We're feeling the heat here in the Springs as our athletes bring the heat in Paris. But, as a heatwave hammers both cities - here's the question: who's hotter, and how do the two climate's compare?
Paris is only 100 feet above sea level...so air pressure is much higher...and nearly equal to sea level pressure. Because it's only 105 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it experiences an oceanic climate. Colorado Springs meanwhile has a semi-arid climate. We have a wet monsoon season and significantly drier winter. Both cities have warm summers.
While both cities are warm - the Springs wins gold in the July high temperature competition, by a mile...an average day in the Springs is in the upper 80s with Paris in the upper 70s.
Some of that is thanks to all the sunshine we get...and it's no surprise we win that head-to-head contest too. On average, Colorado Springs gets sun about 85-90% of the time. Paris averages just about two thirds of that according to Meteo France - the French equivalent of the U.S. National Weather Service.
Now...let's talk moisture. Paris overall gets much more rain than we do throughout the year (about 10" more if you want to be specific). But, thanks to its location east of the Ocean, it doesn't vary all that much month to month. The wettest month of the year in Paris is May, and driest is February. But there's only a 1 inch difference in average rainfall between those two months. The wettest month in Colorado Springs is July - when we get walloped with 3.12" of rain on average. In February, we only typically see about three tenths of an inch of liquid equivalent.
The latest forecast for Paris is a bit of a scorcher. You'd struggle to tell the difference between southern Colorado and Paris tomorrow because we're both in the upper 90s!
After that though...Paris will cool down faster than us. Welcome relief to all the athletes who are likely hoping for more of the 70s than the 90s.
____
Have a question or story idea you would like the First Alert 5 Weather team to consider? Email: weather@koaa.com
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
