Whats your opinion of a mild winter? (climate, snowfall, warm)

[Need_affordable_home]

I consider a winter as being mild if the average lows are at least 15 degrees and the average highs at least 33 degrees. Oil city's lows average 16 and their highs average 34, warm enough to melt the snow away

No winter= above freezing, rarely gets to 32, rarely snows and if it does its just a dusting. Highs of 60s to 80s, lows well above freezing. All of Florida, most of Georgia, Carolinas, Alabama, Lousina, Mississippi, Texas, south Arizona, almost all of CA except the Sierra

Minimal winter=usually above freezing, lows in the 30s and 40s, not much snow. Highs in the 50s to 70s. Northern Georgia mountains, interior NC, Tennessee, Arkansas, northernmost Texas, Oklahoma, northern AZ and NM, Oregon, Washington.

Mild winter=average lows of 15+, average highs above freezing. Includes most of the northeast such as OH, PA, WV, KY, KN, MO, and the southern midwest states.

Moderate winters=average lows of at least zero. Includes most of the other states I didnt yet mention.

Harsh winters=average temperature into the minuses. Includes the coldest states like Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Maine, Alaska as well as Canada.

[SpeedyAZ]

Minimal winter=usually above freezing, lows in the 30s and 40s, not much snow. Highs in the 50s to 70s. Northern Georgia mountains, interior NC, Tennessee, Arkansas, northernmost Texas, Oklahoma, northern AZ and NM, Oregon, Washington.

Actually Northern Arizona gets quite a bit of snow in the wintertime. The highs are usually in the 40's and lows can get down to 10F and even lower. I'd say it's a mild winter as you have categorized them.

I have lived in two types of winter climates in my lifetime;very cold (Iowa) and very warm (Arizona) so I never have really experienced a medium. But I enjoy our winter (or lack there of) and now I consider anything else to be cold. Give me sunshine and warmth or give me death.

[dullnboring]

I consider a mild winter to be one in which the highs are in the 50s or higher, maybe a few days with highs in the 40s, and with it falling below freezing only a handful of times at night, and with no measureable snowfall. I've lived most of my life in temperate climates which I suppose is considered by the very definition as "average" where winter highs are generally in the 30s and 40s, lows in the 20s, occasionally in the teens, and a few times a year in the single digit. Long stretches of temperatures not rising above 32 are uncommon (maybe last 2-3 days). There are cold spells where temps are frigid and generally one or two warm spells where temperatures get 10-15 degrees above average for a few days. The norm though is temperatures in the 30s and 40s with cold blustery winds and an average snowfall of around 25 inches a year although that can fluctuate wildly as snowless winters aren't incredibly rare and neither are winters where we receive one or two blizzards that can dump two feet of snow at once. Since this is what I am used to in a winter, basically anything warmer than that I consider to be mild. The temps that NAH described as "mild", I would consider to be a "cold" winter if those temps (highs near freezing, lows at 15) were consistent every day. We had a stretch like that this winter where for some 2-3 weeks, the temperature was in those ranges and it was just brutal and I can't imagine an entire winter dealing with that as they have to do in some places.

[Cosmic]

Mild winter = This is not it.

I have seen a few mild winters in Boston. Just about no snow all winter, days of sunshine. A period of maybe 7 or 8 years where the winters came later and were pretty tame, no real cold spells. Snowplow guys starved.

The last 4 winters or so the NE has gotten pounded.

Last winter I escaped with the mildest winter in the locals memory.

If you are looking to move north and counting on something called mild, you are better going to Las Vegas and betting on the roulette wheel. Better odds.

Something has happened to the overall weather systems. When the winters are bad, they are really bad. This is probably one of those years.

Mild is when you start asking the question "So where is the Winter" and then going out to play golf.

[Need_affordable_home]

LOL I would consider that a lack of winter. Big difference between mild and no winters

[vegaspilgrim]

Well this year it's hard to judge being the El Nino phenomenon. But regarding Northern Arizona you will have a hard time convincing me this year is a winter at all. I was just in Prescott/Cottonwood last weekend, thinking I'd take a quick excursion north to get out of the desert/ never ending sun. It was around 60 degrees, the same pure blue desert sky as PHX, without a cloud around. Other than seeing some barren trees as a reminder. Although, I'll admit, I've been stuck in the past driving through Flagstaff in all out blizzards. But this year, forget it. Here are some pictures I took:

[Need_affordable_home]

Wow that is so beautiful! AZ rarely gets cold because its not a high latitude.

[MattDen]

The Northern plains especially Montana get warm spells in middle of the winter. Billings on January 9th and 11th, 1953 had highs of 67 and 68 degrees respectively according to the NWS in Billings.


I wouldnt say the average temperature is in the minus numbers for any of the cities in the lower 48 states.

Here are some average for January from the National Weather Service

International Falls, MN +2.7
Grand Forks, ND +5.3
Fargo, ND +6.8
Bismarck, ND +10.2
Minneapolis, MN +13.1
Billings, MT +23.7

I lived in Fargo for 2 years (average January temperature 7 degrees) and it was cold but its a very, very dry cold. I would much rather have 0 dry degrees in Fargo then 20 humid degrees in Ohio.

I did look up Fargo from the Grand Forks NWS site and here is what the January's have been since 2000

- majority of day-time highs it seems have seen in January are in the 20s since 2000

Coldest Snaps in Fargo since 2000
January 5, 2005 High: -13 Low: -25
January 14-16th, 2005: Highs: -4 to -11 Lows: -21 to -28
January 28-30th Highs: -14 to -22 Lows: -29 to -36

Warm Snaps in Fargo since January 2000:
January 25, 2002 High: 51
They have had many times of highs in the 40s since 2000 in January in Fargo

-Every daytime average in 2002 and 2006 in January in Fargo above zero

These places do get warm snaps on the northern plains in the 50s in January, its not as cold as people think many days each January tend to get in the
30s for day-time highs. But they do get severe cold snaps of -10 to -20 daytime highs and -35 night-time lows that last several days but usually less then a week.

[mystree]

I consider a mild winter to be one in which the highs are in the 50s or higher, maybe a few days with highs in the 40s, and with it falling below freezing only a handful of times at night, and with no measureable snowfall.

I have to agree with you,this is also what I consider a mild winter.

[ColdCanadian]

I'd like to make up some of my own definitions, for fun.
Maybe some of you will have a laugh.

No winter = Only a handfull of mornings are normally below 45 F, average lows above 55 F;

-south Florida and tropics

Minimal Winter = Only a handfull of mornings are normally below 32 F, average lows 40 F or higher;

-the rest of Florida, Gulf coastal areas, parts of southen Georgia, parts of coastal SC, southern California, AZ

Mild Winter = Only a handfull of mornings normally below 24 F, average lows above 28 F;

-most of the southeast, parts of interior California, Arizona, Las Vegas, the rest of the Pacific coast

Moderate Winter = Only a handfull of mornings normally below 15 F, more than half of winter days stay above freezing, average lows below 28 F;

-middle/upper South, Albuquerque NM etc.

Harsh Winter = Only a handfull of mornings normally below 5 F, more than half of all winter afternoons can still be below freezing, average lows between 10-20 F;

-most of the northeast, the mildest parts of southern Ontario, Oil City PA

Severe Winter = Anything colder than that.