Why are cities in my country the coldest at the same latitude?

If I asked you which place in the world is the coldest in winter, many people would probably say Antarctica and the North Pole, and some would say that in winter, Russia, Canada and Alaska in the United States It's also very cold in these places. Yes, this is because these places have high latitudes, so they are colder.

Antarctica is extremely cold

But, what is latitude? Technically speaking, latitude is the angle between the plumb line in the direction of gravity on the Earth and the equatorial plane. To put it simply, if we are in the Northern Hemisphere, the closer we are to the North Pole, the higher the latitude. If we are in the Southern Hemisphere, the closer we are to the South Pole, the higher the latitude. Generally speaking, the higher the latitude, the colder it is.

The horizontal line is the latitude

In the northernmost region of our country, it is very cold in winter. If you travel there in winter, you will find snow everywhere. In some places, the snow cover period even lasts for more than half a year, just like reaching the North Pole. In fact, in winter, our country is the coldest place at the same latitude, but why is this?

Scenery of Xuexiang

When I say this, many people may not have an intuitive feeling. If you compare my country’s average temperature in January with countries at the same latitude in the world, everyone will understand. . Huma County in the Daxinganling region of Heilongjiang Province is located at about 51 degrees north latitude, and London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is also located at about 51 degrees north latitude. However, the temperatures in these two places are very different.

London, the capital of the United Kingdom

Huma County

What is the average temperature in Huma County in January? It is -28.6℃, while the average temperature in London in January is 4℃. Completely different from Huma County, London not only does not have snow everywhere, but many green plants here grow very well. Its winter is just like Hangzhou in China. In fact, Hangzhou is south of Huma County. About 2500 kilometers.

The temperature in London is like that in Hangzhou

Let me give two more examples. Tianjin, another big city in my country, is also quite cold in winter. The average temperature here is -4.2℃. In Lisbon, the capital of Portugal at the same latitude, the average temperature is 10℃. In Guilin, the tourist city in my country, the average temperature is 8.0℃. However, the average temperature in Miami, an American city at the same latitude, is as high as 19.9°C!

Miami City

Some people may find it strange, why does this happen? Is the winter in our country any different from that in other countries? The answer is yes. Let's think about it. In winter, after the influence of cold air ends, the temperature gradually rises under the warm sunshine. However, soon a second wave of cold air comes again, and the temperature drops sharply again.

The cold wave moves south

It is precisely because of these successive cold waves that winter in our country is extremely cold. If there had been no cold wave moving southward, the temperature in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, would be the same as that of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, and Xuzhou, the city of Jiangsu Province, and Beijing, the capital, would be warmer than Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, and Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province. And Shanghai will be as warm as Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.

Shanghai

But where do these waves of cold waves come from? They come from Siberia, a region in northern Asia. This is the coldest place in the northern hemisphere in winter. The village of Oymyakon in northeastern Siberia once measured extremely cold weather of -67°C. Such cold air traveled all the way to our country, making the eastern part of our country become the same latitude. Go to the coldest place.

Lake Baikal in Siberia

Summary of this article: In fact, whether it is a snow-capped snowfield, a green grassy mountain, or a beach lined with coconut trees, each has its own unique charm. Beauty, it is the bizarre and strange natural phenomena on the earth that make this world so wonderful.