Perfect climate

So here's the background, I would like to make a move to somewhere in the future (next 10 years) to be able to buy some land. I used to live in Peru (in the city) but the dynamics of the country, the likely climate changes let alone the speculation that drives up prices on land make me lean away from going back there to give it a go. I currently live in the UK but again land prices here are crazy, plus the climate is not the best. Given I speak Spanish and that various areas of Spain (and Portugal to be fair) look like they will weather climate change relatively well, I am currently doing my research there (there's an argument this should fall in the Iberia forum I know).

Due to the timescales, this is currently a desktop exercise . So here's the crux of the question, what makes a perfect (good) climate for growing/living in. I have downloaded Spain's climate records from the 1940s through to 2012 (I will endeavour to access the rest but someone had already compiled the first dataset so I am starting off with what I have).

How much precipitation?
       Maximum threshold in the wet months to avoid flooding?
       How many days rain per month is good? 50%, 60% as a good distribution.
       How many heavy rain days? I am qualifying heavy rain as 20mm or more, probably want to avoid areas which are prone to this.  
       Minimum threshold in the dry months to avoid drought.
Temperature range?
      I am thinking from my personal preference that 10-12 degree minimum would be manageable given that higher temperatures would likely affect precipitation.
      Average temperatures per month? Given likely warming, an area which sees mid to high 20s (centigrade) sounds okay.
Amount of sunshine/hours of daylight? -
       Sunshine - I imagine that this would need to be considered as a % of daylight hours, during the growing season 50-60% of daylight hours in sun?
       Daylight hours - I imagine this won't be hugely variable due to the variance in locations, but an 10-14 hour range of daylight sounds like a good target

I am thinking to try and assign a score to each area and then see how each area compares as well as how much it varies per year. Are there any other areas you think should be considered (from a purely climatic perspective)?

Thanks for putting up with my musings and also for any suggestions you can bring.

Matt.

I think the answers depend on your goals.

Do you want to garden? What kind of plants? I can't grow citrus where I am now, but did when i was in Japan in a warmer climate, for example. But I grow lots of other things.

Also, consider your personal tolerances. Climate and weather. Do you love the heat or hate it? How cold can you stand? My current location is a northern continental climate, so it gets both very hot and humid, and also very very cold.

Matthew, my wife and I are going on a scouting expedition to Spain in March! We are looking all across the northern parts, with an eye to the live-ability of the region. We are focused on areas with good access to mass-transit, but we are inescapably farm-oriented so it will be difficult to ignore options at the "edge" between accessible and not. Maybe we can collaborate.

While looking for the best spot in Spain, to me, it is more important to find an area where the land if affordable.

Prices of land is skyrocketing all over the world.

I live in Texas in the middle of nowhere and the guy down the road from me has listed 70 acres for $540,000.

I saw on House Hunter International that land is comparable in Spain depending on location.

Matthew,

Please look at the checklist I have created for other thread:

Land search checklist

It will be appropriate also for Spain.

If you're concerned about climate change limiting rainfall then stay away from southern Spain, they're having record heat and droughts in the last several years.  I'm not so sure how Portugal is fairing and how the northern part of Spain is fairing, but we have some folks on here in Spain and in Portugal so hopefully they can weigh in and share their experiences with you.

I know you didn't ask about grow zone, but I feel like zones 8 and nine are probably the best as far as how much variety of crops one can grow.  Also zone 9 is where one can grow things solidly all year long, and zone 8 has a few things that can grow all year, both require a little bit of "babysitting" on the occasion it gets below freezing, but still.

Hi all,

Cade, sounds like you're one step ahead of me. I plan to visit Northern Spain soon(ish) but haven't got any firm plans as to when. I can't jump ship for quite a few years as I have a school aged daughter...although I might give living in one of the cities/towns a go for a year.

In terms of what I am looking for, primarily somewhere which will have a good growing season for self sustainability. From a growing perspective that's enough rain and sunlight (soil and landscape factor too, but I can narrow in on that later). From a living perspective, too much rain won't be fun and neither will very cold winters nor very hot summers. And a final factor will be cost, places falling in that goldilocks zone are likely to be pricier and so I might end up having to shift on some points.

I think climate change is something to definitely consider regardless of your opinions on it (I feel it's going to be impactful). Northern Spain looks to be forecast to get wetter, how far that extends from the coastal areas is something I will investigate. I haven't looked at forecasts too much but I imagine that temperatures will also rise so snow on the mountains will likely be less meaning storage/capture of rainfall will be more important.

In terms of ranges, what's a good amount of rainfall for say winter when you will be looking to capture and then equally a good amount in summer to supply natural watering (supplemented by stored water) balanced against sun/temperature to aid growing...and i am sure the answer is, depends on what you plan to grow 😉

Thanks for your responses so far, I plan to continue messing around with the historical data...there seems to be some gaps and I am unsure if that is because it's missing data or no data was collected, to answer that I will need to access the raw online data myself.

Matt

Matthew, towns we're visiting in order: arrive Madrid; thence A Coruna, Lugo, Leon, Oviedo, Llanes, Santander, Bilbao, Donastia, Logrono, Zapzurro, Terrassa (Barcelona), Girona, Canet de Mar (Barcelona), back to Madrid - six weeks. It appears the north coastal region does not have hard freezes (USDA Zone 10a) mostly. It could get some colder if the Gulf Stream weakens, but that is a decades-long process (most likely / so they say). I think buying real estate in Spain is fraught with risks that I do not fully understand. If we move, we will rent for a couple of years at the very least and dip toes into ownership only gradually. Maybe seek some kind of cooperative venture(s) or even volunteer on some landowner's farm in exchange for a patch of our own off to a side or something like that? For travel and agreeable living climate we are inclined to Zapzurro, but for farming we like Oviedo. So we just have to go see.

Collecting rain is pretty straightforward. I guess with the year round rain pattern in northern Spain there would be relatively light storage requirements. It rains quite a bit.

Matt,

Most of the Spain is mountainous. It's very difficult to research data for a region with thousand of microclimates. I have done the same, spent years analyzing and then ended up with a property that has temperature inversion that results in cold nights and very late possible frost - even in May. All of that makes the growing season quite short, despite that my area is 8b zone at low elevation of 350 m.
The average yearly precipitation can be misleading - I get 300 mm yearly for 3 years and then 1000 mm in the next one.
I would say that precipitation of around 50-70 mm per month in the warmest months would provide enough moisture to sustain/promote growth (still with mulching and fertile deep soil) but would not make the climate unpleasantly humid.
After initial research of climatic data, I think the best is to talk to people in the closest vicinity, asking them what they grow, how difficult it is, looking at vegetation, fruit trees, etc,