From Los Angeles to Washington, DC, These Regions Have the Most Diverse Climates

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The United States has one of the most diverse climates of any country. While the Köppen climate classification system categorizes the U.S. into six main climate types, the EPA actually divides the continental U.S. into over 900 different ecoregions. Spanning landscapes like the Willamette Valley flood plains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the West, the Northern Rockies and Central Great Plains, as well as the Ozark Highlands and the Atlantic Coastal Plain – with many detours along the way – the ecoregion classification system reveals the high complexity and extraordinary geographic variety of the United States.

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While a majority of cities lie within one or two ecoregions, there are a handful of cities that overlap dozens of ecoregions, providing residents with a unique array of natural amenities and meteorological phenomena. San Francisco, for example, spans 17 distinct ecoregions, stretching from the fog-draped Marin Hills to the sun-drenched Livermore Valley, as well as Santa Cruz Mountains on the coast and the Suisun Terraces wetlands. A spatial analysis of EPA ecoregion boundaries reveals the cities that span the most unique ecoregions.

To determine the cities with the most diverse climates, Climate Crisis 247 reviewed spatial data on ecoregion boundary definitions from the EPA. Metropolitan statistical areas were ranked by the total number of Level IV ecoregions they overlap with, based on 2023 boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau.

25. Cape Girardeau, MO-IL

• No. EPA ecoregions: 13
• Main ecoregion: Ozark Highlands
• Other unique regions: Northern Holocene Meander Belts, River Hills, Western Lowlands Pleistocene Valley Trains

 

24. Visalia, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: Sierra Nevada
• Other unique regions: Granitic Alluvial Fans and Terraces, Southern Sierran Foothills, Southern Sierra Subalpine Forests

 

23. Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: North Cascades
• Other unique regions: Pleistocene Lake Basins, Loess Islands, Channeled Scablands

 

22. Boise City, ID

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: Northern Basin and Range
• Other unique regions: Dissected High Lava Plateau, Southern Forested Mountains, Semiarid Uplands

 

21. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: Ridge and Valley
• Other unique regions: Northern Shale Valleys, Northern Sandstone Ridges, Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys

 

20. Santa Fe, NM

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: Arizona/New Mexico Plateau
• Other unique regions: Foothill Shrublands, Sedimentary Mid-Elevation Forests, Conifer Woodlands and Savannas

 

19. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

• No. EPA ecoregions: 14
• Main ecoregion: Northern Piedmont
• Other unique regions: Northern Inner Piedmont, Rolling Coastal Plain, Northern Outer Piedmont

 

18. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ

• No. EPA ecoregions: 15
• Main ecoregion: Sonoran Desert
• Other unique regions: Central Sonoran/Colorado Desert Basins, Madrean Lower Montane Woodlands, Arizona Upland/Eastern Sonoran Mountains

 

17. Redding, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 15
• Main ecoregion: Cascades
• Other unique regions: Low Southern Cascades Mixed Conifer Forest, Eastern Klamath Low Elevation Forests, High Southern Cascades Montane Forest

 

16. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 15
• Main ecoregion: Cascades
• Other unique regions: Western Cascades Lowlands and Valleys, Western Cascades Montane Highlands, Mid-Coastal Sedimentary

 

15. Bend, OR

• No. EPA ecoregions: 15
• Main ecoregion: Blue Mountains
• Other unique regions: Pluvial Lake Basins, John Day/Clarno Uplands, Pumice Plateau

 

14. Fresno, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 16
• Main ecoregion: Central California Valley
• Other unique regions: Northern Sierran Foothills, Granitic Alluvial Fans and Terraces, Southern Sierran Foothills

 

13. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

• No. EPA ecoregions: 16
• Main ecoregion: Southern Rockies
• Other unique regions: Flat to Rolling Plains, Piedmont Plains and Tablelands, Moderate Relief Plains

 

12. Idaho Falls, ID

• No. EPA ecoregions: 16
• Main ecoregion: Snake River Plain
• Other unique regions: Eastern Snake River Basalt Plains, Semiarid Hills and Low Mountains, Dry Gneissic-Schistose-Volcanic Hills

 

11. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 17
• Main ecoregion: California Coastal Sage, Chaparral, and Oak Woodlands
• Other unique regions: Diablo Range, Coastal Franciscan Redwood Forest, Eastern Hills

 

10. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 18
• Main ecoregion: Sierra Nevada
• Other unique regions: Northern Sierran Foothills, Northern Sierra Upper Montane Forests, Northeastern Sierra Mixed Conifer-Pine Forests

 

9. Missoula, MT

• No. EPA ecoregions: 18
• Main ecoregion: Columbia Mountains/Northern Rockies
• Other unique regions: Western Canadian Rockies, St. Joe Schist-Gneiss Zone, Rattlesnake-Blackfoot-South Swan-Northern Garnet-Sapphire Mountains

 

8. Helena, MT

• No. EPA ecoregions: 18
• Main ecoregion: Middle Rockies
• Other unique regions: Dry Intermontane Sagebrush Valleys, Foothill Grassland, Mid-elevation Sedimentary Mountains

 

7. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 19
• Main ecoregion: California Coastal Sage, Chaparral, and Oak Woodlands
• Other unique regions: Western Mojave Basins, Western Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes, Southern California Lower Montane Shrub and Woodland

 

6. Albuquerque, NM

• No. EPA ecoregions: 19
• Main ecoregion: Arizona/New Mexico Plateau
• Other unique regions: Semiarid Tablelands, Foothill Shrublands, Sedimentary Mid-Elevation Forests

 

5. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

• No. EPA ecoregions: 21
• Main ecoregion: Northern Piedmont
• Other unique regions: Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys, Southern New England Coastal Plains and Hills, Triassic Lowlands

 

4. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ

• No. EPA ecoregions: 22
• Main ecoregion: Mojave Basin and Range
• Other unique regions: Semiarid Benchlands and Canyonlands, Eastern Mojave Basins, Eastern Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes

 

3. Flagstaff, AZ

• No. EPA ecoregions: 24
• Main ecoregion: Arizona/New Mexico Plateau
• Other unique regions: Semiarid Benchlands and Canyonlands, Semiarid Tablelands, Madrean Lower Montane Woodlands

 

2. Bakersfield-Delano, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 26
• Main ecoregion: Central California Valley
• Other unique regions: Western Mojave Basins, Western Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes, Southern Sierran Foothills

 

1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

• No. EPA ecoregions: 31
• Main ecoregion: Mojave Basin and Range
• Other unique regions: Eastern Mojave Basins, Central Sonoran/Colorado Desert Basins, Eastern Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes

 

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