New York Weather
It has been raining like dogs and cats for the last three days, which is unique in itself. Even more so is the fact that before last week, it hadn't rained for a good couple of months. It also hasn't gotten below freezing or even below 40 degrees Fahrenheit thus far in the month of October. Currently it is 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and since it has been raining, it is as humid as it was all summer.
It is probably easy enough to blame it all on global warming, and I will not go so far as to say that global warming has nothing to do with it. Being in New York, though, one gets a different perception of weather than from other parts of the country. I have not lived in every climate in the world, so far be it from me to say I am an expert on weather. I am used to a seasonal climate, though, just like I think most people are in the United States and the world.
It seems that, living in New York, we get a different extreme of the weather that not many people think about. Coming straight from the Midwest, I am used to having a certain amount of sky to look at in regards to the weather. One does not get the same luxury here in New York. In New York, one is surrounded by buildings, and so the only view of the sky pretty much is straight up. Unless one has the luxury of being high up in the sky to begin with, either in one of the tall buildings that obstructs the view from the people on the ground or on the roof of some other building, one generally does not get a good view of the sky.
This is part of the reason I feel that New York weather is perceived as being a little extreme. Another part of the reason is because, as long as I have lived here, the weather has been a little extreme. This summer was the first time a tornado has touched down in something like 47 years, and that was during days of rain and storms that included flooding and the shutting down of subway lines. Last winter, there were days that it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside. There were also days when it felt like it was -20.
The geography of the land surrounding New York provides for nature during these very extreme weather scenarios. New York is essentially a series of small islands surrounded by water and land at the door to the Atlantic Ocean. It lends itself to being densely populated with all kinds of wildlife, not to mention humans. Being surrounded by water, and all the weather patterns that the ocean brings with it, New York is brutally hot and humid in the summer, deathly cold in the winter. I am sure the fact that man has ripped up all the natural insulation of the earth and replaced it with steel and concrete has only made the weather conditions worse for New York's inhabitants.
Like I said, I am no expert on weather or anything science-related, but, from an average bystander's perspective, it just seems that New York weather is a little different from weather elsewhere.
It is probably easy enough to blame it all on global warming, and I will not go so far as to say that global warming has nothing to do with it. Being in New York, though, one gets a different perception of weather than from other parts of the country. I have not lived in every climate in the world, so far be it from me to say I am an expert on weather. I am used to a seasonal climate, though, just like I think most people are in the United States and the world.
It seems that, living in New York, we get a different extreme of the weather that not many people think about. Coming straight from the Midwest, I am used to having a certain amount of sky to look at in regards to the weather. One does not get the same luxury here in New York. In New York, one is surrounded by buildings, and so the only view of the sky pretty much is straight up. Unless one has the luxury of being high up in the sky to begin with, either in one of the tall buildings that obstructs the view from the people on the ground or on the roof of some other building, one generally does not get a good view of the sky.
This is part of the reason I feel that New York weather is perceived as being a little extreme. Another part of the reason is because, as long as I have lived here, the weather has been a little extreme. This summer was the first time a tornado has touched down in something like 47 years, and that was during days of rain and storms that included flooding and the shutting down of subway lines. Last winter, there were days that it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside. There were also days when it felt like it was -20.
The geography of the land surrounding New York provides for nature during these very extreme weather scenarios. New York is essentially a series of small islands surrounded by water and land at the door to the Atlantic Ocean. It lends itself to being densely populated with all kinds of wildlife, not to mention humans. Being surrounded by water, and all the weather patterns that the ocean brings with it, New York is brutally hot and humid in the summer, deathly cold in the winter. I am sure the fact that man has ripped up all the natural insulation of the earth and replaced it with steel and concrete has only made the weather conditions worse for New York's inhabitants.
Like I said, I am no expert on weather or anything science-related, but, from an average bystander's perspective, it just seems that New York weather is a little different from weather elsewhere.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 4:27 PM
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