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Anywhere north of Atlanta Ga, Birmingham Al and Tupelo Ms or say interstate 20 will get some four seasons weather. Southern cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Little Rock still have a dominant warm climate, but there is a short season of cool weather. Snow sometimes occurs, but it never stays long. In order to find a place with a true winter I would say you need to look much further north. North of I-70 gets colder, but really the far north is the only part of the US that gets a full winter. Maine, upper New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, both Dakotas, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana are the states in the lower 48 that experience a true cold winter climate. I think we forget how far south the lower 48 US states are. The French Riveria is at about 43 north, the same latitude as cold upper midwest places like Michigan and Wisconsin. Paris France is at the same latitude as the northern Minnesota border with Canada. The souteast states share the same latitude as North Africa. Nashville Tn is a bit further south at 36 degrees latitude than is Tunis Tunisia. New Orleans is at about 29 degrees sharing a latitude with Cairo Egypt. South Florida and the United Arab Emirates are at the same latitude. The point I am trying to make is that the US is a very southern oriented nation, and its amazing that we have as much cold weather as we do. Most of Europe and Asia is far to the north of the US. Some who live in the far north of the US think of themselves as hardy northern people, I bet it would shock them to see that they reside at the same Latitude as the French Riviera lol.
Europe is actually unusually warm for its latitude because the continent is affected by the gulf stream, which travels northeast across the Atlantic ocean from North America to Europe. As it travels it brings a constant stream of warm oceanic air to Europe. To use the 45th parallel as an example- most areas it crosses have a truly cold climate. In North America it passes through border states like Montana, Minnesota and Idaho. In Canada it passes through parts of Ontario and it stretches across northern China, Mongolia and Northern Japan in Asia. All of these areas are very cold. The only warm areas it passes through are the south of France and the rest of the Mediterranean, so Europe seems to be the outlier. England is another example. It's pretty much the only area on the 55th parallel that doesn't have an extremely cold climate, like Siberia, Alaska or the Canadian Tundra.
This is one of the reasons that the Pilgrims were so unprepared for their first winter in Plymouth. They were able to map latitude and longitude, so they knew they area in North America where they would be landing was around the 42nd parallel. They figured with that latitude, Massachusetts would have a similar climate to Rome or the south of France, but they didn't understand America's continental climate, which makes our country colder than Europe, which has an oceanic climate.
Central NC has 4 distinct seasons. The Winter isn't too cold but it is definitely distinct from Fall and Spring. The typical Winter day in central NC is a good 6-7 degrees colder than they are along the Southern NC coast and in much of SC.
DC metro. That's where you start to feel the impact of most Nor'easters.
Anywhere with an average January high of 50+ or even 45+ doesn't really have a true winter, imo.
Seriously though, it can't be anywhere south of Virginia. I'm sorry but your city/area cannot qualify as having 4 distinct seasons if the leaves do not change colors and fall off the trees during the fall season and if it does not snow during winter than your area does not truly have 4 distinct seasons.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Originally Posted by danielj72
Anywhere north of Atlanta Ga, Birmingham Al and Tupelo Ms or say interstate 20 will get some four seasons weather. Southern cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Little Rock still have a dominant warm climate, but there is a short season of cool weather. Snow sometimes occurs, but it never stays long. In order to find a place with a true winter I would say you need to look much further north. North of I-70 gets colder, but really the far north is the only part of the US that gets a full winter. Maine, upper New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, both Dakotas, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana are the states in the lower 48 that experience a true cold winter climate. I think we forget how far south the lower 48 US states are. The French Riveria is at about 43 north, the same latitude as cold upper midwest places like Michigan and Wisconsin. Paris France is at the same latitude as the northern Minnesota border with Canada. The souteast states share the same latitude as North Africa. Nashville Tn is a bit further south at 36 degrees latitude than is Tunis Tunisia. New Orleans is at about 29 degrees sharing a latitude with Cairo Egypt. South Florida and the United Arab Emirates are at the same latitude. The point I am trying to make is that the US is a very southern oriented nation, and its amazing that we have as much cold weather as we do. Most of Europe and Asia is far to the north of the US. Some who live in the far north of the US think of themselves as hardy northern people, I bet it would shock them to see that they reside at the same Latitude as the French Riviera lol.
Extreme winters don't necessarily equal a real winter...a real winter lasts 3 months, gets at least 15-20 inches of snow, and gets extremely cold. And the I-70 corridor is definitely not the dividing line between real winters and not real winters. Especially because areas to the south of I-70 are more than capable of bad winters.
Seriously though, it can't be anywhere south of Virginia. I'm sorry but your city/area cannot qualify as having 4 distinct seasons if the leaves do not change colors and fall off the trees during the fall season and if it does not snow during winter than your area does not truly have 4 distinct seasons.
Seriously though, it can't be anywhere south of Virginia. I'm sorry but your city/area cannot qualify as having 4 distinct seasons if the leaves do not change colors and fall off the trees during the fall season and if it does not snow during winter than your area does not truly have 4 distinct seasons.
Snow falls and the leaves change colors in most of the south. The amount that falls and when it happens varies, though.
Here in northeast Texas we have four seasons - Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer and Christmas.
OK, I'm kidding. We actually do have lots of trees in this area, and though our autumns are warm, we do have pretty fall foliage. We get a few inches of snow each year, and we have below freezing nights in the winter and daytime highs in the 50's typically. Our springs are absolutely gorgeous, all the way from late February through June...and then summer comes on like a vengeance and it's hot from mid June till about the end of September. October is still warm but with beautiful cool nights. We're typically wearing light sweaters by Thanksgiving, and December is usually sunny but cool, with cold nights.
In other words, four seasons but winter isn't very cold for very long.
I've never been to NE Texas, but I have heard quite a bit here in Dallas that that area is where you have to go in TX to experience all 4 seasons including the beautiful fall and spring seasons.
Seriously though, it can't be anywhere south of Virginia. I'm sorry but your city/area cannot qualify as having 4 distinct seasons if the leaves do not change colors and fall off the trees during the fall season and if it does not snow during winter than your area does not truly have 4 distinct seasons.
You get a full fall and snow all the way down the Piedmont. Once you go South of the Piedmont into the lower elevations which tend to be closer to the coast of the Southeast is where the seasons subside.
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