<P> The climate of the United States varies due to differences in latitude, and a range of geographic features, including mountains and deserts . West of the 100th meridian, much of the US is semi-arid to desert in the far southwestern US, and Mediterranean along the California coast . East of the 100th meridian, the climate is humid continental in the northern areas east through New England, to humid subtropical in the Gulf and South Atlantic regions . Southern Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands . Higher - elevation areas of the Rocky Mountains, the Wasatch, Sierra Nevada, and Cascade Range are alpine . The West Coast areas in coastal Oregon and Washington are oceanic climate . The state of Alaska, on the northwestern corner of the North American continent, is largely subarctic climate, but with a subpolar oceanic climate in the southeast (Alaska Panhandle), southwestern peninsula and Aleutian Islands . </P> <P> The primary drivers of weather in the contiguous United States are the seasonal change in the solar angle, the migration north / south of the subtropical highs, and the seasonal change in the position of the polar jet stream . </P>

What states in the us have a mediterranean climate