Weather Bucket List

[Joe90]

I would like to experience a summer in a humid subtropical climate, at a comparable latitude to here. Somewhere like the US east coast, or Sochi in Russia.

Other than that, there is enough variation locally for me.

[NorthStarDelight]

Originally Posted by AdriannaSmiling

I live in the Bay Area that has the most boring weather in the world...
No rain in summer for 3-5 months.
Light rain in winter always in the form of showers in cool but not cold weather. Snow is nonexistant at sea level and happens maybe once every 50 years.
Thunderstroms are RARE and happen only once every 2 years or so.
Winter temps daytime in the upper 50s and summer in the low 80s. Occasional frost on colder clear winter nights but always warms up to the 50s by noon.
Summer humidity is nonexistant.

I want to LIVE in the Bay Area for the rest of my life cuz my family is here and I appreciate the pleasent weather and conveience and not having to worry an event being rained out in summer, let alone destructive storms that the rest of the country gets. I also apprciate NOT having to worry about driving in snow or shovelling it like those N'Easters do.

HOWEVER, I want to travel and experience other climates as a vacation to combine with sightseeing:

Here's my bucket list:

A blizzard.
Temps of -20 F or colder
A very strong thunderstorm with thunder so loud it hurts the years.
Marble size hail
Temps of 120 F or higher
Temps of 95 F with high humidity (we've had temps over 100 F here but ZERO PERCENT HUMIDITY).
A tropical storm or category 1 hurricane


My plans are to combine off season travel season like to Minneapolis in January and Florida in September in HOPES of a low grade hurrricane hitting. I'd stay in each place for 2 weeks and combine sightseeing and hope to experience the weather and still do stuff...

Good idea or stupid?

No, that's a great idea - I've always had a weather bucket list of my own.

Out of the above, I've experienced marble-sized hail, very close lightning strikes with thunder loud enough to feel, not just hear...lol, the 95 F with humidity (that's just nasty...lol) and a couple brushes by hurricane with sustained tropical storm winds. Coldest temp I've experienced is -8 F, highest 106 F, and while I've seen some decent snowfalls, I've yet to encounter a true blizzard.

A couple points for you to ponder: If you go to Florida for a couple weeks in hopes of seeing a hurricane, prepare to be disappointed. I lived in Ft Lauderdale for a dozen years and I only got to experience tropical storm winds a handful of times, and we'd go for years in a row with nothing at all, except the garden-variety storms - although those are fun to watch. Same thing for going to MN to try and catch a blizzard, they're really not that common. I do recommend spending a week or 2 in the UP of Michigan - at the very least, you'll get to see some lake effect snows (be very careful of white-out conditions if you're driving though), and if you go during a good winter, you'll see some incredible snow depths, just like those postcards you see of snowy Swiss villages with mounds of snow on the houses. For the minus 20, however, you'll need to visit International Falls or Rhinelander, as the UP's temps are moderated by Lake Superior, and go in mid-to-late Jan for max cold and best chances of a blizzard in any of those locations.

The 120 F+, you can catch in Death Valley in June and July, so that's an easy one, June is the best month in Florida to try and catch the 95 F + humidity, although you might regret that...lol. Best chance of catching t-storms with loud thunder and hail is central Florida, again, in June - be prepared to have a rental car with good insurance and a good weather app for your mobile so you can chase the t-storms that form over the peninsula that time of the year. Be sure to bring a video camera so you can take some footage to show off when you go back home.

I wish ya the best of luck!

[foo cities]

120 degrees is very hot in the shade and really hot as you drive on the highway. Otherwise, it feels slightly hotter than 100 degrees in the sun.

Below 0 is like 27 degrees and below with more bite and crisper.

[cloudcrash619]

My bucket list:

- Experience a true blizzard (I've seen many "winter storms" here.)
- Experience a sub-zero temperature.
- See a strong tornado, EF4-EF5 (without getting hurt of course)
- Go to Death Valley, CA on it's hottest day in the summer (120's)

The first three on the list are possible here, just very rare. The temperature dropped to -5 in December 1989, but since I was only 6 months old I was kept inside for like a week straight. The last true blizzard here was in the 1960's. I'm pretty sure strong tornadoes are possible here, I've experienced two EF2 tornadoes.

[AdriannaSmiling]

Originally Posted by cloudcrash619

My bucket list:

- Experience a true blizzard (I've seen many "winter storms" here.)
- Experience a sub-zero temperature.
- See a strong tornado, EF4-EF5 (without getting hurt of course)
- Go to Death Valley, CA on it's hottest day in the summer (120's)

The first three on the list are possible here, just very rare. The temperature dropped to -5 in December 1989, but since I was only 6 months old I was kept inside for like a week straight. The last true blizzard here was in the 1960's. I'm pretty sure strong tornadoes are possible here, I've experienced two EF2 tornadoes.

There has never even been an F1 tornado in the Bay Area before...if we hear a rumble of thunder, it's the headlines in the news that evening.......that's how calm our weather is..

[Ethereal]

*See accumulating hail
*Another dust storm
*Milder summers
*Winters that lag to October (mid-spring)