This post should be a sticky!!! Seriously.
I struggle to decider the weather patterns of the places when I am doing exactly what you said and you just broke it down in two paragraphs!!
Thanks! This rather crude approach works for me, your results may be different. For me, the insights developed over a long time... and a mix of successes and failures, as well as a chance to visit some of these areas and experience at least a brief moment of the climate. My "Aha!" moment was walking into the living room of the owner of Ecuagenera (Pepe Portilla) and seeing a bunch of large, happy standard Cymbidiums. Since I know a thing or two about Cymbidiums, this told me volumes about potential similarities between climate at home and at 8000 ft in Ecuador)