Question

Explain why Pacific Coast cities never get very hot or very cold.

Answer 1

The oceans tend to be stratified, the principal factor being temperature; the bottom waters of the deep parts are intensely cold, with temperatures only slightly above freezing. The surface zone, where temperature variations are perceptible, is between 330 and 1,000 feet (100 and 300 metres) thick. It is more compressed in the temperate eastern Pacific, along the coasts of North and Central America, where cold water appears at a shallower depth compared with the central and western Pacific.

Ocean temperatures in the North Pacific tend to be higher than those in the South Pacific because the ratio of land to sea areas is larger in the Northern Hemisphere and because Antarctica also influences water temperature.

-SupaTea

Answer 2

In the Pacific, the water travels clockwise so currents that go past the Barents Sea, Alaska and Canada where its colder, travel down the West US Pacific coast to Washington, Oregon and California giving rise to cooler temperate climates