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Regarding average winter high-temps in Albuquerque, New Mexico, desert sun wrote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by desert sun
thats average 48, so that means there are plenty of days that reach into the 50's and some 60's for being January that is perfect weather to me. The sun shines almost all the time and its intense so it feels much warmer than it really is and there isnt any wind to make it feel colder. We rarely ever have a high in the 30's, maybe once or twice a month and on most days I wear a short sleeved shirt and a hoodie at night.
The snow is usually gone by the next day or its gone by noon and if you slept til noon you might not even know that it snowed. The east side of the city gets most of the snow, the west side of the city gets less and this winter I've only seen maybe 2-3 inches at the most.
True, but regardless of how warm it gets during the day, it is when you wake up in the morning and your outdoor thermometer reads in the teens that make Albuquerque colder than one might think. I mean we get our first frost in mid-October and last frost in late April.
Then there are cold snaps. I remember one November I had a problem with my furnace. The furnace guy said, "I'll be out in a week", since that whole week the temp went down into the high-teens, I ended up putting a futon right in front of the fireplace. At 8am my house was about 29 degrees. By 2 in the afternoon it was up to 45 and I could take my gloves off!
Regarding average winter high-temps in Albuquerque, New Mexico, desert sun wrote:
True, but regardless of how warm it gets during the day, it is when you wake up in the morning and your outdoor thermometer reads in the teens that make Albuquerque colder than one might think. I mean we get our first frost in mid-October and last frost in late April.
Then there are cold snaps. I remember one November I had a problem with my furnace. The furnace guy said, "I'll be out in a week", since that whole week the temp went down into the high-teens, I ended up putting a futon right in front of the fireplace. At 8am my house was about 29 degrees. By 2 in the afternoon it was up to 45 and I could take my gloves off!
ABQConvict
I think many in this forum would be surprised to learn that Southern New Mexico, in the Sacramento Mountains, which is about as far south as San Diego, routinely gets down to zero degrees in the winter. New Mexico is often associated with desert heat, but some of the coldest areas in the country, such as Taos County, places like Dulce and Chama drop way below zero regularly in the winter evenings.
Regarding average winter high-temps in Albuquerque, New Mexico, desert sun wrote:
True, but regardless of how warm it gets during the day, it is when you wake up in the morning and your outdoor thermometer reads in the teens that make Albuquerque colder than one might think. I mean we get our first frost in mid-October and last frost in late April.
Then there are cold snaps. I remember one November I had a problem with my furnace. The furnace guy said, "I'll be out in a week", since that whole week the temp went down into the high-teens, I ended up putting a futon right in front of the fireplace. At 8am my house was about 29 degrees. By 2 in the afternoon it was up to 45 and I could take my gloves off!
ABQConvict
true, it is cold in the mornings which I think I mentioned, but its winter time and early morning so that is expected. It also warms up fast here, you might need a jacket to walk to your vehicle in the morning but by noon you may not need it anymore, maybe just a sweater or hoodie. That is why alot of people in ABQ dont like to wear jackets, you usually wont need it later on in the day.
at least when the sun comes up it usually melts the frost on the window.
of course there are cold snaps just like there are warm ups, everywhere has cold snaps, even if its not a cold climate but what I was speaking of is more of what someone will face on an average day.
I know Tampa weather is nice and alot warmer than ours, I can expect to see nice weather all winter long but I would also expect to see a cold snap here and there.
Asheville, NC and Knoxville, TN are my votes. Their climate is more humid continental than humid subtropical because of their locations in the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains, which keep their climate cool in the summer and also enable their winters to be cold with a reasonable amount of snowfall. They are very cold for their latitudes.
Interesting that there are several posts on here where people say they are surprised that it gets as cold as it does in some parts of the South, just because they actually get snow or some chilly weather there. It's not as if everything suddenly shifts into a tropical climate as soon as you cross the Mason-Dixon line. It's a gradual shift all the way down the coast. Still being surprised about nippy weather in SC or significant snowfall in VA is not the most extreme misconception of this sort that I've encountered. I used to work with a guy (in Massachusetts) who seemed to really believe that average highs in Norfolk in January were in the 80's.
The post I'm quoting here homes in on the fact that places at high altitudes can be quite a bit colder than you might expect if you assume the weather is like that found at lower altitudes in the same states or regions. Blacksburg, VA, and Boone, NC, come to mind as possibly even more pronounced examples of this than Asheville. I've never been to either of those towns, but I've seen charts showing their average winter temperatures being similar to those in northern NJ, NYC, and southern New England.
The same appears to be true in high-altitude locations in the Southwest, like Santa Fe and northern AZ. Nothin' at all like the mild winters in Phoenix.
I think many in this forum would be surprised to learn that Southern New Mexico, in the Sacramento Mountains, which is about as far south as San Diego, routinely gets down to zero degrees in the winter. New Mexico is often associated with desert heat, but some of the coldest areas in the country, such as Taos County, places like Dulce and Chama drop way below zero regularly in the winter evenings.
I hate to say it, but while they do have their cold spells, neither Dulce or Chama are some of the "coldest areas in the Country". Maybe the coldest areas of the South, but with a record low of -16, Chama wouldn't make the top thousand, I doubt it would make the top 5000 list. It only has a total of 28 days where the record low is at 0 or below. You need to trot out Gavilan, NM when you are talking COLD in New Mexico . -50F is COLD for their record. which puts NM tied for the #14 spot on the coldest spots in the Country list.
Now would people find it surprising? Probably. Most people tend to think of NM as hot and dry, but there are cold spots, just not cold compared to a lot of the rest of the Country.
Most people who haven't ever lived here think that winter is ALWAYS EXTREMELY COLD, from Oct-Apr.
Actually October is a very nice month, and November isnt really anything to be scared of. December gets cold, but like 20s and 30s cold. Which still isnt extreme.
January starts to get real bad into eearly February at around 0-10. March is nice, just usually the snowiest month.
So, to recap. This post doesnt really mean anything to this thread, but its only EXTREMELY cold in the Twin Cities for about a month of the winter. Other than that the winter isnt too bad.
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. -50F is COLD for their record. which puts NM tied for the #14 spot on the coldest spots in the Country list. 
Denver gets my vote since so many lie about the weather here...
