My own city weather ranking (climate, snow, warmest, average)

[dhdh]

Hi everyone, as I was bored and sick home I decided to take the list of the top 30 global cities according to the American journal Foreign Policy, and then rank them by their climate. This is subjective as I gave higher scores to higher temperatures and sunshine, yet mathematical as I used a precise formula :

1 point per sunshine hour
100 points per 1 degree celsius of mean annual temperature

Divide sub-total by 300

1 penalty point per extreme heat month (average high >35°C), 2 points for >40°C
1 penalty point per cold month (average low <0°C), 2 points for < -5°C
1 penalty point per extremely wet month (monthly average >300mm), 2 points for >600mm and so on
2 penalty points for extreme gloom (annual sunshine hours <1500 hours).
1 penalty point for misc. weather annoyance (fog, extreme pollution, etc.)

When I'm further bored later on, I will add more cities and try to adjust the ranking in the meantime, what do you guys think of it - any suggestions? Once again it's purely subjective as I tend to favor warm and sunny weather anyway, here's the ranking with scores :

1. Los Angeles 17,5
2. Singapore 15,9
3. Sydney 14,2
4. Buenos Aires 14,2
5. Madrid 14,1
6. San Francisco 14,0 - penalty point for fog
7. Barcelona 13,6
8. Rome 13,3
9. Dubai 13,1 - huge penalty for extreme heat
10. Mexico City 13,0
11. Shanghai 11,8
12. Tokyo 11,5
13. Washington 11,4
14. NYC 10,0
15. Paris 9,4
16. Hong Kong 8,9 - huge penalty for heavy rain, penalty for heavy fog
17. Boston 8,8
18. Brussels 8,7
19. Amsterdam 8,5
20. Beijing 7,4 - huge penalty for extreme cold
21. Seoul 7,3
23. London 6,6 - penalty for gloom
24. Frankfurt 6,6
25. Vienna 5,8
26. Chicago 5,1 - huge penalty for extreme cold
27. Toronto 3,9 - same
28. Stockholm 3,3 - penalties for gloom and cold
29. Zurich 1,7 - same
30. Moscow 0,6 - severe penalties for extreme cold and gloom

Edit : With Miami obtaining a score of 18,7, it seems I've found my perfect city climatically speaking!

[ben86]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Edit : With Miami obtaining a score of 18,7, it seems I've found my perfect city climatically speaking!

That's some effort went into that ranking dhdh, last time I was off work ill all I did was lie in bed listening to the radio...Miami sure wouldn't suit me. How many days a year there would be OK to do something outdoors like go for a bike ride for a few hours during the day without sweating like crazy or getting heatstroke or drenched by a massive thunderstorm? Sydney's climate generally would be good for that sort of stuff from what I know.

I'm curious, why are Paris and Brussels that much higher than London with an almost identical climate, considering those cities are only 200 miles apart - is it just that our sun is slightly less than 1500 and theirs slightly more?

I'd actually quite like Vienna's climate as well, though clearly you don't. Five months of highs around 20-25C, winters around 0 with some snow guaranteed and the occasional severe spell once or twice a decade, and most of the rain being in summer thunderstorms. Sun hours are 1891, equivalent to the best on offer in my country.

[ColdCanadian]

I don't understand your two numbers, separated by a comma.
Can you explain?

This is fun... my ratings

1 penalty point for each monthly mean of 30+ C/85+ F,
2 penalty points for each monthly means of 35+ C/95+ F

1 penalty point for each monthly mean under 15 C/59 F
2 penalty points for each monthly mean under 7 C/45 F
3 penalty points for each monthly mean under 0 C/32 F
4 penalty points for each monthly mean under -7 C/20 F

1 penalty point for each monthly avg rain total above 125 mm/5 inches of precip
2 penalty points for each monthly avg rain above 250 mm/10 inches of precip

1 penalty point for each monthly avg rain below 40 mm/1.5 inches
2 penalty points for each monthly avg rain below 15 mm/0.5 inches

1 penalty point for each monthly % chance of sun below 60%.
2 penalty points for each monthly % chance of sun below 50%.
3 penalty points for each monthly % chance of sun below 40%.

Now if only I had a formula to plug all that into... would be very interesting to see the results.
If I had to guess how it would turn out, Baghdad would be just as severe as Toronto.
Only areas Toronto doesn't lose any pts is monthly precip totals and our 4 warmest months.

[dhdh]

London is cooler and lacks 200 hours of sun compared to Paris; in addition London has less than 1500 which in my opinion crosses an unforgiveable boundary of gloom thus receiving minus 2 points!
Yup, as you can see this is a very subjective ranking and I apologize for that Vienna would be barely acceptable in summer and way too cold the rest of the year IMO.

[nei]

I think the comma is not separating two numbers, but is being used the way we would use a period. It's common in Europe and Latin America to use the comma the way we would use a period and a period the way we would use a comma.

I like ColdCanadian's system, though I'd change the numbers a bit. And maybe not penalize as much for rain.

[dhdh]

Oops, you are right, I'm always a bit confused whether you people use comma or dot. nei is right indeed
ColdCanadian, that wouldn't take too long on Excel. I'll save the idea although you are SO picky !

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Oops, you are right, I'm always a bit confused whether you people use comma or dot. nei is right indeed
ColdCanadian, that wouldn't take too long on Excel. I'll save the idea although you are SO picky !

I forgot some Europeans use commas instead of decimals.

A lot more to enter given the monthly avgs though. I'd love to see the results.
It would probably make much of the world look "skewed" compared with common perceptions.

I didn't really want to penalize heat,
but I could imagine certain ranges where even for me it would start getting ridiculous.

[ben86]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

I forgot some Europeans use commas instead of decimals.

A lot more to enter given the monthly avgs though. I'd love to see the results.
It would probably make much of the world look "skewed" compared with common perceptions.

I didn't really want to penalize heat,
but I could imagine certain ranges where even for me it would start getting ridiculous.

I've just worked out the London stats and came up with -46. Every month bar May, June and August loses the maximum for sun% and February/July lose a point for dryness. No month loses points for wetness. The best months are June and August with -2, the worst February with -6.

[wavehunter007]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Hi everyone, as I was bored and sick home I decided to take the list of the top 30 global cities according to the American journal Foreign Policy, and then rank them by their climate. This is subjective as I gave higher scores to higher temperatures and sunshine, yet mathematical as I used a precise formula :

1 point per sunshine hour
100 points per 1 degree celsius of mean annual temperature

Divide sub-total by 300

1 penalty point per extreme heat month (average high >35°C), 2 points for >40°C
1 penalty point per cold month (average low <0°C), 2 points for < -5°C
1 penalty point per extremely wet month (monthly average >300mm), 2 points for >600mm and so on
2 penalty points for extreme gloom (annual sunshine hours <1500 hours).
1 penalty point for misc. weather annoyance (fog, extreme pollution, etc.)

When I'm further bored later on, I will add more cities and try to adjust the ranking in the meantime, what do you guys think of it - any suggestions? Once again it's purely subjective as I tend to favor warm and sunny weather anyway, here's the ranking with scores :

1. Los Angeles 17,5
2. Singapore 15,9
3. Sydney 14,2
4. Buenos Aires 14,2
5. Madrid 14,1
6. San Francisco 14,0 - penalty point for fog
7. Barcelona 13,6
8. Rome 13,3
9. Dubai 13,1 - huge penalty for extreme heat
10. Mexico City 13,0
11. Shanghai 11,8
12. Tokyo 11,5
13. Washington 11,4
14. NYC 10,0
15. Paris 9,4
16. Hong Kong 8,9 - huge penalty for heavy rain, penalty for heavy fog
17. Boston 8,8
18. Brussels 8,7
19. Amsterdam 8,5
20. Beijing 7,4 - huge penalty for extreme cold
21. Seoul 7,3
23. London 6,6 - penalty for gloom
24. Frankfurt 6,6
25. Vienna 5,8
26. Chicago 5,1 - huge penalty for extreme cold
27. Toronto 3,9 - same
28. Stockholm 3,3 - penalties for gloom and cold
29. Zurich 1,7 - same
30. Moscow 0,6 - severe penalties for extreme cold and gloom

Edit : With Miami obtaining a score of 18,7, it seems I've found my perfect city climatically speaking!

Interesting.

I wish I had saved it, but years ago there was a similar study done by Forbes or maybe Time Magazine…and the results came close to yours as I remember. People tend to prefer sunny climates over overcast ones, warm (60 – 80 F) climates over extremely hot/cold ones, and semi-drier climates over constantly wet rainy ones (tropical rainforest, temperate oceanic climates…etc).

As far as the USA - I couldn’t agree more – Miami is the best climate (esp coastal climate) on the USA mainland. I love LA/San Diego too (why is San Diego missing?), but they tend to be too cool and rainy in winter for me, and at times the coastal areas can lack real warmth (above 80 F) during the summer. Miami has the advantage that about 90% of the time you can be in shorts, short sleeves, and sandals (lol). Even summers are nice in my book, the humidity is really mostly a June through August thing, and even then people from blow it way out of proportion. I like Miami for the fact that the sun and warmth rule the way you live for 12 months a year for the most part – no other American city in the mainland offers that. I love all the outdoor sidewalk cafes in Miami, it’s like here in NYC - only it’s 78 F most of the time (lol).

Careful…you don’t want to mention how nice Miami is…you might rile some people up.

PS. My only criticism of the rankings might be for Hong Kong - it should be higher. A good portion of the year they seem to have a nice climate, it seems strange that they are flanked by Paris and Boston?

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by ben86

I've just worked out the London stats and came up with -46. Every month bar May, June and August loses the maximum for sun% and February/July lose a point for dryness. No month loses points for wetness. The best months are June and August with -2, the worst February with -6.

Really? Toronto's sunniest month is 59% so we always lose points for sun.

The precip amounts are arbitrary.
I'm just assuming steadier precipitation is better for most plants.
Regarding 125+mm of rain; I just don't want too many hours of precip per month.