Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Definitely Charleston. South Carolina still has cold winters (similar to Seattle or Portland) and Chicago and SC both have hot humid summers. Fairbanks has a low humidity summer that's barely warm.
Charleston is MUCH sunnier than Seattle and Portland and has higher average temperatures with large standard deviations. You do NOT get t-shirt days in Seattle or Portland in winter (and you don't get them every day in summer in Seattle either). Yes, I admit Chicago and Charleston summers are far more alike but winter matters much more. When would you see snow plows, de-icing equipment, and snow tires in Charleston? Charleston winter averages have warmer averages than the SF Bay Area and not that much cooler than the majority of the L.A. metro area even though the have the potential for much colder (short lived) cold snaps. Chicago has winter averages below freezing for 3 months out out of the year and gets frequent subzero spells.
Definitely Charleston. South Carolina still has cold winters (similar to Seattle or Portland) and Chicago and SC both have hot humid summers. Fairbanks has a low humidity summer that's barely warm.
Certainly closer to Seattle, and Portland than Chicago in the winter, but not really similar. Seattle has an average max of 47.6F in the winter. Quite a bit colder than Charleston.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABrandNewWorld
Charleston is MUCH sunnier than Seattle and Portland and has higher average temperatures with large standard deviations. You do NOT get t-shirt days in Seattle or Portland in winter (and you don't get them every day in summer in Seattle either). Yes, I admit Chicago and Charleston summers are far more alike but winter matters much more. When would you see snow plows, de-icing equipment, and snow tires in Charleston? Charleston winter averages have warmer averages than the SF Bay Area and not that much cooler than the majority of the L.A. metro area even though the have the potential for much colder (short lived) cold snaps. Chicago has winter averages below freezing for 3 months out out of the year and gets frequent subzero spells.
So you are basing a climate's similarity on one season aone? Chicago is MUCH closer to Charleston in three seasons, that's obvious, but even in the winter as well. Charleston has a three month avg max of 61.3F. Chicago, 34.8F, and Fairbanks 5.3F. Even in the winter, Chicago is closer from a temperature standpoint.
Chicago is MUCH closer to Charleston in three seasons, that's obvious, but even in the winter as well.
I agree; the answer is definitely Charleston. The sort of cold experienced by Chicago during winter is not even remotely comparable to the cold experienced in Fairbanks. Temps in Chicago drop below 0F (-18C) only a few times per season. In Fairbanks, this occurs almost every day between mid Nov and mid March. More concretely, in Chicago you can comfortably wear a light jacket for most of the winter; whereas in Fairbanks you'd need "real" gear and a heavy coat in order to prevent frostbite, etc.
Don't forget that Fairbanks also gets a few nasty inversions each winter where the temps drop below -40F for several consecutive days. They may even drop as low as -50F on some years. This is downright dangerous cold, where you have to prepare several days beforehand and give up certain daily conveniences (such as driving). Chicago experiences nothing of the sort; the temp there drops below -15F less than once per decade, on average. A Chicagoan in winter doesn't have to sacrifice his entire quality of life just to accommodate to the weather.
On the other hand, Charleston can experience some nasty wintertime cold snaps where it may feel Chicago-like for a couple days. More importantly, the average wintertime temps in Chicago are closer to those of Charleston, and temperatures which are outright dangerous rarely occur in either city (whereas they occur every day in Fairbanks).
I guess you can make the argument that Fairbanks and Chicago both get measurable snow, whereas Charleston doesn't. But remember that the total amount of snow which falls in Fairbanks and the duration of time for which the snow is present are significantly larger in Fairbanks than in Chicago. In Fairbanks, for instance, 30-60 inches of snow fall and stay on the ground for 7 months or so. In Chicago, there is only a 3.5-month window during which significant snow falls; and when it does fall, the powerful winter sun melts it away within a couple weeks (generally). Hence in my opinion Chicago is still closer to Charleston in this respect.
On the other hand, Charleston can experience some nasty wintertime cold snaps where it may feel Chicago-like for a couple days. More importantly, the average wintertime temps in Chicago are closer to those of Charleston, and temperatures which are outright dangerous rarely occur in either city (whereas they occur every day in Fairbanks).
Few and far between to the point of being extreme. The average lowest max temp in Charleston, averaged over the last 30 years, is 44 in Dec, 40 in Jan, and 45F in Feb. This average takes the lowest max temp each winter for each month and averages them over the last 30 years. It seems Charleston is far warmer than Chicago in winter since these numbers are well above the avg high in Chicago for each winter month.
Few and far between to the point of being extreme. The average lowest max temp in Charleston, averaged over the last 30 years, is 44 in Dec, 40 in Jan, and 45F in Feb. This average takes the lowest max temp each winter for each month and averages them over the last 30 years. It seems Charleston is far warmer than Chicago in winter since these numbers are well above the avg high in Chicago for each winter month.
Fair enough. I guess the point I was trying to make in that paragraph is that the type of extreme cold experienced in Fairbanks is so different than that experienced in Chicago or Charleston, that the difference between Chicago and Charleston in winter feels small when compared to the extreme cold of Fairbanks.
I don't understand how there's any disagreement about this. In every season and based on every criterion, Chicago is (much) closer to Charleston. The data is very clear.
Definitely Charleston. South Carolina still has cold winters (similar to Seattle or Portland) and Chicago and SC both have hot humid summers. Fairbanks has a low humidity summer that's barely warm.
South Carolina does not have "cold winters" at all. It's winters are mild
This shouldn’t even be a contest. Chicago is in its own climate zone it is firmly Dfa in climate. While The Cfa climate boundary is closer to Chicago than the Dfc climate zone is, this thread is beyond ridiculous for comparing such different climate zones.
Chicago is closer to Charleston: (Charleston:Fairbanks)
- July temperature: Chicago: 24,4°C vs Charleston: 27,8°C vs Fairbanks: 16,95°C (1:0).
- January temperature: Chicago: -3,9°C vs Charleston: 9,1°C vs Fairbanks: -22,2°C (2:0).
- July precipitation: Chicago: 102 mm vs Charleston: 166 mm vs Fairbanks: 55 mm (2:1).
- January precipitation: Chicago: 52 mm vs Charleston: 94 mm vs Fairbanks: 15 mm (2:2).
- July/January temperature range: Chicago: 28,3°C vs Charleston: 18,7°C vs Fairbanks: 39,15°C (3:2)
- July/January precipitation ratio: Chicago: 1,96 vs Charleston: 1,77 vs Fairbanks: 3,67 (4:2)
- July sunshine hours: Chicago: 318,4 vs Charleston: 287,8 vs Fairbanks: 274 (5:2)
- January sunshine hours: Chicago: 135,8 vs Charleston: 179,3 vs Fairbanks: 54 (6:2)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
