The United States is a very large landmass and as a result it has many, many different climates from east to west and north to south.
One of the attractions to the United States is this very diversity in weather. Permanent Residents of the United States are afforded the opportunity to travel wherever they want throughout the country. Some people choose to spend the summers in the cool northern parts of America and then migrate south during the winter months.
Here are some of the many climates of the United States that you can choose from as a permanent resident or citizen of the United States:
- The northern part of the Midwest all the way up to Massachusetts and down the Appalachians has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The northern part of the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast is also humid-continental, but their summers are much cooler.
- The South is considered subtropical and is quite humid year round. Snow is very rare in this part of the country and does not stay very long on the ground.
- The Great Plains and much of the Rocky Mountains have climates similar to steppes and highlands in other parts of the world, dry and at a high elevation.
- Much of Nevada and portions of Utah, Arizona and California are desert climates. They are extremely dry and hot, with some of the hottest temperatures on the planet recorded in the Mojave, but one upside is that it is always sunny!
- The coastal area of California is extremely similar to the climate in the Mediterranean Sea with a pleasant and balanced temperature all year long. With its many vineyards and influential cities along the coast it looks quite a bit like Europe as well!
- The Northwest region of the country is quite a bit cooler and rainier than the California coast, but is known for its beautiful forests and culture.
- Alaska is the only state in the union with parts north of the Arctic Circle and because of this it is by far the coldest state (though when speaking of extremes, there are regions in Montana that can get colder). Some of the more southern parts of Alaska are a little more like the Northwest.
- The Hawaiian islands in the middle of the Pacific and the southernmost part of Florida are tropical and—contrary to most of the continental United States—only has two seasons: rainy and dry.
The United States is also home to some very interesting meteorological phenomena:
- Tornadoes. While tornadoes occur throughout the world, the United States has more tornadoes than all of the rest of the world combined, in fact, there’s a swath of land that runs through the Great Plains and into the Midwest which is called Tornado Alley because of the frequency of these destructive storms.
- The East Coast is often subject to some very destructive storms. Tropical depressions, hurricanes and nor’easters have the tendency to drop massive amounts of rain and wind on major cities there sometimes causing large amounts of damage.
- A slightly less dangerous, but no less impressive phenomena are the dust storms that form in the American Southwest, particularly in southern Arizona. These storms are sometimes called haboobs after the storms that occur in the Saharan Desert. They can often do damage to buildings and landscaping as well as power lines. However, they are truly impressive things to see because it appears to be a wall of sand descending on the city.
In the United States you can find a climate that suits your temperament because it is so large. Though there are some rather impressive storms, they are at the same time quite beautiful and most of the time no more than a temporary nuisance.