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Boston has slightly colder winter highs, but South Lake Tahoe has eight times as much snow and slightly colder record lows.
Unfortunately sunshine totals for South Lake Tahoe during the winter aren't available, but nearby Sacramento actually averages slightly less sunshine than Boston during December and January despite Sacramento being further south than Boston. It's hard to imagine South Lake Tahoe, especially with its brutally snowy winters, would be any sunnier than Sacramento.
If you're living in South Lake Tahoe ($$$$) during the winter, you're probably intense about skiing or snowboarding, and happy for the hundreds upon hundreds of inches of snow that should fall. Data for nearby Incline Village shows winter days are clear or partly cloudy about 40% of the time.
Boston would be worse since its winters are warmers and get much less snow.
On the other hand, South Lake Tahoe would be great in the winter since it has pretty reliable heavy snowfall that doesn't usually melt until spring and tends to stay colder.
Depends on what you call "winter". If the length of winter is considered, South Lake Tahoe is way worse. If only Dec-Feb counts, then it's a lot closer.
South Lake Tahoe has much more snow, which is a big problem.
On the other hand Boston would be worse in terms of wind and sun intensity.
Boston would be worse since its winters are warmers and get much less snow.
On the other hand, South Lake Tahoe would be great in the winter since it has pretty reliable heavy snowfall that doesn't usually melt until spring and tends to stay colder.
It has highs over 6'C and not that many days of snowfall per year, I would imagine it to have snow cover 2/3rds of the time not all the time in winter.
Either to me, although dry cold is generally better than humid cold if you're aiming solely for more time outside; if you're trying to grow more plants, it's the other way around, but most broad-leaved evergreens can't deal with anywhere that gets below -5F in 1/4 or more of years or below -10F on more than rare occasions.
I live in Middle Tennessee, and it's about as cold as I can stand for either the duration of average highs below 50F or actual mean winter minimums (which are between 0F and 10F in most years, about the northern limit of growing cold-hardy palms outdoors and pansies all winter). Subtropical climates suit me best (although a freeze-free Csb/Cfb climate like San Francisco or Auckland would treat me very well too), given that even just being slightly south of the northern edge of one (as I already am) can be moderately hard to deal with.
I couldn't deal with either Boston or Lake Tahoe. I'd probably struggle equally in either for different reasons, and quite severely too. Plus, Boston also gets hurricanes and blizzards, which I could never deal with.
Last edited by Sun Belt-lover L.A.M.; 08-06-2019 at 05:54 AM..
When referring to winter, "worse" clearly means warmer and less snowy, so I'd say Boston is marginally worse due to less reliable snowfall. Overall both are quite acceptable though.
Aside from the rare "Bomb cyclone" with coastal flooding, Boston has some of the best winters in the country.
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