Oceanic climate

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An oceanic climate (also called marine west coast climate and maritime climate) is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia; similar climates are also found at coastal tropical highlands and tropical coasts on leeward sides of mountain ranges. Generally, they fall into Köppen climate classification Cfb or Cwb. A marine climates winters are relatively warm while the summers are relatively cool.

Oceanic climates are characterized by a narrower annual range of temperatures than are encountered in other places at a comparable latitude, and do not have the extremely dry summers of Mediterranean climates. This means that precipitation is both adequate and reliable at all times of the year in oceanic climates, except in certain tropical highland areas, which would have tropical savanna climates (with a dry season in winter) if not for the high altitude making them cooler. Another partial exception is in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, where summers are relatively dry but the rainy season is wet and long enough to avoid the summer droughts associated with traditional Mediterranean climates, although southern parts of the Pacific Northwest are dry enough in the summer to be considered a Mediterranean climate.

Overall temperature characteristics vary among oceanic climates; those at the lowest latitudes are subtropical from a thermal standpoint, but more commonly a mesothermal regime prevails, with cool, but not cold, winters and warm, but not hot, summers. Summers are also generally much cooler than in areas with a humid subtropical climate. Poleward of the latter is a zone of subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc), with relatively mild winters and cool summers and a summer season (average temperature at least 10°C or 50°F) of less than four months; examples of this climate include much of coastal Iceland in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile in the Southern Hemisphere (the fact that this form of climate exists in both hemispheres ruling out the use of such terms as subarctic or boreal to denote it; even though these terms are used to refer to climates characterized by short summers, they are also synonyms for "northern" and therefore inappropriate).

The British Isles experiences a typically maritime climate, with prevailing south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean. The annual average temperature range in the UK is only about 10°C. Although the west coast of Alaska experiences a maritime climate, the absence of an equally significant warm Pacific current in the upper-mid latitudes means that these regions are generally colder in winter, with more precipitation falling as snow.

All mid-latitude oceanic climates are classified as humid. Some rainshadow climates with thermal régimes similar to those of oceanic climates but steppe-like (BSk) or even desert-like (BWk) scarcity of precipitation include lowland valleys of Washington and Oregon to the east of the Cascade Range and Patagonia.

Notable cities which have oceanic climates include:

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[edit] Europe

[edit] North America

[edit] South America

[edit] Oceania


San Francisco, California and Oporto, Portugal have a temperature range characteristic of an oceanic climate but so little rainfall during a summer almost indistinguishable from its winter by temperature that they must be considered part of a Mediterranean climate zone.

Some notable cities and locations with the subpolar Cfc climate are:


Compare Continental climate, Mediterranean climate, Polar climate.

[edit] External links

Climate types under the Köppen climate classification
Class A: Tropical (Af) - Monsoon (Am) - Savanna (Aw, As)
Class B: Arid (BWh, BWk) - Semi-arid (BSh, BSk)
Class C: Humid subtropical (Cfa, Cwa) - Oceanic (Cfb, Cwb, Cfc) - Mediterranean (Csa, Csb)
Class D: Humid continental (Dfa, Dwa, Dfb, Dwb) - Subarctic (Dfc, Dwc, Dfd) -
High-altitude Mediterranean (Dsa, Dsb, Dsc)
Class E: Polar (ET, EF) - Alpine (ETH)
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