Snow, ice, rain questions...don't laugh! (Philadelphia, North East: 2014, how much, homes)

[Panks]

I'm seriously considering moving to Philadelphia in a few months so I'm flying out for a 5 day visit in a few weeks. I had looked at the annual snowfall data before but looking at the monthly data gave me a bit of a shock.

• I hadn't realized it snows for 8 months of the year from October -May. There's less than an inch in April, May and October but there's still some snow. There are only 4 months with zero snow!
  
• It rains an average of 3 inches every month and July gets the most rain. From April-May it rains more than in Seattle!

I'm getting this from a site that graphs data from noaa.gov the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ...but it just seems wrong somehow. Based on experience, I know its not possible to really know what its like to live in a climate from looking at numbers. I didn't realize how much I dislike temps over 90 til I lived in it so I don't want to make another mistake.

• Can someone tell me how much snow stays on the ground each month? Would the 6" of snow in Jan and 7.5" in Feb mean that there's 13.5" at the end of Feb?
• Does it only turn to ice if the temp is under 32 degrees?
• Is a 4 wheel drive car mandatory (if I can't see myself putting chains on)?
• Would living near a river be colder or not much difference?
• Is this how much Philadelphians pay each year to heat their homes?

Natural gas — $690 per household, 13.3% increase over the previous winter
Heating oil — $2,558 per household, 22.5% increase
Propane (Midwest) — $1,448 per household, 5.9% decrease
Electricity — $964 per household, 7.3% increase

• It didn't say if it's for an insulated or uninsulated house. What do you think?

Thanks for your help

[maf763]

Snow in October, November, April and May is extremely rare and usually gone quickly. Some winters are bad and you'll get new snow on top of old snow, but I bet it's not more than once or twice a decade or so that snow that falls in December is still around in February. The numbers you cite don't match my perception, and I've lived here 30 years. I've never had a 4-wheel drive and just use all season tires. Can't help you with the heating numbers - too many variables.

[MB1562]

Like the above poster mentioned, winters here are generally pretty mild compared to the upper parts of the Northeast. Philadelphia had a particularly "harsh" winter this past one, where snowfalls were well above normal, yet it would have been considered an average winter in New England where I grew up. The problem with snow around here is that of any other dense city: where to put it? The fact that they ran out of room to plow the snow this past winter made everything a nightmare, but the actual totals are really pretty mild.

As far as rain goes, it doesn't seem like it rains any more or any less than the rest of the Northeast. I'd say the worst part of Philly's weather is the humidity. It can be oppressive and very uncomfortable in the dead of summer, even if temperatures aren't that bad.

[Panks]

Thank you both for your answers So it really does rain every month of the year! I thought that was only in tropical countries. I've never lived on the East coast so I didn't know the North East got more rain than Seattle.
Thanks for mentioning humidity. I'd forgotten to ask about that. The humidity numbers totally confuse me. The afternoon ranges from 70 at the lowest (April) to 81 at the highest (Sept,Oct).

How could it be humid in the winter? I thought you needed heat for humidity. Does that mean its foggy? Can you tell me at what % it feels uncomfortable or which months you really feel it?

[maf763]

The rain in Philly isn't like the rain in tropical zones. You'll typically get a few days of rain in the month as opposed to rain every day. We've had one day of rain and one overnight sprinkle in the last couple of weeks, for example.

[Frank Bones]

I'll answer a few questions.

Can someone tell me how much snow stays on the ground each month? Would the 6" of snow in Jan and 7.5" in Feb mean that there's 13.5" at the end of Feb?

It's not uncommon for some snow to be on the ground for most of the period between mid-December through mid-February. However, typically the snow stays around for a week after the storm and then melts. Winters here usually consist of alternating periods of freezing cold and unseasonable warmth.

Does it only turn to ice if the temp is under 32 degrees?

I'm not exactly sure what this question means. Philadelphia occasionally gets minor ice storms, if that's what you mean.

Is a 4 wheel drive car mandatory (if I can't see myself putting chains on)?

Last year, we had 60+ inches of snow and I commuted by bike. If you live in the city, you don't need four wheel drive. The primary roads are heavily salted and plowed, especially in Center City and University City.

Would living near a river be colder or not much difference?

The suburbs are usually a few degrees cooler than the city due to the "Urban Heat Island Effect." The northern and western suburbs get slightly more snow on average. Philadelphia often straddles the rain/snow line so it's not uncommon for snow totals to vary widely across the metro area.

[Frank Bones]

It's also worth noting that snow totals have increasingly deviated from the mean. In the past ten years, the city has seen some of its snowiest and least snowiest winters ever.

From the NWS:

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Panks

I'm seriously considering moving to Philadelphia in a few months so I'm flying out for a 5 day visit in a few weeks. I had looked at the annual snowfall data before but looking at the monthly data gave me a bit of a shock.

• I hadn't realized it snows for 8 months of the year from October -May. There's less than an inch in April, May and October but there's still some snow. There are only 4 months with zero snow!
  
• It rains an average of 3 inches every month and July gets the most rain. From April-May it rains more than in Seattle!

I'm getting this from a site that graphs data from noaa.gov the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ...but it just seems wrong somehow. Based on experience, I know its not possible to really know what its like to live in a climate from looking at numbers. I didn't realize how much I dislike temps over 90 til I lived in it so I don't want to make another mistake.

• Can someone tell me how much snow stays on the ground each month? Would the 6" of snow in Jan and 7.5" in Feb mean that there's 13.5" at the end of Feb?
• Does it only turn to ice if the temp is under 32 degrees?
• Is a 4 wheel drive car mandatory (if I can't see myself putting chains on)?
• Would living near a river be colder or not much difference?
• Is this how much Philadelphians pay each year to heat their homes?

Natural gas — $690 per household, 13.3% increase over the previous winter
Heating oil — $2,558 per household, 22.5% increase
Propane (Midwest) — $1,448 per household, 5.9% decrease
Electricity — $964 per household, 7.3% increase

• It didn't say if it's for an insulated or uninsulated house. What do you think?

Thanks for your help

Those snow months are WAY off. It's rare to get snow before December and often not until January. I don't recall ever getting snow in May.

While last winter(2014) was a doozy, complete with an ice mess that was bad wrt power outages,
(primarily in the suburbs), the winters of 2012 and 2013 were virtually snow-free.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Panks

Thank you both for your answers So it really does rain every month of the year! I thought that was only in tropical countries. I've never lived on the East coast so I didn't know the North East got more rain than Seattle.
Thanks for mentioning humidity. I'd forgotten to ask about that. The humidity numbers totally confuse me. The afternoon ranges from 70 at the lowest (April) to 81 at the highest (Sept,Oct).

How could it be humid in the winter? I thought you needed heat for humidity. Does that mean its foggy? Can you tell me at what % it feels uncomfortable or which months you really feel it?

To counter the rain discussion, we have had drought-like conditions here, particularly during summers where there have been some restrictions on water use. But it's not something that people tend to fret over.

Other posters will probably put up some stats, but just from casual observance, I'd say that the relative humidity never gets below 50% here. Anything over 80% feels uncomfortable for me. Honestly folks who say you may get used to humidity are not talking for me... I have lived in the Philly area all of my life and I hate humidity. The worse months for it, generally are July and August. On the bright side it is extremely rare to get triple digit temps here. On the other hand summer humidity is a big reason why Fall is my favorite time of year since the humdity will have abated by mid-September.

Fog question. We don't get a lot of fog here. Well, I live in the city so I don't know how frequent it is in suburban areas.

Another point, although so far we have had very little hurricane activity this hurricane season, those are another reason the rain totals may be skewed. Hurricanes are a bigger worry along New Jersey coast(Sandy!) and further south.

I would say, though, that your visit is during a time when you might see some nice Fall falliage.

[eastwestcoast]

As someone else who came to Philly from CA (assuming that's where you're from based on your location), I haven't found the weather to be nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. Winters are not too terrible. Yes, last winter had a ton of snow that stuck around for weeks, but that was unusual, and the contrast from season to season is much more enjoyable out here. An AWD or 4WD vehicle can help, but probably isn't necessary for most of the winter unless you're going to live in a hilly area. And the rain is usually intermittent, with periods of precipitation followed by some time of sunshine... it isn't a constant deluge like you'd get in the tropics (although we are on the border of the "humid subtropical" climate zone, believe it or not).

Humidity is definitely my least favorite part of the weather... not being able to go outside for more than a minute without getting soaking wet drives me crazy and leave me longing for some dry heat. But because of the way the air retains moisture, high relative humidity at lower temperatures is much more bearable than it is at high temperatures. The percentages you see on weather forecasts are the amount of moisture in the air compared to the amount that air at that temperature and pressure will be able to hold before it starts condensing (that's when fog happens). Because cold air can hold much less moisture than hot air, high relative humidity in cooler weather does not feel nearly as bad as high relative humidity in hot weather. So don't be misled by the numbers, it's only the really warm days when the humidity creates that awful sticky feeling where nothing dries and you can't stop sweating.