Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is a climate that has dry summers that are mild to hot as well as winters that are mild to cool with moderate or high rainfall. It includes the climate of much of the land near the Mediterranean Sea. Outside the Mediterranean, one can find this climate only in rather small areas. It is found in many places that are roughly between latitudes 30° to 45° north and south of the equator.

In the Köppen climate classification, it is split between hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa), warm-summer Mediterranean (Csb) and cool-summer Mediterranean (Csc). Examples of Csa are Rome, Lisbon and Adelaide. Examples of Csb are Porto, Cape Town and San Francisco. Csc only occurs at very high altitude.

Location

The Fitzgerald River National Park, in Western Australia with the dense scrub vegetation and biodiversity of Mediterranean climate zones. There are 62 plant species which are unique to the 3,299 km² (1,274 mi²) park and a further 48 are rarely found elsewhere.

Besides the Mediterranean Basin, regions which have a Mediterranean climate include the coastal areas of the Western United States, down to Los Angeles, the Western Cape in South Africa, central Chile, southern Western Australia and the coastal areas of South Australia.

Mediterranean Climate Media

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  Continental Portugal has a clear contrast between the cool to warm (Csb) and hot (Csa) summers.

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  Aegean Sea of Ölüdeniz, Turkey

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  The Ionian Sea, view from the island Lefkada, Greece

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  Makarska in Dalmatia, Croatia

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  The coastal Mediterranean region of Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain

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       Hot-summer mediterranean climate (Csa)

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       Warm-summer mediterranean climate (Csb)

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  Distribution of the relatively rare cold-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen type Csc) in Washington, Oregon and California

Other websites

• Explanation of Mediterranean Climate Archived 2009-08-05 at the Wayback Machine