E) = Annual mean < 8° C; coolest month < 0° C; ≥ 4 months > 10° C

Precipitation (Aridity—only applicable to Temperate and Continental):

• Desert (H) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima < 250 mm

• Steppe (K) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima 250–450 mm

• Woodland (L) = Total precipitation of all months with > 0° C minima > 450 mm

Subpolar (D)

Thermal:

• Subpolar Maritime (T) = Coolest month > 0° C; 1–3 months > 10° C

• Subarctic/Subantarctic (E) = Coolest month < 0° C; 1–3 months > 10° C

• Boreal Permafrost (F) = Coolest month < –20° C; 1–3 months > 10° C

Polar (E)

Thermal:

• Tundra (T) = Warmest month < 10° C

• Polar Ice-Cap (F) = Warmest month < 0° C

Precipitation (Glaciation—only applicable if requirements met; otherwise, no extra letter may be added):

• Semi-Glacial (H) = Applicable to ET if precipitation exceeds 100 mm on at least 4 of < 0° C months

All 31 Climate Types (W/ examples):

A

• Equatorial Desert (AeH) = Jeddah

• Tropical Desert (AtH) = Agadez

• Equatorial Rainforest (Afe) = Kuching

• Equatorial Grassland (Ame) = Singapore

• Equatorial Savanna (Awe) = Darwin

• Tropical Rainforest (Aft) = Tully

• Tropical Grassland (Amt) = Key Biscayne

• Tropical Savanna (Awt) = Tennant Creek

B

• Subtropical Uniform Desert (BfaH) = Renmark

• Subtropical Monsoonal Desert (BsaH) = Oodnadatta

• Subtropical Mediterranean Desert (BwaH) = Almería

• Subtropical Uniform Scrubland (BfaK) = Eucla

• Subtropical Monsoonal Scrubland (BsaK) = Tucson

• Subtropical Mediterranean Scrubland (BwaK) = Ceduna

• Subtropical Uniform Bushland (BfaL) = Raleigh

• Subtropical Monsoonal Bushland (BsaL) = Inverell

• Subtropical Mediterranean Bushland (BwaL) = Perth

C

• Temperate Desert (CaH) = Albuquerque

• Temperate Steppe (CaK) = Cooma

• Temperate Woodland (CaL) = Maragle

• Continental Desert (CdH) = Grand Junction

• Continental Steppe (CdK) = Fort Collins

• Continental Woodland (CdL) = Pittsburgh

• Cool Temperate (CT) = Cabramurra

• Hemiboreal (CE) = Turku

D

• Subpolar Maritime (DT) = Vík í Mýrdal

• Subarctic (DE) = Umeå / Subantarctic (DE) = Mount Hotham

• Boreal Permafrost (DF) = Yakutsk

E

• Tundra (ET) = Port-aux-Français

• Tundra Semi-Glacial (ETH) = Bird Island

• Polar Ice-Cap (EF) = Mirny Station

That's because the Cool signifies rather the capability for a climate to receive cooler weather on an absolute scale, than it does the verdancy of said climate.

Here is my classification:
Am: Tropical monsoon (summer high > 30 C, Winter low > 15 C)
Af: Tropical rainforest (summer high > 25 C, Winter low > 15 C)
As: Tropical dry summer (summer high > 30 C, Winter low > 15 C)

---

Bsh: Hot semi arid (summer high > 30 C, Winter low > 5 C)
Bsk: Cold semi Arid (summer high > 20 C, Winter low < 5 C)
Bwh: Hot desert (summer high > 30 C, Winter low > 5 C)
Bwk: Cold desert (summer high > 20 C, Winter low < 5 C)

---

Csa: Hot summer Mediterranean (summer high > 30 C, Winter low 0-15 C)
Cfa: Subtropical (summer high > 30 C, Winter low 0-15 C)
Cwa: Hot Subtropical monsoon (summer high > 30 C, Winter low 0-15 C)

---

Csb: Warm summer Mediterranean (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low 0-10 C)
Cfb: Warm Oceanic (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low 0-10 C)
Cfc: Cold Oceanic (summer high < 20 C, Winter low 0-10 C)
Cwb: Warm subtropical monsoon (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low 0-10 C)

---

Tf: Wet temperate (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low -10-0 C)
Ts: Dry summer temperate (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low -10-0 C)
Tw: Dry winter temperate (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low > -10-0 C)
Tosh: Unique British climate (summer high 10-20 C with overcast skies, winter low -10-0 C. Annually < 500 hours sunshine)

---

Dfa/Dsa/Dwa: Hot summer continental (summer high > 30 C, Winter low < 0 C)
Dfb/Dsb/Dwb: Warm summer continental (summer high 20-30 C, Winter low < -10 C)

---

Dsc/Dwc: Boreal (summer high 10-20 C, Winter low < -10 C)
Dfc: Subpolar Oceanic (summer high 10-20 C, Winter low < -10 C)

ET: Tundra (summer high < 10 C, Winter low < -10 C)

Well, I also added a joke hidden in between. If someone finds it, let me know . My climate classification ranks anything north of Tennessee as Continental or temperate.

Some classifications may not have many climates within them for now, but they will expand as global warming continues. The Scottish highlands may meet the funny classification I listed 😄.

@rg6832614 mine does that too

knot Yours looks good but there’s way too many categories. IMO classifications should be more general rather than specific and it gets too confusing.

Also, why so low a threshold for your “monsoonal” categories? One month 2 x another month seems pretty uniform to me.

FrozenI69 wtf is going on with you’re arid category? There’s plenty of climates that don’t fit into either hot or cold

DC and NYC aren't exactly characterized by heavy snow either. DC averages 15" of snow a year (38 cm) and NYC averages 28" (71 cm), not exactly super snowy winter climates. Yes, they are susceptible to strong Noreasters which can dump heavy blizzards on them, but saying they're represented by that type of weather is like saying highs in the 15-20 C range characterizes their winters too. Also, Brisbane and DC/NYC are the two far extremes of the subtropical classification, so it's not surprising that they wouldn't have much in common. Both Brisbane and DC are bad examples of an archetypal subtropical climate.


I think it's silly to act like subtropical climates can't possibly get cold in winter or have ice/snow on occasion. Even places like Louisiana and Southern Texas can get snowfall events from time to time. DC certainly has more in common climate-wise with somewhere like Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, etc than it does with true continental climates such as Des Moines, Minneapolis, Fargo, etc. 

Winter mean requirement of 7-8 C is far too high. It would be silly to say somewhere like Tallahassee comes only within 2-3 C for qualifying as a continental climate.