The ocean’s effect on weather

The ocean has a more obvious, day-to-day effect on weather and this can be seen by asking a simple question about vacation destinations.

“Where do people build resorts?” 

Obviously ski resorts are built near mountains and gambling resorts can be built anywhere, but resorts whose sole purpose is relaxing are largely built on or near water.

 The next obvious question is “why?”

Quite simply, the temperature of the air above a large body of water cannot be dramatically different from the temperature of the water itself.

Thus sites near large lakes or the ocean are almost always milder than sites further from the water. They are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than places further away from the water.