Hello: Is it possible to add the Chill-unit (chilling hours) as a factor to render the map? Such as http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/stonefruit/… Best-Regards Su-Hong-Ciao AHS Z12, USDA Z11+ Taiwan. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Mace" <mikemace@att.net> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 11:59:48 -0800 Subject: Re: [pbs] What is a Mediterranean climate? > Thanks for the comments and questions, everybody. I'll respond to them all > here... > > > Jan wrote: > > >> Next time please embedd the fonts into the PDF, my computer cannot show > the text amnd the map. > > Thanks, and I'm sorry for the trouble. I'll repost the maps with the fonts > embedded if I can't find another workaround. The problem is that the > embedded fonts add about 150k to the size of the file, which will push some > of the maps beyond the size limit set in the wiki. > > Ugh, computers. > > > > Bracey wrote: > > >> An excellent book, Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates by > Peter > R. Dallman, has extensive discussion of the differences between the five > major medit climates. > > I agree, it's a splendid book, and has a much more thorough discussion of > the subject than I could do in a single map. > > > >> You might also look into the Mediterranean Garden Society. > > Thanks! I am on the Medit-Plants list and was thinking about expanding the > discussion to there. Wanted to try it out first among the "family" here > ;-) > > There is also a somewhat pointed behind-the-scenes discussion on Wikipedia > about how to define a Mediterranean climate. My summary: It's very > complicated, and the things that climatologists do to define a climate do > not necessarily relate to the information that gardeners need. That's not > saying the climatologists are doing anything wrong, just that climatology > and gardening are not the same things. > > > Tim wrote: > > >> Parts of Somalia also fall within the description of a mediterranean > climate. > > Cool! I will see if I can find the details, and add that to the map. > > I'm also working on a map of Hawaii, which (as Lee has pointed out) has some > Mediterranean-like pockets on a couple of islands. > > Are there any other places that people would like to nominate? > > > Diane wrote: > > >> It was disappointing not to see any of my colour in South Africa, but > - could Esperance actually be in a dark brown area? > > I was thinking of you when I worked on the Pacific coast map. You have to > zoom in very closely, but right around Victoria there's a little purple > zone. It's just one weather station, but in terms of rainfall and average > winter cold it is a rough match for a town in South Africa just north of > Ceres, called Prince Alfred's Hamlet. You can see its weather here: > > http://saexplorer.co.za/south-africa/climate/… > e.asp > > Data from the Victoria weather station, called "Gonzalez Heights," is given > here: > > http://www.smus.bc.ca/weather/climate.htm > > Prince Alfred's Hamlet is a little bit drier and warmer in winter than the > Gonzalez Heights station in Victoria. But they are pretty close. > > > >> could Esperance actually be in a dark brown area > > Esperance, Australia is dark red, meaning it gets similar rainfall to the > dark brown zone but not as cold in winter. > > Here's the weather data on Esperance: > > http://bom.gov.au/climate/averages/… > > As you'll see, their rainfall total is similar to yours (about 60 cm/year), > but they're a tiny bit wetter in summer and drier in winter than you are. > But pretty close! > > The big difference is minimum winter temperatures. Their lowest monthly > average minimum is 8.3C; yours is 2.2C. That's a pretty big difference. > > The other difference, which I couldn't really show on a map, is that all > along the Pacific coast we occasionally get an "arctic express" weather > system in winter, where a storm flows down from Alaska and freezes the heck > out of everything. Because there's ocean south of Australia and South > Africa, they don't get those sorts of events as often (if at all). > > So those of us on the Pacific coast get tempted into growing tender plants > for a year or ten, and then get brutally disappointed when they all freeze > in a freak storm. > > The bottom line: Plants from Esperance may be pretty comfortable with your > rainfall pattern (if you get the drainage right), but you'll need to protect > them from frost in winter. Which I'm sure you already knew ;-) > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >