Climate types in the US: Miami vs. Los Angeles

Did you know that Miami and Orlando have different climates? Yes, while many vacationers touch down in Orlando and Miami in the winter and call them both the "tropics," that's not necessarily true. According to the Köppen climate classification system, the most popular climate classification system in the world, only South Florida is considered tropical. Orlando has the same climate type as Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., - and as far north as New York City.

Wladimir Köppen was a German botanist and climatologist who wanted to define climate boundaries to correspond to vegetation zones being mapped around the world. The system provides insight about seasonal rainfall patterns and temperatures that define climates. Köppen published his first scheme in 1900.

The Köppen climate classification scheme divides climates into five main groups: A (tropical), B (arid), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar). The system isn't perfect, but it does help chart out the range of climates and weather experiences around the worldand what to expect from Mother Nature in different regions.

The vast United States sees all types of climates. Today, we'll be looking at two popular cities known for sunshine and warm weather: Miami and Los Angeles. However, as the Köppen system helps us understand, the two climates are quite different, even if busting out SPF 100 on the beach is a necessity in both destinations.

Home to South Beach, swank Brickell and Coconut Grove and endless nightlife and restaurants, Miami is known for sunshine and great all-year weather, assuming you don't mind the high humidity, but what many don't appreciate is how much rain can fall on the tropical paradise. Miami received a whopping 17.34 inches in June 2024, which is more than cities like Phoenix or Las Vegas receive in an entire year. Meanwhile, only 0.89 of an inch fell in Miami in January 2024.

Miami has two distinct seasons: a wet season and a dry season. Sometimes the water hose is turned on, sometimes off. Under the Köppen classification system, Miami has a tropical monsoon climate, much like many spots in the Caribbean, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Its less tempestuous cousin, the tropical savanna, tends to have less rain overall or have a more pronounced dry season than a tropical monsoon climate.

Miami International Airport receives an average of around 61 inches of rain per year, with the bulk of that falling in the summer months, which are hot and humid, versus the winter months, which are drier, more comfortable and sunnier. It's no surprise that the wet season also coincides with hurricane season, including historic Category 5 Hurricane Andrew , which impacted South Florida in August 1992.

But what causes this high variability in rainfall? Well, as you might remember from AccuWeather's recent breakdown on monsoons , a monsoon refers to a seasonal change in wind direction. AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk says this seasonal shift in wind can either bring either more persistent rain or predominantly dry weather for several months. In Miami's summer, winds flow from water to land, bringing in moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. In the winter, those winds flow from land to water, keeping the air over Miami much more stable.

This might explain why New Yorkers and Chicagoans who visit the Sunshine State in the winter might have the impression that Miami isn't as rainy as it is. The good news is that even in the summer, much of the rain comes in the form of afternoon and evening thunderstorms that eventually give way to dry weather again.

If you visited Los Angeles in every season but winter, you'd think it was eternally sunny, warm and cloudless 24/7/365. Not so, when February 2024 brought a record-breaking 12.7 inches of rain to the City of Angels. While an outlier month, it is true that Los Angeles receives the bulk of its rain in the winter months between December and March, before a long dry season sets in.

But unlike Miami, Los Angeles has its dry months in the summer, just like Rome, Perth, Jerusalem, Cape Town and Santiago, Chile. Under Köppen, all of these cities have a Mediterranean climate even though the bulk of them don't lie on that majestic sea. While most other cities across the globe have steady rainfall year-round or peak rainfall in the summer, the Mediterranean climate type is unique in that it has dry summers and wet winters.

But what causes this setup?

First, let's look at what happens in the summer. Expansive high pressure systems move northward and set up shop near Mediterranean climates. In the summertime, Los Angeles is influenced by a broad Pacific High that sits along the West Coast, leading to dry, stable weather. But in the winter months, that high retreats, setting up an opportunity for Pacific storms to impact Southern California at times. The farther north you go on the West Coast, the wetter it gets.

Downtown Los Angeles averages 14.25 inches of rain in a year, significantly less than Miami. A six-hour drive north on the I-5, San Francisco gets about 23 inches of rain.

The Mediterranean climate type exists only at certain latitudes, and notably, this climate type only falls on the west coasts of continents. In Europe, the "west coast" extends all the way to Israel and the middle east without mountains to stop this stable flow. So this climate type can be found on all continents except for Antarctica and Asia - which lacks a west coast.

El Niño and La Niña can also influence how rainy a wet season in Los Angeles gets from year to year. The past few wet seasons in Los Angeles have been notably cool and stormy, even a La Niña winter that caused 31.07 inches to fall from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023 , which made L.A. feel more like Seattle at times.

Plants in Los Angeles and other Mediterranean spots have found ways to adapt, especially with the driest times of the year coinciding with the hottest. Hike up any popular hiking trail in L.A. in the summer, and you'll see parched brown grass. In the winter, meanwhile, you'll see lush green hills.

Mediterranean climates are also home to most of the world's wine production, with grapes and olives being perfect for the climate. And of course, the movie industry is entrenched in Los Angeles because, for most of the year, production schedules won't be spoiled by rain.