Los Angeles vs. Buenos Aires reflection

Buenos Aires being a coastal climate has very similar weather conditions to Los Angeles, however there are key differences between the two locations that make more distinctly different subtleties in the weather.  Furthermore Buenos Aires can experience extreme low pressure from invasive polar air masses that can create tornadoes, not like Los Angeles that does not experience tornadoes.

Average temperature for Buenos Aires throughout the year

 You can see that Bueno Aires and Los Angeles have nearly identical weather patterns, however they are juxtaposed because the difference in hemispheres.  Notice the mild temperate climates of both locations.

Average temperature for Los Angeles throughout the year

Buenos Aires is located at 34° 37’ South latitude and Los Angeles is located at 33° 56' North latitude, so there are essentially the same distance from the equator, this similarity is one of few each location actually share.  The location from the equator makes for similar mid-latitude locations, battling air masses help to create different seasons.  The other major similarity is each location is on a coast, however Los Angeles is on a west coast near cold water current and Buenos Aires is located on an East coast near warm water current.  The continentality of each location greatly affects the on and off shore winds driven by the differences in ocean temperatures. 

Typical airflow based on continentality and water currents

As the seasons change the sub-polar jets shift and begin to shift from North to South.  Each location is located in a different hemisphere therefore as the Northern sub-polar jet pushes south Los Angeles experiences its fall and “winter” similarly while this is happening the sub-polar jet in the Southern hemisphere pushes south, this is when Buenos Aires begins to experience spring and summer.

A large difference in the locations is Los Angeles is on the west coast of the United States and is exposed to cold air masses pushing over the city creating a marine layer over the city, the cold air settles in while a warm air inversion sits above it trapping smog and pollution. The mountains also are located east of the city helping to trap air along the Los Angeles basin, unlike Buenos Aires where the mountains are located far to the west of the city.

Water currents and the location of them (warm, cold)

 

Buenos Aires is on the east coast of Argentina therefore air pushes over high regions of the Andes Mountains, this helps to dry out the air masses moving over the continent.  As warm continental air reaches the coast there is an off-shore breeze preventing most major inversions of moist maritime air.

Another difference is the annual precipitation that each location experiences, Los Angeles experiences much less annual precipitation than Buenos Aires does because the continental location of each city. 

 Sources

http://airnewzealand.flightoffers.org/about-los-angeles.html

http://www.photographicscience.com/faq.html

http://cubanology.com/Articles/Ocean_Currents_The_Distribution_of_Life.htm

http://gfhcitybeat.areavoices.com/2009/01/03/yes-more-snow/

http://Wunderground.com

Air masses and air movement!

Argentina is located at 34 degrees south latitude in a coastal climate; this creates a Cf climate or temperate coastal climate.  Buenos Aires coastal mid-latitude location helps to create a fairly mild climate, as opposed to large seasonal swings in temperature of the Patagonia region further south.  The location in the southern mid-latitude region is affected by a semi-permanent high pressure system which helps create a mild climate year round.  The east coast warm Brazilian current also helps to regulate a temperate year round.

As the seasons change the air masses migrate north and south, this process helps drive weather patterns especially in the mid-latitudes (unfortunately the animation isnt working for some reason)

 

The battling of cold dry and warm moist air masses can create tornadoes near and around Buenos Aires.  The Andes mountain range is very far west of Buenos Aires and provides little protection from poor weather.  However the Andes are to the west and air is forced to extreme altitudes, this drys the air.  As the air warms and moves across the continent a dry slot of air can form. This continental tropical dry air can move into an area of cooler polar air.  Severe low depressions can happen in the mid-latitude region because of convergence of warm air into cold; this contributes to rising air and intensifies the low pressure in anti-cyclones (southern hemisphere) that can lead to tornados. 

An extreme low depression forming, here comes a tornado!

Because Buenos Aires is located at a mid-latitude in the southern hemisphere the seasons are opposite and cold dry polar air from the south begins to migrate north in around March and April, this is the beginning of the fall season.   As the cold dry air move north into regions of warm, moist, tropical air, this creates higher precipitation, similarly in spring when the warm moist air begins to move south and invade the cold polar air.   As these air masses converge, anti-cyclonic systems form and move across the continent, moving clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

As the seasons begin to change the cold polar airmasses and warm moist tropical maritime airmasses collide and create higher precipitation in spring and fall. 

The beginning of a cyclone.  However this is a model of northern hemisphere air, southern hemisphere model would be opposite direction spinning clockwise around the low

I general diagram of aircells and their latitudes.

Current weather cycle near Buenos Aires, you can see the sub-polar jet stream dipping to the south through patagonia

SOURCES

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7v.html

http://weather.yahoo.com/argentina/autonomous-city-of-buenos-aires/buenos-aires-468739/

http://www.stormchase.com/blog/2009/09/tornado-kills-at-least-15-in-argentina-brazil.html

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cyc/arms.rxml

http://www.geogonline.org.uk/g3a_ki2.1.htm