Which Of These Coastal Southern Cities Offers The Most Pleasant Winters? (best, place)

[Texyn]

For this thread, I include all cities in the South in proximity to the coast, with the exception of those in peninsular Florida (Central/Southern Florida) and the southern reaches of Texas (Rio Grande Valley, the coast from Corpus Christi southwards): these two areas are already well established for having warm winters, so I purposely excluded them for the purposes of more engaging debate.

Simply select your city of choice, then provide evidence (data, reasonable anecdotes, etc) for support.

[Turnerbro]

If your goal is to avoid winter as much as possible, Jacksonville would be your best bet. New Orleans and Houston are at similar longitude to Jacksonville but they seem to have more 50 degree rainy days in the winter than Jacksonville does.

[Texyn]

Avoidance of winter is indeed the theme of this discussion.

Now, what this means will vary depending on the individual, but the terms include:
- The least amount of freezes
- The most reliable/stable warmth in temperature
- The greatest potential for gardening tender plants
- The least amount of snowfall
- Greatest amount of sunshine (or cloudiness)
- Greatest amount of dryness (or rainfall)

[Texyn]

As of now, Jacksonville has the lead, with Houston in second place.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Texyn

As of now, Jacksonville has the lead, with Houston in second place.

And now Houston is just 1 away from tying at this point.

[Mutiny77]

What about Mobile?

[jas75]

The western South tends to get hit by strong winter cold fronts a little sooner and more intensely than the eastern South, so I'd have to go with Jacksonville, which also has the advantage of being further south than Charleston and Savannah. Of course anywhere on the Gulf or southern Atlantic coasts, temperatures usually rebound to pleasant levels within a few days. Sometimes the cold fronts stall out before reaching the Atlantic seaboard and it can stay very balmy for weeks even as the majority of the nation is in the depths of winter.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

What about Mobile?

Forgot to list it. It can then count as one of the "Other" options.

Originally Posted by jas75

The western South tends to get hit by strong winter cold fronts a little sooner and more intensely than the eastern South, so I'd have to go with Jacksonville, which also has the advantage of being further south than Charleston and Savannah. Of course anywhere on the Gulf or southern Atlantic coasts, temperatures usually rebound to pleasant levels within a few days. Sometimes the cold fronts stall out before reaching the Atlantic seaboard and it can stay very balmy for weeks even as the majority of the nation is in the depths of winter.

I'm out right now, but when I get back, I will elaborate more on this trend, and how it actually puts forth a scenario where one has to deem a "lesser of all evils."

[Turnerbro]

Originally Posted by jas75

The western South tends to get hit by strong winter cold fronts a little sooner and more intensely than the eastern South, so I'd have to go with Jacksonville, which also has the advantage of being further south than Charleston and Savannah. Of course anywhere on the Gulf or southern Atlantic coasts, temperatures usually rebound to pleasant levels within a few days. Sometimes the cold fronts stall out before reaching the Atlantic seaboard and it can stay very balmy for weeks even as the majority of the nation is in the depths of winter.

Yeah I know those Harsh Canadian cold fronts which occasionally bring snow to the Dallas area can occasionally drop down to Houston and New Orleans. I feel like Jacksonville is less prone to something like this.

[C24L]

Jacksonville for me