Topics on this page:

-Precipitation Patterns

-The Seasons in Bergonia

-The 21 Specific Climate Zones

Also see:

-Vegetation,  -Fauna,  -The Land

The Major Weather Influences

Moist winds & low pressure systems come from the west, especially in winter, bringing cool, moist air to Berg's northwestern half.

The Azores subtropical high pressure system in the east, strongest in summer.

Big variations in topography & altitude produce big variations in local climate.

The Climate in a Nutshell

A split between subtropical climate (south, east & lowlands) and temperate (north and highlands).

Moist in the west and north.  Semi-arid in the south and east.

The summers are hot in the lower elevations all throughout Bergonia.  The summers can be mild and balmy in the central plateau and the other highlands.

Mild winters in the lowlands.  Winters are typically cool and wet in the uplands & central plateau, and  in some years can be very cold.  The northern mountains and much of the central plateau see frost, snow and ice, though usually light, every year.

Because of the highly varied topography, there are many local variations in weather and climate.  Dense subtropical forest can exist within ten or twenty miles of semi-arid scrubland.

Temperature:

January mean daily highs:

Over 75º F:  Incuatati, Soleinia, and southern Amota, as in Cuba, extreme southern Florida, Senegal. (A climates)

60-75º F:  Paietri, Sanraniclai, Halemarec, southeastern Persian, as in Central Florida and Spanish Sahara. (A climates)

40-60º F:   North Bergonian coast, Ifuno Plateau, as in Georgia, South Carolina, Morocco & Spain.  (C climates)

Under 50º F:  The high hills & mountains.

July mean daily highs:

Over 80º F :  All southern Bergonia, Amota, and the western lowlands, as in Florida, South Carolina.

Under 80º F:  Northern Bergonia, the Ifuno plateau and the mountains, as in Spain, and Morocco.  

How geography creates climate:

With a land mass extending between 25° to 35°N latitude, Bergonia lies at the divide between the temperate and subtropical climatic zones.  The latitudes that cross Bergonia also cross many of the world's great deserts, including Sahara, Arabian and Sonoran.  Also at this latitude around the world one finds semiarid plateaus, including the Colorado, Moroccan, Iranian & South African. 

On one hand the sub-tropical high pressure system floats over the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Bergonia.  Its movements and strengths are the main determinant of (a) weather in the southern half of Berg, and (b) summer weather overall.  On the other hand the low pressure systems originating from North America determine (a) weather in the northern half of Berg and (b) winter weather overall.  Generally Bergonia's summer weather comes from the east, and its winter weather comes from the west.  

How topography tempers climate:

Any generalizations that one can make about Bergonian weather and climate must be tempered by appreciation of just how mountainous this continental island really is.  Only in the southern part of Bergonia does the land lay flat.  

The mountainous and hilly topography produces extreme variations in temperature, rainfall and ecology.   Windward sides of mountain ranges get dependable rainfall, while leeward sides cast "rain shadows."  Extremely arid localities border  other areas that are quite moist and verdant.

Likewise, one can leave hot, dry lowlands, ascend quickly into cloud forest, and then emerge into Alpine meadow, all within ten or twenty miles.

Nowhere in the lowlands of Bergonia does one experience cold weather.  But with increased altitude, winter temperatures and nightly lows fall much lower.  The central plateau is for the most part above 1000 meters/3281 feet.  At that altitude, winter temperatures are generally 5 to 10° C (9-18° F) colder than sea level temperatures.  On the plateau and in the mountains winter nighttime temperatures can and do fall below freezing.  

Links:

The world's eco-regions, a valuable web resource maintained jointly by the National Geographic Society and the World Wildlife Org.

Current North Atlantic Weather

Current North Atlantic wind and pressure -- hit this link, then hit "Atlantic Surface Analysis."

"NMLOC annotated imagery" -- shows current showers and thunderstorms over the North Atlantic.

NMLOC climatology for the North Atlantic, including surface temperature and pressure.

Rainfall, cloud liquid water and water vapor for the world's oceans, including the North Atlantic.

Trans-Atlantic aviation weather page

Climate Prediction Center

Atlas of East Atlantic Rainfall

Western North Atlantic Satellite Images 

U.S. Navy Observatory:  on-line data for sunrise & sunset, lunar phases, eclipses, positions of heavenly bodies, etc.

Summer

Summer is overall the driest season, but in the east and southeast it is the wettest season.

In summer, the sub-tropical high pressure system hovers in the Atlantic centered around the Azores Islands, between Bergonia and the Iberian Peninsula, approximately on the 35^th parallel.  This high pressure system generates the North-East Trade Winds.  From April to October these winds blow into eastern and southeastern Berg, strongest along the 25^th degree latitude, which runs through the flat expanse of southern Bergonia.  Therefore, in the summer these winds blow strong across the south.  The winds blow hardest during the day, and can produce a dense stratum of cloud.  These clouds come inland, and when they strike the the eastern sides of mountains--  including the Spichelamos and the Palu Mountains-- where it condenses and creates gray shrouds of cloud, mist, rain and abundant subtropical forest.  

The highlands of the Ifuno plateau get rain in the form of abrupt thunderstorms which break through the wall of Spichelamo mountains in the east, and also which come up from the south.  The west and north of Bergonia are relatively dry in the summer, since the land mass shield them from the easterly & southerly influences.   Overall, the trade winds bring moisture sporadically and undependably from year to year, and week to week.  In the summers of some years, the high pressure system heavily showers almost all Bergonia   In other years, the high pressure system expands and spreads over Bergonia and creates drought.

Autumn

This is generally Bergonia's rainiest season.  It is hurricane season.  The tropical storms form far to the southeast of Bergonia, and then usually track south and southwest of the island.  The ones that reach Bergonia usually from the southeast to the northwest, thus striking only the southwestern quarter of Bergonia.  Pueoi, Incuatati and Lampanira are the areas of Bergonia most oft and hardest hit by these terrible afflictions of natural power.  However some westward-tracking storms will suddenly turn north and crash directly into Bergonia.  At one time or another-- usually at least once a year-- every part of Bergonia is affected by tropical storm weather.  

Hurricanes have had their affect on history; in medieval times the power of the great state of Pueoi was in two days utterly destroyed by the force of a mighty hurricane, thus radically changing the balance of political and military power of the times, allowing the state of Tiericoatli to dominate all central Bergonia for over two hundred years.

In the absence of these powerful storms, Autumn tends to be a balmy time for all Bergonia, with shifting wind patterns and variable precipitation.  The west, center and north of Bergonia-- even the southeast-- all see a fair amount of rain.  

Winter

Now the Azores sub-tropical high pressure system moves to the south, closer to the northwest African coast, taking the Trade Winds further south as well, to where they become irrelevant.  Now polar air masses come off the North American continent, bringing cold moisture.  These currents are fueled by the Jet Stream, which also churn up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the American Sea.  Thus winter rains are heavy in the west and the north of Bergonia.  The winds carry the moisture well into the interior of Bergonia, providing all the Ifuno plateau with rains.  When the temperatures fall in the mountains and on the high plateau, the rains become snow and ice, although for the most part the winter climate is mild.  

It should be recalled that while Bergonia is on the same latitude as the southeastern USA, much of its territory contains mountain ranges over 5,000 feet in altitude, and elevated plateau land of 2,000 to 5,000 feet.  Because the high Spichelamos mountains run north and south, they serve as a wall to block the westerly winds.  Thus Amota to the east is quite dry in winter.  The westerlies very rarely benefit the southern part of Bergonia since typically they blow north of 29 degrees latitude.  However storms sometimes do blow over southern Bergonia, giving it some rainfall.  Moreover, the rains that benefit central Bergonia end up draining down southward-flowing rivers into the arid regions.

The winter low pressure systems usually track from west to east no further south than 32 degrees latitude.  This delimits only the northern third of the landmass, which is also its most mountainous part.   Therefore the northern mountains and hills are in the winter frequently very cold and fraught freezing, drizzling rain, often becoming snow in the high altitudes.  Because these winter westerlies are much moister than the easterlies of summer, the northwest is the moistest part of Bergonia.

When neither winter westerlies nor summer trades are blowing—which for much of the country is much of the time—the country enjoys the benign effects of the prevailing anticyclones.  These bring light winds, some clouds and moist air, but there is much sunshine.  

Spring

The winter patterns persist through March and into April.  The westerlies continue influencing weather in northern and western Bergonia well into May, keeping these regions moist, so that, as in winter, the northwest & north are the wettest parts of the country.   

The sub-tropical high pressure system expands again during this time.  At times it churns up moist air from the south and sends it northward over Bergonia where it yields thunderstorms and rain.  Also generated by the subtropical high, the Trade Winds begin to blow in May and come to prevail over the southeastern third of Bergonia, and rains begin to fall in the hills and uplands of Amota, a prelude to the wet summer.

All in all, this is a short season of transition between the winter and summer patterns, producing a time of variable weather, difficult to predict.