Reflection: Christchurch, NZ and Chicago, IL

Christchurch, New Zealand is located at 41 degrees South of the equator and Chicago, IL is located at 41 degrees North of the equator. Christchurch is on the eastern coast of New Zealand, located far from any continental air masses, affected only by maritime tropical air masses. Chicago, IL is landlocked in the northern Mid-West of the United States, affected by both cold, dry continental polar air masses from Canada in the winter and maritime tropical air masses from the Gulf of Mexico in the summer. These locations are similar in the respect they are both located in the temperate zones of their respective hemisphere. This allows for large temperature swings in both locations, granted Chicago's are a touch more drastic. The graphs below show similar curves in shape but Chicago's difference between winter low's and summer high's are very different. 

While Chicago is landlocked, it's located at the southern tip of Lake Michigan making for higher humidities than other states in the Mid-West. The humidity is similar to Christchurch. This is because Christchurch is in the valley of the Southern Alps, which lie to the west. Most of the moisture is sucked up by the mountains and the West coast of the island. They both have urban heat island effects but Chicago's is much more noticeable.

Chicago

Christchurch CoastChristchurch City

Air Masses

Christchurch is typically influenced by maritime air masses. These masses flow in from the east and loose moisture as the flow over the Southern Alps that lie east of the city. Most of the precipitation is dumped on the mountains as snow in the winter and rain the summer/spring/fall. Since New Zealand is an island nation there is not a huge difference between the moisture on either coast but it is significant enough to call the western coast drier. As you can see in the map below, taken from WeatherUnderground, Christchurch is engulfed in low-lying clouds (Blue and Gray). New Zealand is named Aotearoa by the native Maori people. This name means "land of the long white cloud" and properly called so because the country spends much of its time with cloud cover that never seems to end. These clouds lie so low because they are very dense with moisture due to the surrounding ocean. There is not enough land mass for continental air masses to form and this creates a temperate climate that promotes a vast plant species.