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I actually hate the cold with a passion, I get cold very fast, I won't go outside if it's below 25°-30° (unless it's necessary), that's the main reason I want to move lol.
I live by JFK which is always like 5°+ warmer than the rest of the city in the Winter but when we get those days with the winds coming from off of the Atlantic Ocean (like 2 miles away) its pure hell even though the Atlantic is in the 40's (in the Winter) I think. I still wear a Northface (especially on those freezing days).
We get into the 60's fairly often during the Winter while 70's are more rare but do happen.
Yeah, its interesting. Last winter I spent most of my time working in Hoboken by the waterfront, and the wind was killer, compared to Grammercy/Murray Hill area where i live.
I always wear a Pea coat during the winter. I add scarf/gloves/hat as it gets colder...
I found Chicago to be colder. Not by much but never the less colder.
You're definitely right on that.
Chicago is colder in the winter. We get a lot more days in the 20s and teens, but get plenty of days around or above 50.
Overall, I love both Chicago's and New York's weather all year round (on top of loving both the cities of Chicago and New York). These are two cities that look fantastic covered in blankets of snow, and we get fantastic white Christmas's. Both cities also have beautiful autumns and great summers.
I would say Spring in New York is better overall because it comes a bit earlier, but Spring in both cities tend to be cloudy and rainy.
There's not enough difference in temps to make a difference
please... I've spent plenty of time in both, people are being easy on Chicago...it gets way more of the brutally cold days (i.e. subzero windchill getting down to stuff like -50F), and it will stay in sub zero windchill for weeks at a time. Especially if you live by the lake and work in the loop. Also it lasts longer, just last year (2007-2008 winter) Chicago went over 180 days without the temperature reaching 70 degrees. From Chicago's Culture Magazine "Don't waste the warm weather in Chicago, because it will be another six months between the last and first 70 degree days of the year."
easy google example:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/cold.temperatures.again.2.910056.html (broken link)
quotes from people I heard while living in Chicago...
"don't like the weather? Wait 10 minutes and it will change..."
I can affirm that and remember it shifting 60 degrees in a matter of hours one January...
"There are two seasons in Chicago, winter, and road work"
Also Chicago often doesn't get much of a spring, even in June this year it was bad... http://weblogs.wgntv.com/chicago-wea...one-for-2.html
Of course people on here praised that it doesn't get so hot...but then, when it is advantageous, no it isn't that cold...
So which is it? Sorry folks Chicago and progressing into the upper midwest weather just sucks all around, really unpredictable b/c of no large land masses or oceans moderating the temperatures...not the regions strong suit at all.
For somebody who has lived allover and have many people I know who feel the same way, it just sucks. The weather is not good there...
This isn't anything Chicago can do about it though and reflects nothing on it as a city whatsoever, everybody knows the location of Chicago (which strongly correlates to the regions weather) is what keeps more people from going there.
Note also, NYC still gets... WINTER, so don't go there thinking it won't get cold... but there is a difference. It was always obvious to me, and I'm sure many other posters on here who have lived through them in both cities.
NYC gets the same weather more or less that Chicago gets, however, it usually takes about 2 to 3 days, because NYC's weather patterns often come from out west. Whenever Chicago receives those frozen air masses coming down from Canada, they make a detour and head straight for NY. Because NYC is next to the Atlantic ocean the wind often simultaneously starts blowing east off the ocean, and the air mass will moderate a bit, if not, NYC gets those sub-zero temperatures and horrendous windchill factors that chill you to the core. While I would say that Chicago gets more cold days than NYC, NYC's stronger winds [that create an even greater windchill: sustained winds of 25-30 miles an hour with gusts of up to 60 and even 70 miles an hour are not that uncommon] create a sort of parity.
Also, because NYC receives more moisture than Chicago, NYC snowstorms tend to be larger than Chicago's, and often more messy. If it starts snowing and the winds start suddenly coming off the ocean, the temperature often rises a bit above freezing and the snow becomes a hideous slushy mess, so its not uncommon to wade through a foot of slush in the winter time. I prefer when it is very cold and you just get snow that gets packed down, instead of that messy and ugly slush.
Please not that that Nino phenomenon seems to have a strong effect on NYC. NYC winters tend to be cyclical from moderate winters to absolutely frigid winters. Lately, NYC has had a series of unsually moderate winters, but his could change rather quickly.
After viewing much of this discussion, I tend to find quite a bit of exageration regarding Chicago weather (although not entirely...). I cannot comment on the weather of NYC, as I have never visited.
Much of Chicago winter's are indeed on the cold side of the spectrum, but the truely bad, bitterly cold days below freezing with face-peircing winds? You could perhaps count the number of those kinds of days within your ten fingers, or little more. Regarding the comments about the "long winters/shorter summers" is somewhat hogwash, all due respect....winters don't get beyond "merely Cool" until well into December, and by early March, although some wintery days may pop up, it begins to get noticeably warmer.
Summers can get sticky, but the humidity is "moderately high"...not quite as high as the likes of an East coast state, and certainly less so than you'd find in the South. Fall and Spring are pleasant and mild. To say Chicago has horrendous weather in a general sense is to dabble in hypoerbole...the winters can suck, for sure, and often do, but outside of that season the weather is at least "decent".
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Maybe we can finally put to rest that NYC really isn't very cold at all and that people in NYC shouldn't complain so much about winter?
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