question: Why do areas in the same latitude have vastly different climates?
comment: The UK is further north than Newfoundland yet has a much milder maritime climate and average yearly temperature of around 10°C. The reason for this is oceanic currents. In the case of the UK, the Gulf Stream brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the coast of Ireland and Britain. This has a significant warming effect on the climate in that area. This also applies to most of the rest of Western Europe, which has a much milder climate than other similarly located latitudes.
passages: Section::::Climatology.
  
  Continental climates exist where cold air masses infiltrate during the winter and warm air masses form in summer under conditions of high sun and long days. Places with continental climates are as a rule are either far from any moderating effect of oceans (examples: Omaha, Nebraska and Kazan, Russia) or are so situated that prevailing winds tend to head offshore (example: Boston, USA). Such regions get quite warm in the summer, achieving temperatures characteristic of tropical climates but are colder than any other climates of similar latitude in the winter.
  
  Section::::Neighbouring climates.
   For example, under the standard Köppen system, in the United States, western Washington and Oregon are classed into the same climate zone as southern California, even though the two regions have strikingly different weather and vegetation. Under the old Köppen system cool oceanic climates like that of London or Seattle were classed in the same zone as hot subtropical cities like Savannah, Georgia or Brisbane, Australia. In the United States, locations like Colorado and Kansas, which have long, severe winter climates where plants are completely dormant, were classed into the same climate zone as Louisiana or northern Florida which have mild winters and a green winter landscape.
   BULLET::::- Proximity to oceans moderates the climate. For example, the Scandinavian Peninsula has more moderate climate than similarly northern latitudes of northern Canada.
   Section::::Locations.
  
  On Earth, the only continent where the ice cap polar climate is predominant is Antarctica. All but a few isolated coastal areas on the island of Greenland also have the ice cap climate. Coastal regions of Greenland that do not have permanent ice sheets have the less extreme tundra climates. 
   Millions of years ago, before the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, North America and Eurasia were joined as a single continent, Laurasia. After the opening of the Atlantic, the continents were connected to one another periodically via land bridges linking Alaska and Siberia. Until a few million years ago, the global climate was warmer than at present, especially at higher latitudes, and many temperate climate species were distributed across North America and Eurasia via Alaska and Siberia. The sharply cooler climate of the past few million years eliminated a temperate-zone connection between North America and Eurasia, but common Laurasian origins and a long history of temperate-climate land bridges account for the botanical similarities between the temperate floras on the two continents.
   Usually, if the inland areas have a humid continental climate, the coastal areas stay much milder during winter months, in contrast to the hotter summers. This is the case further north on the American west coast, such as in British Columbia, Canada, where Vancouver has an oceanic wet winter with rare frosts, but inland areas that average several degrees warmer in summer have cold and snowy winters.
  
  Section::::Background.:Soil types.
   Similarly, in the northern hemisphere a south-facing slope (more open to sunlight and warm winds) will therefore generally be warmer and drier due to higher levels of evapotranspiration than a north-facing slope. This can be seen in the Swiss Alps, where farming is much more extensive on south-facing than on north-facing slopes. In the Himalayas, this effect can be seen to an extreme degree, with south-facing slopes being warm, wet and forested, and north-facing slopes cold, dry but much more heavily glaciated.
  
  Section::::Soil aspects.
   The primary drivers of weather in the contiguous United States are the seasonal change in the solar angle, the migration north/south of the subtropical highs, and the seasonal change in the position of the polar jet stream.
   Section::::External climate forcing.:Plate tectonics.
  
  Over the course of millions of years, the motion of tectonic plates reconfigures global land and ocean areas and generates topography. This can affect both global and local patterns of climate and atmosphere-ocean circulation. The position of the continents determines the geometry of the oceans and therefore influences patterns of ocean circulation. The locations of the seas are important in controlling the transfer of heat and moisture across the globe, and therefore, in determining global climate.
  
  Section::::External climate forcing.:Greenhouse gases.
   This type of climate exists in parts of east, south and southeastern Africa, interior southern Africa and elevated portions of eastern Africa as far north as Mozambique and of western Africa up to the southwestern Angola highlands also share this climate type. The exposed areas of High Atlas, some mountainous areas across southern Europe, mountainous sections of North, Central and South America and in the highest parts of the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and São Paulo, in Brazil, some mountainous areas across Southeast Asia, parts of the Himalayas and parts of Sri Lanka. 
   The oceans' large heat capacity moderates the climate of areas adjacent to the oceans, leading to a maritime climate at such locations. This can be a result of heat storage in summer and release in winter; or of transport of heat from warmer locations: a particularly notable example of this is Western Europe, which is heated at least in part by the north atlantic drift.
  
  BULLET::::- Momentum
   Since Carl Troll introduced the concept of periglacial climate in 1944 there have various attempts to classify the diversity of periglacial climates. Hugh M. French's classification recognizes six climate types existing in the present:
  
  BULLET::::- High Arctic climates
  
  BULLET::::- Continental climates
  
  BULLET::::- Alpine climates
  
  BULLET::::- Climate of the Qinghai-Xizang plateau
  
  BULLET::::- Climates of low annual temperature range
  
  BULLET::::- Climate of dry unglaciated areas of Antarctica
  
  Section::::Periglacial zones and climates.:Factors affecting location.
   Finally, in both hemispheres, there are centers of action inland in large continental zones where cold or warm air can be trapped by surrounding mountainous zones or high contrast or temperature by surrounding seas. This is the case for Siberia where the temperature is very cold in winter forming the Siberian High, or very hot in summer to give a thermal low in summer. Antarctica is so cold in all seasons that it has a permanent anticyclone at its center.
  
  Section::::Climatology.
   Generally, there is an increase in biodiversity from the poles to the tropics. Thus localities at lower latitudes have more species than localities at higher latitudes. This is often referred to as the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Several ecological factors may contribute to the gradient, but the ultimate factor behind many of them is the greater mean temperature at the equator compared to that of the poles.
   Although the PNA pattern is a natural internal mode of climate variability, it is also strongly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. The positive phase of the PNA pattern tends to be associated with Pacific warm episodes (El Niño), and the negative phase tends to be associated with Pacific cold episodes (La Niña).
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Teleconnection
  
  BULLET::::- Arctic dipole anomaly
  
  BULLET::::- Arctic oscillation
  
  BULLET::::- El Niño-Southern Oscillation
  
  BULLET::::- European windstorm
  
  BULLET::::- Global storm activity of 2010
  
  BULLET::::- Kuroshio Current
  
  BULLET::::- North Atlantic oscillation
  
  BULLET::::- North Pacific Gyre
  
  BULLET::::- Pacific Decadal Oscillation
  
  BULLET::::- Pineapple Express
  
  BULLET::::- Walker circulation
   Section::::Geography.:Climate.
   In North America, microthermal climates commence north of Boston along the Atlantic seaboard, this line drifting gradually southward further inland, reaching approximately 38° at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, then curving dramatically northward near the Pacific coast, reaching the Pacific Ocean just south of Juneau, Alaska. In Asia, the latitude at which these climates begin is several degrees lower due to the pervasive influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone, or high-pressure system, and in continental Europe the line actually runs longitudinally rather than latitudinally, cutting through central Poland after beginning north of the Arctic Circle along the Norwegian coast, thereafter moving diagonally across Scandinavia.
   Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to polar regions. As a result of their location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or continental climates, featuring milder winters than these climates. Subpolar oceanic climates feature only one to three months of average monthly temperatures that are at least 10 °C (50 °F). As with oceanic climates, none of its average monthly temperatures fall below -3.0 °C (26.6 °F) or 0 °C depending on the isotherm used. Typically, these areas in the warmest month experience daytime maximum temperatures below 17 °C (63 °F), while the coldest month features highs near or slightly above freezing and lows just below freezing. It typically carries a "Cfc" designation, though very small areas in Yunnan, Sichuan and parts of Argentina and Bolivia have summers sufficiently short to be "Cwc" with fewer than four months over . El Alto, Bolivia, is one the few confirmed towns that features this rare variation of the subpolar oceanic climate. The more warm summer/cool winter variation of this climate type is also sometimes known as a "continental maritime climate" as it often has more in common with continental climates than with tundra climates, a great example of this would be Bodø, Norway, which like nearby Tromso has moderately cold, snowy winters and mild to warm summers making this somewhat of a cool summer version of a four-season climate. Mountain summits of Scotland, both the North Island, and the South Island of New Zealand, Vancouver Island of Canada, Tasmania, Tierra del Fuego, and Patagonia experience the sub polar variety, meaning that they have moderate to cool summers, and snowy winters.
   The amount of solar energy reaching Earth's surface decreases with increasing latitude. At higher latitudes, the sunlight reaches the surface at lower angles, and it must pass through thicker columns of the atmosphere. As a result, the mean annual air temperature at sea level decreases by about per degree of latitude from the equator. Earth's surface can be subdivided into specific latitudinal belts of approximately homogeneous climate. Ranging from the equator to the polar regions, these are the tropical (or equatorial), subtropical, temperate and polar climates.
  
  This latitudinal rule has several anomalies:
   BULLET::::- North and East Iceland
  
  BULLET::::- East Greenland Shelf
  
  BULLET::::- West Greenland Shelf
  
  BULLET::::- Northern Grand Banks-Southern Labrador
  
  BULLET::::- Northern Labrador
  
  BULLET::::- Baffin Bay-Davis Strait
  
  BULLET::::- Hudson Complex
  
  BULLET::::- Lancaster Sound
  
  BULLET::::- High Arctic Archipelago
  
  BULLET::::- Beaufort-Admunsen-Viscount Melville-Queen Maud
  
  BULLET::::- Beaufort Sea-continental coast and shelf
  
  BULLET::::- Chukchi Sea
  
  BULLET::::- Eastern Bering Sea
  
  BULLET::::- East Siberian Sea
  
  BULLET::::- Laptev Sea
  
  BULLET::::- Kara Sea
  
  BULLET::::- North and East Barents Sea
  
  BULLET::::- White Sea
  
  Section::::Temperate Northern Atlantic.
  
  Section::::Temperate Northern Atlantic.:Northern European Seas.
  
  BULLET::::- South and West Iceland
  
  BULLET::::- Faroe Plateau
  
  BULLET::::- Southern Norway
  
  BULLET::::- Northern Norway and Finnmark
  
  BULLET::::- Baltic Sea
   Cfb climates are predominant in central parts of Western Europe, including northern Spain, Northwestern Portugal (mountains), Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. They are the main climate type in New Zealand and the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria and southeastern New South Wales (starting from the Illawarra region). In North America, they are found mainly in Washington, Oregon, Vancouver Island and neighbouring parts of British Columbia, as well as many coastal areas of southwest Alaska. There are pockets of Cfb in most South American countries, including many parts of Southern Chile, parts of the provinces of Chubut, Santa Cruz and Buenos Aires in Argentina. In Western Asia small pockets are found close to sea level on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey and Georgia. While Cfb zones are rare in Africa, one dominates the coastline of the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
   Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to polar regions. As a result of their location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or continental climates, featuring milder winters than these climates. This variant of an oceanic climate is found in parts of coastal Iceland, the Faroe Islands, parts of Scotland, northwestern coastal areas of Norway such as Lofoten and reaching to 70°N on some islands, uplands near the coast of southwestern Norway, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and northern parts of the Alaskan Panhandle, the far south of Chile and Argentina, and a few highland areas of Tasmania, and the Australian and Southern Alps. This type of climate is even found in the very remote parts of the Papuan Highlands in Indonesia. The classification used for this regime is Cfc. In the most marine of those areas affected by this regime, temperatures above 20 °C (68 °F) are extreme weather events, even in the midst of summer. Temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) have been recorded on rare occasions in some areas of this climate, and in winter temperatures down to −20 °C (−4 °F) have seldom been recorded in some areas.
   Section::::Climate.
   From the delta-profile, the Renland ice cap in the Scoresby Sound has always been separated from the inland ice, yet all the delta-leaps revealed in the Camp Century 1963 core recurred in the Renland 1985 ice core. The Renland ice core from East Greenland apparently covers a full glacial cycle from the Holocene into the previous Eemian interglacial. The Renland ice core is 325 m long.
  
  Although the depths are different, the GRIP and NGRIP cores also contain this climatic optimum at very similar times.
  
  Section::::Milankovitch cycles.
   Section::::Human aspects.
  
  Section::::Human aspects.:Demography, fauna and flora.
  
  The vast majority of the world's human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the northern hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land. The biggest described number in temperate region in the world is found in southern Africa, where some 24,000 taxa (species and infraspecific taxa) have been described, but the native fauna and flora of this region does not have much cultural importance for the majority of the human population of the world that lives in Temperate Zones and that live in the Northern Hemisphere, only environmental importance.
  
  Section::::Human aspects.:Agriculture.
  
raw_presuppositions: Areas in the same latitude have similar temperatures.
raw_corrections: Areas in the same latitude may be affected by oceanic currents that cause their temperatures to vary.