Navaree, Florida vs Dublin, Ireland

Reflection:
For my reflection, I wasn’t sure what type of location would be best to compare Dublin, Ireland to but as I was looking through the list of locations I started to think about how Dublin is considered a maritime climate. Then I saw that Navarre, Florida is also considered a maritime climate, but these two locations seem to see very different ranges of weather.
Dublin temperatures never exceed 68 in the summer or drop below 30 in winter, but Navarre temperatures can reach into the 90’s in the summer and can see temperatures below anywhere from 5 to 60 in the winter.
The main reason for that is because of where they are located—Dublin is located at 53.4 N and 6.3 W and Navarre is located at 30.5 N and 86.9 W—and the currents that are dominate in this areas.

http://www.sistersofmercynf.org/ourstory/default.cfm?loadref=36

Navarre is located near the northern gulf coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Warm, wet air is brought up from the Gulf –stream ocean current causing summers to be hot and humid in Navarre. Navarre sees limited amount of continental polar air, but when it does temperatures can get below freezing.

http://navarreflweatherblog.blogspot.com/

Dublin is located near the Irish Sea and the northern portion of the Atlantic Ocean. Cold, dry air come across from the Polar Continental and warm, dry air comes up from the Tropical Continental causing the temperatures to remain mild in the summer.

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/climate-of-ireland.asp

But the elevations of these two cities are very different. Dublin sits at an elevation of 279 ft above sea level and Navarre sits at 102 ft above sea level. The warm wet air coming off the gulf-coast can easily sweep across Navarre as it lower in elevation and closer to sea level than Dublin which sits up higher and whose landscape is dominated with cliffs.
One of the similarities, that I am not sure how to decipher, is the amount of humidity in the air. Dublin has a normal humidity of 90, but it never gets above 70. Navarre has a normal humidity of 95, and its temperatures can reach into the 100’s. Why is this?
My theory is that it has to deal with the amount of clouds and the amount of sun light reached in each region. If I am correct, Navarre sees more sunlight than Dublin because of its closer proximity to the equator.


Word Count: 398

What influences the moderate weather in Dublin?

Dublin sees somewhat abrupt changes in weather—one day being cool and dry and the next being cold and wet—due to the fact that it lies underneath a convergence zone of cold air, warm dry air, and warm wet air.

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/climate-of-ireland.asp
As you can see in the image above, Ireland location—“50º and 60º north of the Equator and around 15º south of the Arctic Circle” —places in the middle of five different streams of air flow, and since it is an island the effects are greater due to the surrounding oceans
and its smaller land mass.

Dublin’s close proximity to both the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean play a significant role in the moderate maritime climate that this beautiful region of Ireland sees. Ireland is affected mainly by air coming from the North Atlantic drift—the eastern extension of the Gulf Stream, but it affects the areas bordering the Atlantic coast line more so then the areas within the continent as the mountains and cliffs along the coast act as a shield from the winds. Due to the close proximity of the North Atlantic drift in winter, Ireland tends to a have more windy and cool climate than in the summer when the drift reaches farther North.
The weather in Ireland can at time shift abruptly if the polar front shifts in position—the polar front acts as transition zone for cold, dry air which is moving southwards and warm, wet air which is moving northwards.

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/climate-of-ireland.asp
In this image, we see one of the other major factors in Dublin’s moderate climate, the Polar front.
If you look at when the purple line circles around the L in upper right, you will see the red line of
warm air moving north converge with the blue line of cold air moving south.

Dublin located on the eastern coast experiences some of the driest weather in Ireland due in part to its distance from the Atlantic Ocean and the fact that most of the air Dublin receives comes from the Polar Continental flow—which is cold, dry air—and the Tropical Continental flow—which is warm/hot, dry air.

Seasonal Average Mean Sea Level Pressure
http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/pressure.asp
In the image above, you can see how the pressure is lower in winter and autumn as the isobars are closer together
and in summer and spring the isobars spread out as the pressure tends to be higher during these seasons.

http://www.weather-forecast.com/static_maps/Ireland/wind/12
In this image, you can see the air/ surface winds coming up from the south—the warm, wet
tropical maritime air—moving along the western coast of Ireland and only a small amount
making in it east towards the Irish Sea and Dublin.

http://www.weather-forecast.com/static_maps/Ireland/cloud/12

In this image, you can see that most of the clouds lie over the Atlantic Ocean and southwest or northeast from Dublin.