Oceanic climate
Poleward of the latter is a subtype of it, the subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc),[1] with long but relatively mild (for their latitude) winters, and cool and short summers with average temperatures of at least 10 °C (50 °F) for one to three months.
Examples in the Northern Hemisphere include parts of coastal Iceland, the coast of Norway north of Bodø, the Scottish Highlands, the mountains of Vancouver Island, and Haida Gwaii in Canada.
[clarification needed] The polar jet stream, which moves in a west to east direction across the middle latitudes, advances low pressure systems, storms, and fronts.
Only in Europe do they penetrate far inland, where they eventually transition into warm-summer humid continental climates; in other continents, they are blocked by a large mountain range or limited by nearby oceans.
The lowland attributes of western Europe also help drive marine air masses into continental areas, enabling cities such as Dresden, Prague, and Vienna to have maritime climates in spite of being located well inland from the ocean.
Oceanic climates in Europe occupy a large stretch of land, from Norway's Atlantic coast, Ireland and the United Kingdom and southeast to some parts of Turkey.
These places are, in a strict air-mass sense, not oceanic: they are affected by southerlies directly from the Mediterranean, and polar intrusions from Siberia.
Some Eastern European regions such as the north of Croatia and Serbia and some parts of the Czech Republic, also have oceanic climates; these are generally near the boundary for being humid continental.
[citation needed] The oceanic climate exists in an arc spreading across the northwestern coast of North America from the Alaskan panhandle to northern Washington.
In addition, some east coast areas such as Block Island, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket have a similar climate.
An extensive area of oceanic climates distinguishes the coastal regions of southern Chile and extends into bordering Argentina.
Frontal cyclones can be common in marine west coast regions, with some areas experiencing more than 150 rainy days annually, but strong storms are rare.
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 Vancouver Island and neighbouring parts of British Columbia, as well as many coastal areas of southeast Alaska.
In Western Asia, the climate can be found on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey and Georgia, often transitional to humid subtropical.
The climate subtype can also be found in Nantucket, Massachusetts (in the immediate west and northwest in transition for humid continental, the remainder of Cape Cod[13])[14] and northeastern Georgia both in the eastern United States.
[15] It is also found in the highest portions of the Brazilian state of Bahia and Roraima (in transition or strongly influenced for Cwb), Brønnøy Municipality in Nordland at 65.28 °N (Norway north-central coast), the provinces of Sabah (northeastern Malaysia), and Baluchistan, Pakistan.
Temperatures there remain relatively constant throughout the year and snowfall is seldom seen due to warmer winters than most oceanic climates.
In South America, it can be found mainly in temperate mountainous areas in the Tropical Andes, Venezuelan Coastal Range, the highest elevations of Serra do Mar in Southeastern Brazil, and tepuis of the Guiana Shield, The highest elevations of the Brazilian Highlands, and due to variations in rainfall and temperature patterns in some places of the Tropical Andes in Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
In the Caribbean, only the peaks in the highest mountain ranges have this climate (including the Blue Mountains in Jamaica and Cerro Maravilla in Puerto Rico), with only Hispaniola's Cordillera Central and Chaîne de la Selle having significant urban settlements under this climate zone, such as cities like Kenscoff in Haiti and Constanza in the Dominican Republic.
It typically carries a Cfc designation, though very small areas in Argentina and Chile have summers sufficiently short to be Cwc with fewer than four months over 10 °C (50 °F).
