Warm temperate climates (C)

Group C, warm temperate (mid-latitude) climates, run from 30° to 50° latitude, mainly on the eastern and western margins of continents, with warm summers and mild winters. Four types:

• Cwa, humid subtropical with dry winter: poleward of the tropics, mainly the north Indian plains and the interior plains of south China. Like Aw, except that winters are warm.
• Cs, Mediterranean: around the Mediterranean Sea and on west coasts at 30°-40°: central California, central Chile, and coasts of south-west and south-east Australia. Under the subtropical high in summer and the westerlies in winter, so hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Summer months average about 25°C, winter below 10°C; rain 35-90 cm a year.
• Cfa, humid subtropical: on the eastern parts of continents in subtropical latitudes, with unstable air bringing rain all year: the eastern USA, southern and eastern China, southern Japan, north-eastern Argentina, coastal South Africa and eastern Australia. Rain 75-150 cm; summer thunderstorms, winter frontal rain. Summer about 27°C, winter 5°-12°C; small daily range.
• Cfb, marine west coast: poleward of the Mediterranean climate on west coasts: north-western Europe, the west coast of North America north of California, southern Chile, south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. The sea keeps it moderate, warmer in winter than its latitude suggests: summer 15°-20°C, winter 4°-10°C, with small ranges and rain all year, from 50 to 250 cm.

Example (new): a traveller going north along the west coast of the USA passes from the dry summers of southern and central California (Cs) into the cool, damp, rainy-all-year coasts of Oregon and Washington (Cfb).