Help with info on weather in Missouri? Thank you. (St. Louis: college, living in)

[quietlake]

Hey there -

Could anyone tell me about the weather in different parts of Missouri?
North, South, East, West and Central?
How hot and humid is it in Summer, how cold, snowy, windy is it in Winter?
Trying to find the best climate for our little family.

Trying to find somewhere that is;

above 30 in the winter, above 40 would be better.
need snow sometimes in winter, but not blizard amount.
windy is fine, any season.
not above 99 degrees in the summer, not above 90 would be better.
not humid in summer.
4 seasons that are distinctly different.
changing collors of the leaves in the fall.

Does this weather pattern exist in Missouri?

Any help would be welcome, thank you.

[OA 5599]

You really won't find that weather pattern anywhere in Missouri. Just about anywhere in the Midwest will have periods of high heat in the summer, with high humidity. It will get above 99 a few days of the year in Missouri but it is not uncommon to have a week or two where the heat index is 100 or higher.

Winter over most of the state can get quite cold, probably a few nights where it gets to around 0, and a few days where the high is in the 20's, but this varies across the state, it gets colder as you go further north. Snowfall is also common across the state, again more snowfall occurs the farther north you go, with large increases once you get north of I-70 (the jet stream usually flows through here in the winter). In southern Missouri its uncommon to have snow on the ground for more than a week, however once you get north of I-70 its much more common. However, the weather in the state is highly variable and there seldom are "average" years, some years winter will be very mild, other years there will be large ice storms and snow on the ground for 3 weeks at a time even in the far southern part of the state.

Missouri is not particularly windy, compared to any of the plains states, or Central Texas where I live now, it is much less windy, although it does tend to blow during storms and in the winter sometimes. Missouri does have 4 very distinct seasons, and the state looks completely different, anything from bare trees and brown grass in the winter, to a completely green oasis in the summer, to flowers and budding trees in the spring, to changing leaves in the fall. I grew up with the ever-changing weather and seasons in Missouri and really miss them, especially living in Texas where there are basically two seasons, "hot" and "cool".

Missouri's climate sounds both too cold and hot/humid for your family, although finding a "perfect" climate will be very hard across most of the country, especially in the Midwest...you may want to look into a climate nearer to a coast which is milder, I would say Oregon or Washington but it is often very rainy for several months out of the year along the coasts in those states.

[MrsMo]

I am in the KC area, and some winters are down right frigid , then we have mild winters too. A mild winter will get below 30. We can get lots of snow or none at all some winters. Summers are usually pretty miserable. Hot, humid, and we are begging for rain by the middle of August. That is what I love about Missouri, you get all extremes of weather.

[inthewest]

If not, anything even CLOSE to that?

Like, 4 different seasons, any type of winter and heat not above 99 degrees?

Thanks again!

[OA 5599]

It will get to 99 degrees probably a few days out of the summer just about anywhere in the Midwest. Even farther north up into Minnesota and Michigan it can get that hot. However, its not a often occurrence, in Missouri there will typically be one or two weeks in July where it is in the high 90's with high humidity every day. It has been 95 or higher, often 99-102, nearly every day since May here in Texas. Any reason for the 99 degree threshold? Dealing with it a few days or weeks out of the year really isn't that bad. I'd suggest you look into somewhere in New England or maybe as far south as Pennsylvania if you want it to stay below 99 in the summer and don't mind winter.

[inthewest]

Grew up in New England, but moved early and it is just too expensive to live there for us now. Can not afford Oregon/California, allthough we lived there also. Can afford areas like Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mo, that sort of thing.

[OA 5599]

If you don't mind the winter and can deal with a few weeks of hot temps Missouri will work fine for you guys. If you go to weather.com you can look at the averages for any zip code and see what is typical for highs and lows for each month of the year. Arkansas and Tennessee will be hotter in the summer and have milder winters, and will also both be more humid than Missouri. You also might want to look into Pennsylvania, it will likely be pretty cheap (most of the rural areas and Pittsburgh) and you'll have much cooler summers...I visited State College to see some friends last summer and the weather was awesome, 85, sunny, with little humidity, and they said it rarely gets over 90.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

It seems to me that STL and KC get more snow than the southern part of the state, which makes sense I guess. We only got a few inches last year, whereas St. Louis got like 30 inches of snow.

The past couple days were probably about the hottest of the summer. Sunday it was 100 and Monday was 96.

But Missouri weather can be pretty unpredictable.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

It seems to me that STL and KC get more snow than the southern part of the state, which makes sense I guess. We only got a few inches last year, whereas St. Louis got like 30 inches of snow.

The past couple days were probably about the hottest of the summer. Sunday it was 100 and Monday was 96.

But Missouri weather can be pretty unpredictable.

Really? I'd have to say that the weather in St. Louis has been pretty good...temps have been pretty normal lately...it has been in the upper 80s at the highest the past week. But then again, where you are at is 150 miles to the south of me, so I guess that explains why it's so much hotter now where you are.

[aragx6]

^^ Were you out of town last weekend? It was 100 degrees on the dot in St. Louis on Sunday!