Weather around Baldur's Gate

[Laughingman]

So I have been RPing that it is currently cold. I realized though that I have no actual guidelines for this RP. When does winter start? Spring? Summer? Fall? How hot/cold does it get? Does it actually rain this much?

If there are any sources on the weather in the region we play in I'd be interested in reading it. Maybe a DM "ruling" (I use that term loosely) to provide official context? Do the rivers freeze? What about the chionthar? Does it snow or rain in the winter? etc....

[Fury_US]

From what I can gather regarding seasons, according to the Faerunian calendar, seasonal solstices and equinoxes appear to fall in a rough equivalent to what we have in the real world- so it would, in fact, be winter and therefore cold. That said, Baldur's Gate is a coastal region, so typical weather patterns would be affected by this, as would it's relative position from the world's equator.

Theoretically speaking, that would make the weather of the Sword Coast similar to the average European mid-to-north Atlantic, or the Pacific Northwest of North America. Essentially the prevailing ocean currents would keep the region well saturated (presuming weather patterns on Faerun follow a typical west to east direction for the northern hemisphere), and just enough above freezing that snow would be a rarity until you're further inland.

This is all me just thinking hypothetically of course. So far as I know, I've not seen any actual lore on the matter. I've just always assumed that- given it's global positioning and geography, it'd be safe to presume the region of Baldur's Gate likely had a climate similar to that of, say, Portugal or the Atlantic facing coast of France.

Again, just assumptions on my part. I'd be interested to know if there actually was lore floating around out there on the topic.

[Maecius]

From some research I did on the subject back in 2009:

What is the climate and weather of the area? More importantly, the general direction of storms? Like winter one way and summer the other, etc.

What can be said about our region's climate with absolute certainty comes from the Campaign Setting:

The northwest portion of Faerun is generally well watered and humid, with heavy snowfalls in the winter and a great deal of rain in the spring and fall. Along the Sword Coast, folk exaggeratedly complain that it never stops raining.

[...]

True temperate conditions hold sway from about the River Chionthar (Baldur's Gate) southward, and the land grows warmer and hotter until both true deserts and steamy temperatures are the rule in southernmost Tethyr and Calimshan. Sea breezes cool Nimbral, Lantan, and Tashalar, but volcanism makes the Lake of Steam uncomfortable to most civilized inhabitants, and combines with latitude and warm seadamp to make Chult and Mhair endless jungle steam baths.

The southwest, like the northwest, is very humid and receives a great deal of precipitation from the western seas. The cooling, moisture-holding properties of forests play a part in keeping Tethyr and the Border Kingdom moderate in climate and pleasant places to live.

The above seems to suggest that we enjoy all four seasons in our region, and that the prevailing winds are from the west, sweeping moisture from the ocean over the land.

This fits real-life climate patterns, to quote Doctor Wik E. Pedia: "The maritime climate is affected by the oceans, which help to sustain somewhat stable temperatures throughout the year. In temperate zones the prevailing winds are from the west, thus the western edge of temperate continents most commonly experience this maritime climate."

[Steve]

I know of these bits of written Lore:

Everything is of stone and is usually wet with either rain, sleet, or fog, depending on the time of day and season.

The Gate has few formal festivals. The largest is the Breaking, commemorating the last passage of ice from the harbor approaches every spring.

The latter implies that the harbor may freeze up in the hardest time of the winter!!

[Nemni]

Along the Sword Coast, folk exaggeratedly complain that it never stops raining.

Wow. The server nails that part with uncanny accuracy

[Xanfyrst]

A typical Danish climate; rain half of the year. And I'm not even kidding.

We don't get much winter though ever since the nasty winters we had in 2009-2012. Been mostly a week to 3 weeks with little to medium amount of snow and then rain, rain and rain. And more rain. And some rain.

[Laughingman]

Awesome so the western high pressure systems hold true even in FR lore (yay college geophysics!). It also sounds like it is reasonable to continue to RP it as being cold out in the winter. Small bodies of water are probably frozen over and now Aurora needs a warmer cloak....

[DM Dialectic]

From some research I did on the subject back in 2009:

What is the climate and weather of the area? More importantly, the general direction of storms? Like winter one way and summer the other, etc.

What can be said about our region's climate with absolute certainty comes from the Campaign Setting:

The northwest portion of Faerun is generally well watered and humid, with heavy snowfalls in the winter and a great deal of rain in the spring and fall. Along the Sword Coast, folk exaggeratedly complain that it never stops raining.

[...]

True temperate conditions hold sway from about the River Chionthar (Baldur's Gate) southward, and the land grows warmer and hotter until both true deserts and steamy temperatures are the rule in southernmost Tethyr and Calimshan. Sea breezes cool Nimbral, Lantan, and Tashalar, but volcanism makes the Lake of Steam uncomfortable to most civilized inhabitants, and combines with latitude and warm seadamp to make Chult and Mhair endless jungle steam baths.

The southwest, like the northwest, is very humid and receives a great deal of precipitation from the western seas. The cooling, moisture-holding properties of forests play a part in keeping Tethyr and the Border Kingdom moderate in climate and pleasant places to live.

The above seems to suggest that we enjoy all four seasons in our region, and that the prevailing winds are from the west, sweeping moisture from the ocean over the land.

This fits real-life climate patterns, to quote Doctor Wik E. Pedia: "The maritime climate is affected by the oceans, which help to sustain somewhat stable temperatures throughout the year. In temperate zones the prevailing winds are from the west, thus the western edge of temperate continents most commonly experience this maritime climate."

Based on this description from 3E campaign setting that Maecius quoted, I’d approximate the climate classification of Baldur’s Gate by the Köppen climate classification as probably something in the temperate range (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köppen_ ... sification), with an exact classification depending on how dry its summers are. Some possible examples:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic ... iety_(Cwb)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediter ... an_climate