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I was curious about that, because especially here in the West there are so many micro-climates.
I am from Colorado, a state known for snow but I don't think many know about the strong, hurricane force chinook winds that the Front Range gets.
For example, the Denver gets those hurricane-force chinook winds in January that warm the area to 70 degrees or more. Colorado Springs also gets some ultra-strong winds that even at 6000 feet, can take it above 70 degrees.
Areas on southern Front Range like Pueblo can even go above 80 degrees in January.
Arizona also has some very odd weather.
Tucson for example gets an ultra-strong monsoon and even Tropical Depressions that are left-overs from Baja California. Tucson can get 13" of rain during a monsoon summer.
I was in Tucson for 2 weeks over the summer and like clockwork when it would hit 90 degrees last July, there would be heavy rain. Almost every afternoon when I was there one part of the Tucson area would have flash flood warnings.
Tucson also can have some pretty chilly summer afternoons. I remember one day last summer it was in the low 80s but after the monsoon in the afternoon it cooled to 70 degrees.
After monsoon rainfalls it is very common for temperatures in the late afternoon to be in the 70s in the middle of the summer, after peaking at about 90 earlier in the day.
Tucson is also very, very humid in the late-summer.
Other weather patterns that are not commonly known:
-Las Vegas has much cooler spring weather then Phoenix, but during Monsoon it is very similar
-Eastern San Diego County gets very hot in the summer-time, the Antolope Valley in Los Angeles gets extremely cold in the winter
-Albuquerque winters are much colder then people think. Las Cruces though has a Phoenix like winter.
-Salt Lake City has very little wind in the winter and gets extremely intense pollution. The weather people in Salt Lake City are always happy to report when a little wind comes to the Valley usually in February magically ridding the city of it's terrible January air pollution.
-Fargo can get Seattle like doom and gloom mid-winter where it is above freezing and even sometimes rains in January.
I concur about Denver. I lived there for 3 years recently (not that long, I know), and I was very surprised at having those periods of several mild days in a row during Winter.
I'm not sure if a lot of people know how cold it can get in San Francisco in the Summer. I know that everyone knows it's not like SoCal weather, but even I was surprised when I visited a few Summers ago
Oklahoma is crazier than most people realize. The weather seems to be all or nothing, and never reaches a happy medium. It exists at a junction that seems to connect different parts of the US with one another, and tends to 'borrow' weather from just about everywhere. Plus in general, weird things just happen here.
Spring:
- Severe weather including tornadoes, small to very large hail, wind storms (rare, but I've seen them near hurricane force)
- Prone to flooding from extended rain events due to flat topography. Water sits in lowest lying areas which can be just about anywhere. Rivers and streams seemingly become overwhelmed much more easily than in a state with more natural river valleys.
- Can occasionally have years of very little severe weather activity.
Summer:
- Humidity, while not surprising on its own, has been at Florida levels before and has caused condensation to appear on the windows of my home. (rare, but it happened this summer)
- Very hot.
- Very little rain and clear blue skies nearly every day.
- Tornadoes nearly non-existent
- Extended rain events are rare, but when I do see them the weather tends to get surprisingly cool for summer months - into the 50's and 60's.
Fall:
- Can be warm into late October/early November.
- A second, though smaller tornado/thunderstorm season through October/November
- Humidity decreases mid to late fall.
Winter:
- Quite dry, humidity tends to be at its lowest
- While generally cool, can have drastic temperature swings. At least once every winter we have a day or two where temperatures do not exceed more than 10 degrees, and other days where the temperature climbs into the 70's or low 80's.
- Fire weather when winds are constant from the southwest and temperatures are warm. Smallish brush fires are most common.
- Blizzards have occurred but are rare. Because the state is not equipped to handle snowfall, 2 inches can be detrimental to travel. NW Oklahoma most prone to larger snowfalls.
- Prone to extensive ice storms.
- Can't rule out thunderstorms or a rare tornado.
- Desert-like daily temperature swings. For example, a high temp of 40 and a low of 15 at night.
General Climate/ Odd Occurrences:
- Area is prone to extended droughts beyond summer months (The Dust Bowl, etc.)
- Heat Bursts: "a rare atmospheric phenomenon characterized by gusty winds and a rapid increase in temperature and decrease in dew point (moisture). Heat bursts typically occur during night-time and are associated with decaying thunderstorms." I've never heard of one until I moved here, but considering the thunderstorm activity I'd imagine they are somewhat more common here than elsewhere. I've experienced one once per year so far.
- If Houston gets a tropical storm or hurricane, it usually ends up in Oklahoma. In 2007 tropical storm Erin actually re-intensified over land which is known as the "Brown ocean effect". A newly formed eye passed over Oklahoma City.
I'm not sure if a lot of people know how cold it can get in San Francisco in the Summer. I know that everyone knows it's not like SoCal weather, but even I was surprised when I visited a few Summers ago
Fog. But when it's sunny, it's beautiful and warm and a most beautiful city.
Most? people assume that California is the perpetual sunny place that they see on the big and little screen and don't realize how environmentally / ecologically diverse this big state is.
If you live near the Great Lakes, there's always lake effect snow. It often occurs in narrow areas. For example, a 15 mile wide stretch between Syracuse and Watertown in New York always gets pummeled. Such narrow bands also form near Buffalo, NY, where a slight variation in the wind determines what swath gets buried in snow. Northerly winds over Lake Michigan can bury northwest Indiana in snow while just a few miles to the west, Chicago gets nothing. In western Michigan, the southwest part of the state (near Grand Rapids, Holland, and Kalamazoo) tends to get a bunch of lake effect snow, but it abates as you head up Lake Michigan towards Ludington before picking up again and burying Traverse City and Petoskey. Go figure.
I'm not sure if a lot of people know how cold it can get in San Francisco in the Summer. I know that everyone knows it's not like SoCal weather, but even I was surprised when I visited a few Summers ago
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." -Attributed to Mark Twain, though it's doubtful that he ever said it
Just in general the Northeast can get slammed but large single event snow storms which can dump 30 inches of snow in hours with at times hurricane force winds. These are generally much larger single snow events when compared to lake effect snow or other more normal weather patterns. These are caused by large tropical moisture patterns that clash with the winter jet streams along the coast. Called Noreasters they are like a winter hurricane and can have winds exceeded 60 miles an hour with the extreme snow falls.
Also many times in the summer the Northeast can be hotter than Miami or even say a Cancun, with nasty humidity
The Northeast can get pretty dramatic extremes (actually believe the summer heat extremes are more intense then the general winter extremes) though is mostly moderate
One thing not common are tornados which are generally west of the Appalachian mountains
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