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Houston seems too hot and Minneapolis seems too cold. Phoenix is obviously the hottest, but that dry heat is much different than humid heat. Same way the 52 degrees I felt Saturday with wind was much more brutal than the 52 degrees with no wind I felt yesterday.
I've always wondered, how did Minneapolis-Saint Paul get so big with such brutal temps? How on Earth do people tolerate this? Lol.
We aren't giant sissies? Temperature isn't the most important thing in life?
It was the #1 producer of flour in the US for like 100 years. St Anthony Falls in Minneapolis had like 15 flour mills (Pillsbury, Gold Medal etc). All the wheat from SD, ND and Canada was processed there. A little river called the Mississippi allowed this to travel south and to the rest of the country.
Also, up until the 1950s it was the SOUTH that was unbearable for human habitation. The explosion in the Sunbelt cities is tied to indoor AC. You can always warm yourself with fire (Northern cities like NY, CHI, Boston, MSP). Without electricity and freon very few people would prefer living in Houston or Phoenix over Minneapolis.
I know some enjoy it, but Anchorage, AK has the worst climate in my mind. Winters are modified somewhat due to a maritime influence, but still cold...lots of snow, usually 20-30 degrees during the day, but usually a period of dry, extremely cold weather where it struggles to get above zero. Perhaps not much different than North Dakota or Minnesota, but the other side is very cool (almost cold) summers where the average high is only in the 60's. Plus a pronounced late summer rainy season in August.
We aren't giant sissies? Temperature isn't the most important thing in life?
It was the #1 producer of flour in the US for like 100 years. St Anthony Falls in Minneapolis had like 15 flour mills (Pillsbury, Gold Medal etc). All the wheat from SD, ND and Canada was processed there. A little river called the Mississippi allowed this to travel south and to the rest of the country.
Also, up until the 1950s it was the SOUTH that was unbearable for human habitation. The explosion in the Sunbelt cities is tied to indoor AC. You can always warm yourself with fire (Northern cities like NY, CHI, Boston, MSP). Without electricity and freon very few people would prefer living in Houston or Phoenix over Minneapolis.
Well excuse me for thinking -20 degrees is a little extreme?? It was a simple question from someone who's not used not used to temperatures below 30. Thanks for answering I guess, but you can definitely cool it with the attitude.
As for the second prargraph, yes, we all know that. Kind of why I brought Houston into the mix.
LOL it's so funny how people on here are labeling western and southern cities i.e. Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, ect. as cities with the worst climate. Just shows you how big of an east coast bias this forum contains.
The climate in Phoenix this week :
69/51
72/52
75/52
77/53
73/49
64/43
62/44
62/44
Climate in Dallas this week:
71/53
67/45
71/51
64/47
67/53
72/59
65/47/64/43
I mean seriously???? and this is only november....
While it gets hotter than hell in a lot of southwestern cities and hot and humid as hell in a lot of southern cities, as other posters have said, many of these cities get 7 months of great weather. For me the cities with the worst climates are those who experience the extremes on both ends i.e. cold winters and humid summers (I guess one could make an argument that Dallas fits this catagory. My friend moved from Phoenix to Chicago and said that the summers in Chicago can be "disgusting feeling" as he put it. I've also been to Minnesota in the summer and found it to be way more humid than I had expected it to be. Having said that I'd take a very hot 4 month summer in the pool surrounded by palm trees over a bone chilling cold 5 month winter full of snow, high winds, grey skies and barren trees.
I'm uncomfortable at temperatures above 85 degrees or below 30 degrees. The major warm weather cities have more days outside of my comfort zone than the major warm weather cities. They also tend to be less urban, but this thread is just about weather.
Well excuse me for thinking -20 degrees is a little extreme?? It was a simple question from someone who's not used not used to temperatures below 30. Thanks for answering I guess, but you can definitely cool it with the attitude.
As for the second prargraph, yes, we all know that. Kind of why I brought Houston into the mix.
Eh, you seemed to bring the attitude with your 'omg how to people tolerate lol?'
We here in the North hear comments like yours all the time. It gets old. So there are 2 ways to respond. Polite like 'Yeah it gets cold but we do the best we can don't you know?' Or snarky like 'Gee I'm glad I'm not a huge whiner like those southerners.' I took the latter approach (probably due to the time of night and the anonymity of the internet). Sorry.
Eh, you seemed to bring the attitude with your 'omg how to people tolerate lol?'
We here in the North hear comments like yours all the time. It gets old. So there are 2 ways to respond. Polite like 'Yeah it gets cold but we do the best we can don't you know?' Or snarky like 'Gee I'm glad I'm not a huge whiner like those southerners.' I took the latter approach (probably due to the time of night and the anonymity of the internet). Sorry.
The same way it's hard for me to tolerate 110 degree heat index in the summer, I don't understand how people tolerate -20 degree wind chill. Even with the brutal winters, Minneapolis still has over 3 million people and is growing faster other, "warmer" Midwestern cities, so I was just curious on what you guys to do manage.
There was no attitude, your winters are brutal. I wanted to know how you get through it. I'd ask the same thing about people in Alaska and Buffalo. I've never experienced that lifestyle, so I wanted to know what it's like.
The same way it's hard for me to tolerate 110 degree heat index in the summer, I don't understand how people tolerate -20 degree wind chill. Even with the brutal winters, Minneapolis still has over 3 million people and is growing faster other, "warmer" Midwestern cities, so I was just curious on what you guys to do manage.
There was no attitude, your winters are brutal. I wanted to know how you get through it. I'd ask the same thing about people in Alaska and Buffalo. I've never experienced that lifestyle, so I wanted to know what it's like.
The same way it's hard for me to tolerate 110 degree heat index in the summer, I don't understand how people tolerate -20 degree wind chill. Even with the brutal winters, Minneapolis still has over 3 million people and is growing faster other, "warmer" Midwestern cities, so I was just curious on what you guys to do manage.
There was no attitude, your winters are brutal. I wanted to know how you get through it. I'd ask the same thing about people in Alaska and Buffalo. I've never experienced that lifestyle, so I wanted to know what it's like.
It's bad for like 6-12 weeks depending on the year and your definition of 'bad'. Some winters we have 60 inches of snow. The last few we barely had any. Some years we get several weeks where temps are below 20. Some years it rarely hits negative.
This morning - first snow. 2 inches, wet and sticky. My daughters built snowmen. My dog ran through the woods eating snow and rolling around like she was on drugs. I shoveled then helped put carrots on snowmen for their noses.
Basically Jan-Feb are the real bad months. Dec and March can range from decent to tolerable. April and November you can play golf, mow your lawn, fish and play outside.
The most difficult part is the darkness. It gets dark in the winter months around 4:30 PM. Many people commute to and from work in low light or darkness. If you completely resettled the US tomorrow and there was no existing infrastructure, workforce, corporate jobs or family ties, it would be highly unlikely to have a metro area of more than 3 million in Minnesota. Yet by most objective metrics the Twin Cities and Minnesota in general are some of the best places to live in the country.
I grew up here and believe that dealing with winter weather and snow and learning how to deal with both heat and extreme cold challenge me and strengthen me at least a bit. I went to Europe in January in college and spent three days in Stockholm in January and I could enjoy the city because I wasn't paralyzed by the temperatures. I've also spent weeks in Phoenix in the summertime and lived part of my life in central Arizona. I would honestly say our winters are just as inconvenient as a Phoenix or Houston or Miami summer.
It's bad for like 6-12 weeks depending on the year and your definition of 'bad'. Some winters we have 60 inches of snow. The last few we barely had any. Some years we get several weeks where temps are below 20. Some years it rarely hits negative.
This morning - first snow. 2 inches, wet and sticky. My daughters built snowmen. My dog ran through the woods eating snow and rolling around like she was on drugs. I shoveled then helped put carrots on snowmen for their noses.
Basically Jan-Feb are the real bad months. Dec and March can range from decent to tolerable. April and November you can play golf, mow your lawn, fish and play outside.
The most difficult part is the darkness. It gets dark in the winter months around 4:30 PM. Many people commute to and from work in low light or darkness. If you completely resettled the US tomorrow and there was no existing infrastructure, workforce, corporate jobs or family ties, it would be highly unlikely to have a metro area of more than 3 million in Minnesota. Yet by most objective metrics the Twin Cities and Minnesota in general are some of the best places to live in the country.
I grew up here and believe that dealing with winter weather and snow and learning how to deal with both heat and extreme cold challenge me and strengthen me at least a bit. I went to Europe in January in college and spent three days in Stockholm in January and I could enjoy the city because I wasn't paralyzed by the temperatures. I've also spent weeks in Phoenix in the summertime and lived part of my life in central Arizona. I would honestly say our winters are just as inconvenient as a Phoenix or Houston or Miami summer.
Thanks. That's what I was wanting to know the first time. Still hard for me to put myself in those shoes, but it doesn't seem as miserable as the temps, wind, and snow make it sound.
Still too cold for me, but Minneapolis does seem like a great metro to live, work, and play. And I agree about the early sunsets. I know that's a real problem with Boston.
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