Thedas' mysterious climates

[joeilvirago]

My husband and I have been trying to make some kind of consistent sense out of this, but have had no luck. Let's see what the forum thinks.

Ferelden is damp, very damp, and has a 'moderate' climate. The Dales, at the same latitude (Emerald Graves), are lush and bright. The Arbor Wilds are further SOUTH and includes tropical birds at SAME latitude is the Korcari tundra.

Par Vollen is north, and warm (judging by the clothes of the Qunari and the fact that they grow cocoa and likely other evidence but those are what come to mind right now).

Someplace still further south but on the Ferelden side of the Frostbacks called the "Frostback Basin" is some crazy mix of semi-tropical and... uh, something, with people who talk a lot about winter, wear heavy leathers and furs, and eat mostly meat "because nothing grows there." I guess you can't eat ferns.

Does latitude not effect Thedas climates?

Anyone have any ideas what could be going on (if it is more rational than "because the developers wanted to")? And how do you deal with it?

[shonuff]

Re: Thedas' mysterious climates

Elevation can also come into play.

[eliastion]

Re: Thedas' mysterious climates

I'd say that, first of all, the Arbor Wilds are excluded from normal climate because, you know, maaaagic.
With the worst offender out of the way, we end up with cold swamps in southern Ferelden. The problem with Dales is that they seem a bit too warm and there's more water than there should be according to the descriptions - I remember abundance of waterfalls, streams, rivers etc. while the main reason for the land to not be too heavily settled is supposedly the position in the shadow of Frostback Mountains (basically, the typical direction of winds in southern hemisphere causes most rain to fall on eastern slopes with lands lying to the west of great mountain ranges being pretty dry).

[BytomMan]

Re: Thedas' mysterious climates

It's not inconceivable. I live in southern California and we have a variety of micro-climates, based on elevation, valleys, proximity to the ocean or mountains, etc. It can be 70 degrees on the coast and then 95 degrees just ten miles away. The mountains about twenty minutes east of here get precipitation when we don't.

[DiBastet]

Re: Thedas' mysterious climates

I live in southern brazil and we also have lots of micro-climates in my state, mostly because of elevation and the peculiar shape of brazilian coastal areas. At sea level it's quite warm; then you climb to the First Plateau where my city is and it's much colder and rainier (but the rain is because of the shape of the Serra, as I said before); the you kep going west and the altitude is just a little higher but the temperature is much hotter, I mean a difference of 10-12° C, with different plant life and all.

On the other hand Santa Catarina that's more to the south should be colder, but since it has lower elevation it's 4-5° hotter all around.

So yeah, it can happen.

[joeilvirago]

Re: Thedas' mysterious climates

I live in southern brazil and we also have lots of micro-climates in my state, mostly because of elevation and the peculiar shape of brazilian coastal areas. At sea level it's quite warm; then you climb to the First Plateau where my city is and it's much colder and rainier (but the rain is because of the shape of the Serra, as I said before); the you kep going west and the altitude is just a little higher but the temperature is much hotter, I mean a difference of 10-12° C, with different plant life and all.

On the other hand Santa Catarina that's more to the south should be colder, but since it has lower elevation it's 4-5° hotter all around.

So yeah, it can happen.

Thanks DiBastet -- my husband and I were quickly giving up on northern hemisphere models. I'll definitely take a closer look at Brazil and her neighbors to try to get a better hold on it.