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I think it all just depends on what you are used to...If you come from a place with relatively warmer temperatures and more humid year round, you're going to think the colder and dryer temperatures of the Midwest are pretty extreme. But then, to someone who lives in Cleveland and travels to Austin in March, they may think it's abnormally warm.
I don't think it's really a matter of the coldness here being overstated--it gets extremely cold here a few times during a typical winter. The problem is that the degree to which the coldness negatively affects daily life is routinely overstated by those unfamiliar with cold-weather cities.
While people certainly have different levels of tolerance for cold weather, there generally aren't more than 10-15 days in a given winter that would be deemed to be oppressively cold for most people. Even then, much of that is mitigated by an infrastructure designed to address cold weather (heated skyways, for example) and a plethora of indoor entertainment/recreational options.
I actually find the hot summers to be more of an irritation than the cold winters. Over the course of a calendar year, we may have thirty days of weather (cold or hot) that is truly unpleasant for outdoor activities. Past that, it ranges from tolerable weather, when dressed appropriately--to absolutely beautiful weather which is neither too hot nor too cold.
I don't think it's really a matter of the coldness here being overstated--it gets extremely cold here a few times during a typical winter. The problem is that the degree to which the coldness negatively affects daily life is routinely overstated by those unfamiliar with cold-weather cities.
I actually find the hot summers to be more of an irritation than the cold winters.
This. +1
I'm much more miserable in the Midwestern summer than winter. Then I visited TX which is hotter than hell and I realized its not so bad after all.
Can anybody in Omaha tell me what the winters are really like? Is it colder than expected due to wind and general gloominess or do days warm up in the sun like Colorado?
Omaha winters usually aren't that bad, but it's not generally as nice as Colorado. Sure, it CAN warm up and get above freezing, but it can also be gloomy with snow that never melts. The wind is the biggest problem.
Averages tell a lot but not the whole story. Weather in the Midwest varies a lot. An average of 30F might mean a week of 15F and a week of 45F... that's just the high temperatures. Winds and ice can be big trouble at times. Where I live, 30F temperature on a winter day generally means a wind chill somewhere between 15F and 25F. And IMO lows are just as significant as high temperatures in winter because the warm part of the day is pretty short.
The one where it hit the 70s is the anomaly, not the other way around. Even in Chicago that would be abnormal...
Chicago in March sucks usually, Minneapolis damn sure sucks. I see you guys on the weather channel and thank the weather gods that it could be worse.
The average first day in the 70's in Chicago is during the 3rd week of March. I wouldn't call it abnormal for it to happen.
The average last 60 degree day is November 25th, with the first 60 degree day February 28th. Those are the basic areas I would have considered "hard core winter", from December through February. Outside those areas its not strange to get up around 60 degrees or higher, which can easily break the lock of winter.
It's not the temp specifically, it's the humidity, dew point, and whatever else makes the cold cut straight to the bone. I grew up in NW Ohio and I can tell you without a doubt that it feels colder there in the winter than it does here in Montana. There will be a week at least every winter in Helena, MT where the temps are -20F or below. I used to live in Butte, MT where that would be -30F or below. I still think it's a milder winter than the midwest because it doesn't feel as cold.
That said, I still think people (read Southerners) blow the coldness way out of proportion.
The average first day in the 70's in Chicago is during the 3rd week of March. I wouldn't call it abnormal for it to happen.
The average last 60 degree day is November 25th, with the first 60 degree day February 28th. Those are the basic areas I would have considered "hard core winter", from December through February. Outside those areas its not strange to get up around 60 degrees or higher, which can easily break the lock of winter.
That is not what he said though...he said it was 70s and 80s in early march and stayed that way for the last 2 years. Clearly that is not what happened. Don't shoot the messenger
I am not sure about breakin the lock of winter though, it can be 60 in january then plummet into the single digits.
I think one of the main issues is that the rise in temp out of spring is usually not consistent... So while you might see a few days in 60s-70s, it is likely it will soon drop back down to 30s-40s.
Well, as much as I'd like to say that Minneapolis' winter isn't that bad, this past winter we had 8 months with some form of snowfall. October, November, December, January, February, March, April, and May all had snow at some point. And it was decently cold through all of those months. That said, that was probably one of the longest winters we've had in a very long time.
I don't recall it snowing in October last year and I also recall biking well into November and temps in the 70's one of those weekends. I remember actually biking on Thanksgiving day the past two years with temps in the 60's. Just sayin.
The coldest temps I remember in Chicago were -10 to -15. Not that bad at all.
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