World's highest climate gradients

World's highest climate gradients

Gradients refer to a 5 miles grid.
The world's highest climate gradients for precipitation are found in almost all of the Hawaii islands (exception: Lanai) and some of the Azores islands.

Vila Franca do Campo has not only the highest gradient for precipitation in the Azores but also for relative humidity and sunshine.
As for its temperature gradient it comes second only to some subtropical coasts bathed by cold currents, such as southern California (32º to 34º latitude) and Algarve's west coast (same latitude).
The maximum gradient is found where air gets saturated, at 650 meters in average in summer (in the photo at around 900 meters) and as low as 150 meters in winter, when 300 m elevation might mean 10ºC cooler than at sea level.
This means that in winter and taking a 1 mile grid, Vila Franca has the world's highest gradient for temperature (and also for sunshine).
Note: temperature gradient calculated based on sea level reduction (assuming a decrease of 0.65º C for each 100 m altitude).
This discards the relationship between altitude and temperature, the same type of leveling as with air pressure for weather data and climate normals.

For climate data in this area, see: