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OP, youd be wise to ignore the above-quoted post as its chock full of exaggeration. He apparently doesnt pay close attention to the weather as I do. If you want a day-by-day thread about the weather events here in IL, visit the "official Illinois weather thread" here on these boards. YOu can view day-by-day (if applicable) posts about the weather and see what it was really like, not just by some weather channel numerical report. See from residents what they experienced. ORRRRR, you could simply click the links below to see the calender for this year's Chicago winter. Note the huge temp swings, and several consecutive days of clouds followed by several consecutive days of sun. THATS NORMAL. We average 54% sunshine year round, which if you do the math, is 1 out of 2 day is cloudy (or vice versa). Winter sunshine is the lowest in November at around 40%, then up to 50% for the following months. IN summer we usually average 65-70% sunshine.
Let the sunshine levels speak for themselves on Wunderground.com. This is the calender for January, the deepest, coldest part of winter. Does that look "gloom and doom" to you? I see plenty of sun. 14 days of almost pure sunshine which is... you guessed it, almost 50% sunshine rate which is.... you guessed it, NORMAL! I guess the cold hard facts and scientific sunshine level measurement is too much for some people to digest. History : Weather Underground
Here is Feb's calender. I see 18 days of pure sun, including several days in the 50 degree temp range, even up to 55 at times. Which is, you guessed it, NORMAL. Once again teh sunshine % is right on par for being AVERAGE, and the temp swings from the teens to the 50s is also normal, it happens every year once or twice. Facts are facts, click below. History : Weather Underground
You see, when there is a week of clouds or even 3 days of straight clouds, people in Chicago, especially in winter, are too quick to complain. As hardy as we are, we sure do have a bunch of manginas runnin around when winter hits. You could have 7 straight days of sun, followed by 2 days of clouds and people will whine about the clouds and how its "always" gloom and doom. I just dont get it.
More crap from this post. Sure some days the horizon can appear white due to moisture content in the sky, but its not a daily thing, not even close. More often than not our skies are incredibly blue, during EVERY season. I dont have time to post all my pics, but Im an avid sky watcher and the post I just quoted is complete and utter bullcrap. Dont believe it for a second. Our summer skies are every bit as blue as the winter skies. I guess NYRules forgot to look out his window the last few days where he would have been treated to deep, stunning blue skies.
Taken last Saturday:
2 weeks ago:
May:
March:
You get the idea... Those are soooo "white" arent they?
So 5 or so pictures sets the tone of how it is here all the time. I see , guess your post of CRAP saying things like in the past knocking my examples of youtube videos was bad, but your idea of professionally taken photos taken on days where it was sunny means this is what is looks like here day in and day out. Yup spoken like a TRUE IDIOT! I stopped posting youtube videos because Chicago lovers like yourself just couldn't take the truth. Now it's your turn. Don't go and knock people's posts about the weather being less than pleasant for about mmmmm lets say 70% of the population that is stuck living here who don't like it when in the dead of winter you will go a week without seeing the sun and before you jump on the statistic bandwagon again, try to remember when was it where we had full sun for the entire day more than two days in a row? HMMMMM weekend of pride/taste perhaps? Which was what? The end of June? Every other day it has been cloudy here since so yes that is 50% sun. How lovely that is when even in the middle of summer we only get 50% sun while areas just a little to the south or west get much more. Heck I lived in Bloomington for a few years and there was a vast difference in the weather vs. here. Better? In some ways worse in others for instance summers were brutally hot and humid, but it was very sunny. Here while you're at it with professional pics, lets look at what our skies here usually look like in the dead of winter.
And here are the lovely blue skies that your ignorant ***** that can't read missed where I said it does clear out nicely and looks very pretty in the winter but it is bitterly cold. http://home.att.net/~keiichiro/chica...o/winter04.jpg
Quit trying to pursuade those who don' t like winter weather or are looking for pleasant weather that Chicago is wonderful weather wise because it AIN'T and I know Ain't isn't a word.
This was the last time I saw it TOTALLY sunny all day with a lovely blue sky. http://x5f.xanga.com/ae6f62206063424...z196475670.jpg That day was great I will give you that, but since, the weather has sucked overall; very cloudy, just moderate to cool, and thats about it. More like spring than anything.
And I have no idea what city you were in because the last time it was sunny was Monday afternoon and that was it. It was cloudy Tues, today, Sunday, partly cloudy Sat, was nice Friday. That was the weather since last Friday. So what "stunning" blue skies did I miss yesterday or today for that matter? It looks pretty stunningly crappy by me right now just like it did since Monday evening when it clouded over late at night.
They're very similar to Jersey's weather, not Manhattan or the island as the ocean keeps those areas warmer in the winter. Our weather here is very similar to lets say... Ridgewood, NJ maybe? That make sense to you? Or perhaps areas north and more inland than New Rochelle, NY. Springs here are what sucks the most, not winter surprisingly. Just when you hope and pray for that warm weather to start, BAM winds swing around to the NE and now you get icy damp winds off the lake for the next two months with a few teaser days thrown in here and there where winds won't blow off the lake and you can see what the weather is like for everyone else living about 100 miles from the shore. Then back to crap the next day or reality for Chicago more like it and if it's a year like this one, you get that going on all the way until June. It's not the cold so much that is what sucks here the most, it's the nearly constant doom and gloom looking weather. Very VERY VERY cloudy and don't listen to statistics. If it is sunny for 5 minutes here they count that as a sunny day and I hear that day in and day out on the weather and it drives me nuts here, it's like folks it was cloudy for 99% of the day with a peak a boo of the sun so it wasn't FRICKING SUNNY! Most days here either are cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon or vice versa and when it is sunny it usually still looks cloudy as we usually get what I refer to as white sky. It will be totally cloud free, but due to the moisture in the air, the sky appears white so it still looks cloudy. UGGHH!!! In the dead of winter when it is cloud free is when you get your prettiest skies here. Very crisp blue skies which is actually winter's saving grace here. After a fresh snowfall when the storm clears out and the skies clear, it will usually get very cold, but the air is clean and crisp and the snow glistens which is nice so that said, winter while bitterly cold sometimes is not what sucks here the most. Its our lack of spring just as cabin fever sets in and you have 2 more months (March 21-May 15th-ish) of gloomy weather to wait through as the lake waters have to warm back up.
This is an exxageration....especially on the doom and gloom and cloudy every day part. Quite far from the truth...you're just noticing the cloudy days more that annoy you as opposed to the sunny days where you're just content.
In short, OP, NYRules is overstating the severity of Chicago winters/overall weather, and Steve-o is understating it.
But, at the end of the day, no one can make the decision but you. Asking a question that's THIS subjective on a public forum strikes me as an attempt to externalize the locus of control, urging other people to guide you in a decision that only you can make.
This is an exxageration....especially on the doom and gloom and cloudy every day part. Quite far from the truth...you're just noticing the cloudy days more that annoy you as opposed to the sunny days where you're just content.
Oh I notice the sunny days like back when the taste was going on and loved every minute of them. I don't complain about summers here. Summers and early fall in Chicago are great and I did say that. Yes the white skies take some getting used to, but aren't a big deal because most of the eastern part of the US gets them and yes so does NY so I'm not saying NY has wonderous weather either because it doesn't and I'm the first to admit that. Christmas I've always believed should be cold, snowy, and gray and even January for that matter, but when I'm sitting at the home opener and it's still fricking snowing and we haven't seen the sun in over a week and it's now 38 degrees with overcast skies and damp winds howling off the lake and later that night I get to hear Tom Skilling going on and on about how ," well Steve and Allison or Tom and Micha while it was 40 in Chicago today, folks down in St. Louis basked in 80 degree temperatures under sunny skies." Now that's where our weather really begins to suck monkey balls royally. When it's mid April and still miserable here while areas only a couple hundred miles away are enjoying near summer like weather. http://mysportsrumors.com/blog/2009/...te-sox-opener/
Chicago's weather is not one of it's strong points let's just say that. Our weather is one of the few things on here I will actually comment on because I feel bad about some individuals on here misleading other's whom are unfamiliar with the area about our weather. Our weather as Steve points out is very changeable, but to some that is not a good thing and I am one of them. I don't like not knowing how to get my kids ready for school in the morning or what to wear to work and have to worry about the fact that while it is warm and sunny when and where I am leaving for work, will winds turn off the lake later in the day and drop temperatures rapidly which has happened to me numerous times just this year alone or where I will leave my house in Roselle and have it be warm and sunny thinking that is what it is going to be like where I work, only to find out where I work it is about 45 degrees and very windy and all I have with me is a light sweater when I get to work. Not fun! Our weather here has caught me off gaurd many times and not usually in a good way. Good thing I should point out though is that, yes it is cool so far this summer which means I don't have to run my A/C so I have more money for shopping! I sure would like my kids to be able to use our pool though.
Yeah, but the snow in Denver evaporates within a day! In Chicago it turns brown with dirt and then freezes and can sit around for weeks.
Depends, in March we got 14 inches in a day, stayed around for awhile. But I am from the PNW, when it snows there, it is mush and freezes then turns to ice and can be there for weeks. Last xmas we had 18 inches over 2 days, what a complete mess that was!! Everything shut down for a week, turned to ice, then after 8 days it rained on top of it and flooded everything, not to mention it was in the 30's and raining . We counted gray days once in Seattle, I didn't see the sun for 17days straight once, and it rained every day for 14 days. That sucks. The PNW is pretty, but the winters truly SUCK. I think I can deal with Chicago's. I think you just have to find the trade off's. PNW is green. But I couldn't handle the depression of winter, spring and fall there.
In short, OP, NYRules is overstating the severity of Chicago winters/overall weather, and Steve-o is understating it.
^^This has been the pattern that has emerged in our 1000+ Chicago weather threads...
After bitching about the winters, well, since college, I decided last year to change my attitude. I purchased a high-performance waterproof down parka with a hood for the really bad days, and bought a nice pair of waterproof insulated boots so I wouldn't ruin my shoes or get wet socks from salty slush puddles. And I decided that being comfortable in the winter was more important than looking cool in a fashionably cut wool coat and nice shoes (though I still carried my nice shoes to work in a bag). Then I also decided that the snow could be beautiful, winter could be fun, and I tried to rediscover that child-like excitement about winter. I went outside on the bad days and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I thought about going skiing. And I did all of this while dragging a baby all over the city. I found my Chicago winter Zen.
Chant with me: Mmmmmmm nah nah nah nah nah nahhhhhhhh...
In the PNW, it's still warmer in winter than Chicago. The snow in the PNW melts and it's usually around 40 degrees or higher. It's worse here. We may get a few more sunny days, but there is no outlet like in the PNW where you can go skiiing on majestic mountains. I think the only big-time major cities in the Western world that are colder than Chicago in winter are Moscow, Minneapolis, and Toronto. Even places like Stockholm have better weather.
I lived there for 30 years both in Portland and Seattle., I think I know what it does there. 38 and rain for weeks straight never seeing the sun is just as bad as cold and snow. And yes if you ski, it is nice, until a huge storm rolls in and you can not get to the mountain because the pass is closed, or worse you can not get home, I know It happened to me many a time. Like I said, the snow can take weeks to melt when a cold front moves in like last winter.Dont ever say it never freezes there, happens more than you think!! Took weeks, then flooded with the rains, 5 inches of rain to be exact.Or our lovely ice storms which we get every winter. I would take 20 degrees and snow over 35 and rain anyday!!!!!!!!! Every place has it's good and bad, just need to find that part you enjoy. I go out and enjoy the nice snow, well in PNW it is called concrete, so hard to enjoy. But here in Denver, lot's of fun. I love snow (not concrete) I find things to do, and enjoy the beauty of it.
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I guess the cold hard facts and scientific sunshine level measurement is too much for some people to digest.
You could have 7 straight days of sun, followed by 2 days of clouds and people will whine about the clouds and how its "always" gloom and doom. I just dont get it. 
Those are soooo "white" arent they? 
huh what do you know... White skies! Who knew besides not you. 
Then back to crap the next day or reality for Chicago more like it and if it's a year like this one, you get that going on all the way until June. 
I sure would like my kids to be able to use our pool though.
