[ChrisKLAS]

Boracay, Philippines - 10 (perfect, low-mid 80s year round with a nice sea breeze)
Vegas [currently home] - 8 (love the sun and low humidity; you can keep the summer months)
Daytona Beach, FL - 8 (hot, humid summers; occasional hurricane event)
Manila, Philippines - 5 (stifling heat/humidity in the summer; lots of smog)
Louisville, KY [hometown] - 4 (hot, humid summers; cold, cloudy [for months] winters)
Anchorage, AK - 1 (the one point comes solely from the four or five clear, 70 degree days all summer)

[ScoopLV]

Places I've spent a great deal of time in:

Nairobi, Kenya - 10 (It's always 85f. It's never not 85f. It rains every day from 2pm to 4pm. Beware of Malaria.)
Napa, CA - 9.9999 (45f to 100f. No malaria. No hurricanes. Lots of wine. I will eventually move there.)
Key West, FL - 8 (45f to 92f. Hurricanes have been increasing in size and frequency)
St. Maartin - 8 (same as Key West)
Nassau, Bahamas - 8 (same as Key West)
Hannover, Germany - 7 (30f to 90f. No extremes here.)
Cairo, Egypt - 6 (50f to 120f. It's hot. Damned hot. Real hot. So hot I can cook things in my shorts. A little crotch-pot cooking.)
Norwich, England - 5 (10f to 85f. It rains all the damned time.)

[BBMW]

Scoop, in you meteorological assessment of the Napa Valley, you forgot earthquakes. My sister is moving to FL for better (warmer) weather than NY, she ruled out CA based on the earthquake risk. Now she's hearing about the sink holes.

My big comparison is NYC to LV. I've been to LV in the dead of summer. It's hot but manageable (very nice when you're in a pool.) NYC is cooler, but with the humidity, at bet the same level of comfort, if not less comfortable. And, of course, in NYC, your forced out into the heat more. Picture roasting in an oven of a subway station waiting for a train. The rest of the seasons, especially winter, LV has the advantage.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Scoop, in you meteorological assessment of the Napa Valley, you forgot earthquakes. My sister is moving to FL for better (warmer) weather than NY, she ruled out CA based on the earthquake risk. Now she's hearing about the sink holes.

There's always SOMETHING -- sink holes, earthquakes, hurricanes, flash floods, blizzards, tornadoes, fire, mudslides. I'm not going to let any of that bother me.

[irisheyzs]

My husband refuses to move to CA...his reasoning is he will not live anywhere that has a season called "fire".

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by irisheyzs

My husband refuses to move to CA...his reasoning is he will not live anywhere that has a season called "fire".

Seems like everywhere has something nasty to deal with. My thinking is that there's a greater risk of driving in a climate that has snow and ice (like where I currently live) that's worse than the Cali earthquakes and fire. Without looking it up, I would guess the average lifespan is higher in Cali than Pennsylvania. Of course, the price of housing and taxes would probably stress kill me if I lived in Cali.

I'm thinking Vegas has a pretty good deal with low taxes and COL and a climate that's better than most anywhere except Cali. I'm personally not factoring in income and jobs because of my situation.

Which has a better climate, Phoenix or LV?

[lvoc]

I will take a pass...

I grew up in Louisville, Ky. Once I left the only time I ever set foot in Jefferson County was for my mother diamond jubilee from Law School. Wickedly hot and wet in the summer...the park gave us all salt pills...and cold in the winter...A 5

Ten years in NYC - three as an infant - seven as a high school and college student...Cold winters and miserable summers. Few nice months in between - A 4

Rochester NY - 16 years. A pitiful place climate wise. Good place to work 70 hour weeks which I did most of those years. Grey and bleak for months at a time. One December the cloud cover never broke for even a instant. Winter more pleasant than spring which was cool, wet, miserable. We actually went someplace warm in the spring not the winter. Summer was livable though a little muggyFall lthe only time it was nice to be there. 3

OC California 16 years. A pleasant place but way over rated. We lived in the coastal plain so it may be better if you get a few more miles from the coast. Grey and overcast in almost all of the spring and summer. Often cool. often damp. Simply the reward of a leeward coast. Note that whenever possible off to Catalina...which had a lmuch nicer clime. A windward shore. 8 Nice but not perfect.

Spent a couple of years doing London 1 week every month. Too much rain. Too much cool. Too much gray...but better than Rochester. 5

Spent 18 months living in Dallas Monday and Tuesday. Nasty winter stuff but short. Summers, which were long, were at least as unpleasant as Louisville. 6

Las Vegas for the last 17years. We like heat so the summers are fine. I agree that above 105 is hot..but low humidity 100 is not bad. The winters are way too cool. So another 8.

I expect there are 10s but I have not lived in one. Hawaii may get closer but it has its shortcomings. Someplace with a sea breeze and a tropical 85...

7s and 8s are livable though. I don't think you could bribe me enough to move back to Rochester...even though it is a fine city.

[New Horizons]

Do you all find the peak hot months in LV a lot more tolerable than in Phoenix? Put it this way, would the weather difference ALONE be a reason to live in LV instead? The winters certainly sound invigorating there. LV is about a thousand feet higher than Phoenix.

Also, does Las Vegas get that urban heat island effect? I hear that mentioned about Phoenix often.

I like Phoenix ALOT. Next month will be my second visit there. I'm bringing my mother to see it. Our whole family might relocate there from Florida. But I'm curious about the weather difference compared to LV. Because if it's WAY better, I might have to consider LV instead. I want to be in a BIG, cosmopolitan, sunny and dry desert city. The way I see it there are only two choices.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

Do you all find the peak hot months in LV a lot more tolerable than in Phoenix? Put it this way, would the weather difference ALONE be a reason to live in LV instead? The winters certainly sound invigorating there. LV is about a thousand feet higher than Phoenix.

Also, does Las Vegas get that urban heat island effect? I hear that mentioned about Phoenix often.

I like Phoenix ALOT. Next month will be my second visit there. I'm bringing my mother to see it. Our whole family might relocate there from Florida. But I'm curious about the weather difference compared to LV. Because if it's WAY better, I might have to consider LV instead. I want to be in a BIG, cosmopolitan, sunny and dry desert city. The way I see it there are only two choices.

Three. The Tucson climate is like Las Vegas.

Phoenix is more miserable than Las Vegas in the heat by a good bit. It is not only hotter but more humid as well. However it is also 5 degrees warmer in the winter and that is nice. So name your poison.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

Do you all find the peak hot months in LV a lot more tolerable than in Phoenix? Put it this way, would the weather difference ALONE be a reason to live in LV instead? The winters certainly sound invigorating there. LV is about a thousand feet higher than Phoenix.

Also, does Las Vegas get that urban heat island effect? I hear that mentioned about Phoenix often.

I like Phoenix ALOT. Next month will be my second visit there. I'm bringing my mother to see it. Our whole family might relocate there from Florida. But I'm curious about the weather difference compared to LV. Because if it's WAY better, I might have to consider LV instead. I want to be in a BIG, cosmopolitan, sunny and dry desert city. The way I see it there are only two choices.

Way better? Not really. Summer is worse in Phoenix no doubt, but just marginally. The humidity is certainly worse, but then again the cloud cover and rain take a little edge off the heat when they do come. Vegas most definitely gets the urban heat effect and its been drastic in the last couple decades. Used to be lows would get down to the low to mid 70s, now its more like low to mid 80s and there are some nights in July where the low is right around 90. Its been a clear case of what happens to the desert when it goes from half a million people to almost 2 million.

As for big and cosmopolitan, guess it depends on how you view these things. Vegas is borderline cosmopolitan, kind of depends on what you want out of that description. Smith Center has certainly improved things, further Downtown development might get things closer as well. But to do a lot of things people view as "big city", Vegas residents often head out of town. For the most part the population isn't too concerned about making things head down that path too quickly.