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Old 09-23-2012, 02:38 PM
 
60 posts, read 56,623 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PacificWest View Post
A friend and I had disussion over which city had the harshest winter Chicago or New York City?

I said the Winters in each city are about the same. She said New York City Winters are much worse than Chicago, due to New York City being near Canada.

So, Which City Chicago or New York City has the harshest Winters?
Anybody who ever spend a few winters in both cities knows the answer: Chicago. New York City (and the entire East Coast) is blesses with Gulfstream which makes New York City winters much milder than they should be based on the latitude.
Chicago winters last longer and are generally colder with extreme wind chill factor that tips the scales even more. Midwest in general has very harsh winters.
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Old 09-23-2012, 02:55 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,385 posts, read 28,372,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicagoist123 View Post
I agree. The cold, even if it's only like 5 degrees with no wind, I can totally handle it. It's the wind that is the doozey. It actually hurts to be outside when it gets windy.

To be honest most of the city doesn't get that windy. It's more by the lake and in downtown. Sometimes walking in downtown in the winter can be terrible as the buildings create monster winds. Same goes for the lake. However when you go further out it's actually not too bad. You will get a slight wind.

This is why I refuse to live so close to the lake! Just too brutal come winter.

Also I believe central illions is worse. I spent a couple of years in Champaign-Urbana, the winters there were hell! Now there was place that was truly windy and you couldn't escape it! It was everywhere. For the first time in my life I wanted to be back in Chicago for winter!

At least in Chicago you could cope by finding lots of things to do in the city. In Champaign-Urbana it was torture.
Most of Chicago's population, nearly all of it's major attractions, cbd, high rises and heavy transportation routes, lsd, red line, purple line, brown line are by the lake though, it's a very lake driven and linear city. Grant Park and Lincoln Park as well as most of the museums have no barrier to the wind whatsoever, and Michigan Avenue and Wacker drive serve as massive wind tunnels, crossing the bridges can be abnormally frigid due to the iciness of the water and extra humidity around there.

Also snowfall the last 5 years sans last winter have been running in the 50-60s inch range, it wouldn't be a surprise to have 80+ inches of snow either such as the winters of the 70s. What this means is you'll have more snow cover consistently on the ground and trees in Chicago, as well as more of those 1 inch snow falls every couple of days Dec-March a few 6 inch snow falls, and maybe one or two that is 12 plus. Generally the lighter snow falls means it is better and not as cold and the cloud cover keeps it warmer, the clear and windy days are the worst. You can often see a first light snowfall before Halloween and still get a 2-3 inch snow dump mid to late april. Temperatures near the end of May can often still plummet into the 40s approaching Memorial day and you often need a nice jacket still the first few weeks of June, depending on the year.

Last edited by grapico; 09-23-2012 at 03:04 PM..
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Old 09-23-2012, 05:57 PM
 
Location: Chicago
303 posts, read 574,508 times
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Chicago has bipolar weather,it's unpredictable. Chicago's spring season is the worst because theres no normal weather for it. In spring it's a mixture of some warm days to cloudy and cold to pleasants days. New York's weather isn't like that.
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Old 09-23-2012, 07:03 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dream Chaser View Post
Chicago has bipolar weather,it's unpredictable. Chicago's spring season is the worst because theres no normal weather for it. In spring it's a mixture of some warm days to cloudy and cold to pleasants days. New York's weather isn't like that.
I agree spring is the most unpredictable, it can be decent, or just another continuation of winter (the no spring effect) and go straight from 45-55 degree highs to 80s. Fall is generally pleasant, Summer is more or less going to be hot and humid, but not so bad. Winter is more or less going to be quite cold and frigid. Year round Chicago doesn't get that many 65-75 degree cloud free days which seems to be what most people consider "nice and comfortable weather." These days if any might occur in May early June or late September early October, though some years can be a wash.
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Old 09-23-2012, 07:05 PM
 
14,727 posts, read 33,239,585 times
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Chicago. Snow, ice, gusts whipping off the lake, and outlying areas that look like the frozen tundra. New York has a winter that is moderated by the Atlantic. However, I have seen photos of the Hudson River next to Manhattan with ice floating in it.
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Old 09-23-2012, 07:32 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,385 posts, read 28,372,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robertpolyglot View Post
Chicago. Snow, ice, gusts whipping off the lake, and outlying areas that look like the frozen tundra. New York has a winter that is moderated by the Atlantic. However, I have seen photos of the Hudson River next to Manhattan with ice floating in it.
Have you seen it completely frozen over?



or frozen sand dunes?



jarvie digital

note there usually aren't any dunes, they are created by sand/frozen water freezing the wave action.



eerdword
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Old 09-23-2012, 09:04 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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More snow is more bothersome then more cold imo
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Old 09-23-2012, 09:08 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,385 posts, read 28,372,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alacran View Post
More snow is more bothersome then more cold imo
Chicago gets more snow though.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/winter/c...statistics.php

NYC only got 7 inches of snow last year. 11 in 2007. 12 in 2006. 10 in 96, 5 in 97...

Chicago never gets those super low numbers regularly like NYC does...
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/climate/...nsnowfall.html

Chicago averages 38 but is more consistently that much and will stay on the ground longer due to the colder temperatures, making a higher snowpack.

NYC averages 27 with lots of years in the single digit snow falls then a few "freak" years where they might have got 3 feet of snow in one storm or two. Otherwise Chicago snows much more.

NYC averages only 11 official snowy days per year.

Chicago averages 24.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=chi_seasonal_snow

2007-2011 Chicago got 60, 52, 54, 57 respectively. Last winter was a fluke everywhere.


NYC has over 100 cumulative more hours of sunshine than Chicago Dec-Feb with later sunsets.

Chicago has average nightly lows below freezing for around almost half the year from early november through early april.

A few years back it was almost 180 days between 70 degree days. I remember it well, the winter (fall and spring) was absolutely miserable.

http://chicagoist.com/2008/04/15/tomorrow_years.php

A few aprils ago the sun only came I remember out like 2 days, after a brutal winter.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/04/...r-since-1940s/
These kinds of brutal years just don't happen in NYC but it seems every year Chicago breaks some kind of dismal record and allover the place.
I'm just not buying anything "better" about Chicago winters.

Last edited by grapico; 09-23-2012 at 09:40 PM..
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Old 09-23-2012, 09:11 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,687,747 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
It takes 6 hours to go from Chicago to Windsor?
More like a little over 4 hours to get to east Detroit, plus however long it takes to do the border crossing. Not that proximity to Canada is a determining factor -- you can throw a rock from Seattle to Canada, it's much further north than NYC or Chicago, and obviously has much milder winters than both.

Like Alacran says... more cold versus more snow, take your pick.
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Old 09-23-2012, 09:20 PM
 
Location: Twilight zone
3,639 posts, read 8,269,028 times
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Chicago's weather is pretty bipolar. Its not uncommon to have a day or two in January where it goes up into the 50's (barley cracking 60) but then it goes down into the 20's and teens.


mas23
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