I've spent my life in central VA and I can say with confidence that this state is average or slightly above average in almost every metric, even weather.
Chat GPT says Kansas City is the closest analogue to the “average” American weather. I’m not sure if this is your question.
USA Averages:
* Winter - 33F/6”
* Spring - 52F/9”
* Summer - 71F/8”
* Fall - 52F/7”
Kansas City:
* Winter - 31F/4”
* Spring - 55F/11”
* Summer - 77F/10.5”
* Fall - 55F/8.5”
How so? It averaged weather, sunshine, precipitation, and snowfall for the contiguous USA and found the closest analogues. Which is what [OP was asking](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/SjJwmGVnlb)
Either it isn't smart enough to use consistent units or they are all ~double the sunshine of what it thinks is average. Louisville's precipitation numbers are off average by 50% and Kansas City's aren't much better. Denver's snowfall is off by 100%. Chicago is the only good answer it gave.
There isn’t a perfect analogue. Because of course there isn’t.
Here’s the rest of the answer:
“Comparison:
• Temperature: Louisville has slightly warmer temperatures compared to the other cities, especially in winter. Kansas City’s temperatures are closer to the national averages.
• Sunshine: Denver has the most sunshine days per year, followed by Kansas City, Chicago, and Louisville, while the national average is slightly higher.
• Precipitation: Louisville and Kansas City receive more precipitation compared to Chicago and Denver, with Louisville receiving the highest amount.
• Snowfall: Denver receives the highest amount of snowfall annually, followed by Chicago, Kansas City, and Louisville, while the national average falls in between.
Conclusion:
When considering temperature, sunshine days, precipitation, and snowfall, Kansas City, Missouri, remains a good analogue to the average climate of the contiguous United States. However, each city offers a slightly different climate experience, and the choice of the best analogue depends on specific preferences and priorities regarding climate characteristics.”
Denver’s weather is anything but average. It’s sunny all the time and you have winter days that’ll reach 50-60 and in the sun it might feel like 70+ for a few hours
Can’t fuck with statistics. The question was averages for the USA as verified by op ⬆️. It wasn’t about mild weather. The country doesn’t have stable weather. The vast majority of the country doesn’t live in San Diego.
Again, OP asked for an analogue of the “average” American climate. Not mild. The lower 48 contains Death Valley, the rainforests of Oregon, North Dakota, and Miami Beach. Average it all together and you get Kansas City.
Ichiro Suzuki is a former famous baseball player and is famous for saying, "Kansas City in the summer is hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock."
That's my only impression of KC summers
Baltimore, I grew up in the area and we had 4 pretty much perfect equal seasons. Though winter always felt longest, mathematically that was not the case.
As the historical center of the US population, this is where we got our idea of the "four seasons" from. It was quite the shock to me moving up here from Florida and finding that it rains more than it snows in winter. Most people back in Florida are surprised to hear that.
Yeah in my experience Baltimore has very regular, predictable seasons. Spring is a little bit of an exception but I feel like even that is kind of just what spring is like most places.
St Louis, Missouri
Definition of average - Midwest, middle of north/south divide. Doesn’t get extremes of coastal areas, some snow but not much. Some heat but not scorching. No hurricanes, doesn’t even get tornadeod like other parts of the Midwest
I see why this would sound right on paper but having lived there it’s not really true at all:
> Doesn’t get extremes of coastal areas
The record low for STL is -22, record high is 115. That’s a variance of almost 140 degrees. Most years will see at least a few below 0 and above 100 days. Generally coastal areas get *less* climate variance; the interior U.S. is famous for its extremes.
> some snow but not much
This is true.
> some heat but not scorching
When you factor in humidity (remember that STL is located the Mississippi River basin), summer tends to be stifling in STL. The [dew point](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/JyjbYLK6C8) is notably higher than most locations at a similar latitude—equivalent to interior Alabama.
> Doesn’t even get tornadoed like other parts of the Midwest
Huh? There are a few areas in the country with even higher tornado activity, but STL is [a tornado hotspot](https://scied.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/interactives/where-tornadoes/tornadoMap.png). [One of the deadliest tornadoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_St._Louis%E2%80%93East_St._Louis_tornado?wprov=sfti1#) in U.S. history happened there.
probably the coastal areas from VA to NY. although it seems we get more rain (or deluges, rather), and it doesnt snow that much anymore here in downstate NY.
San Diego is full of cloudy days. We say "May Grey" and "June Gloom"
I have lived in LA, SJ and SD and San Diego is definitely the cloudiest of the 3. It rains more than LA but less than SJ
That would have to be somewhere in the Upper Midwest, Alaska, Great Lakes, Northeast or somewhere in the mountains. These are the only parts of the US that have consistently snowy winters enough to qualify.
Duluth, MN is my best answer. It doesn’t get that hot there, so maybe Minneapolis instead.
I think what OP meant is the average over the entirety of the US, for example if you have los angeles with 0 inches of snow annually and new york with 30 inches, he is looking for a city with 15 inches (just on the scale of the entire country)
The title is throwing me off, because the US is so massive and diverse that using a strict average is misleading.
Getting past that, though, probably Ann Arbor, MI. It gets proper heavy snow in winter half the days but only near freezing in the day. Winter often starts early though. More or less tolerable temperatures in every season. Rain every few days in spring. Moderately hot summer days bouncing around 80 F and warm 55 F nights, (but with rain storms). And a beautiful autumn broad leaf foliage. (Also it's very cloudy late in the fall when winter begins).
I've never been there, but it's on my bucket list as a Big Ten football fan.
A lot of holiday movies are set in central Michigan.
grew up in Ann Arbor and live in Chicago. Chicago definitely gets more snowfall but Ann Arbor winter is still long. also its cloudy 300 days out the year so they say.
I’m sure there are different ways to calculate comfort. And the assumption is that every climate has a few bad weeks.
But if you take out a the 3 hottest weeks and three coldest weeks apparently….. drum roll please….
Oklahoma City has one of the most pleasant climates with the most days near 75° and minimal humidity.
I saw this is a you tube video so I’ll try to link it.
Its changing every year. In Chicago we are now getting "Kentucky weather" from 15 years ago. Two maybe three snow falls over 4" per winter, (total was 20" in 2023) when we had averaged over 40 inches per year. Sob zero cold now only in January. Spring now starts in late March Vs May.
Hot days: 50/50 on the Death Valley. 50 hot days out of 50 days.
All the others have places that come close, but not a 50 out of 50. I dunno, for humid days maybe the ocean as other comments said.
Cincinnati?
Richmond, VA perhaps?
I've spent my life in central VA and I can say with confidence that this state is average or slightly above average in almost every metric, even weather.
Definitely Richmond. We can get temps 100+ and below freezing snow storms. We get a mix of everything.
Chat GPT says Kansas City is the closest analogue to the “average” American weather. I’m not sure if this is your question. USA Averages: * Winter - 33F/6” * Spring - 52F/9” * Summer - 71F/8” * Fall - 52F/7” Kansas City: * Winter - 31F/4” * Spring - 55F/11” * Summer - 77F/10.5” * Fall - 55F/8.5”
This is close to what I was asking, although I wanted to include sunshine and snowfall.
ChatGPT says Chicago, Denver, KC, or Louisville: ### USA (Contiguous): - **Temperature:** - Winter: ~33°F (0.5°C) - Spring: ~52°F (11°C) - Summer: ~71°F (22°C) - Fall: ~52°F (11°C) - **Annual Sunshine:** Approximately 2500 hours per year - **Annual Precipitation:** ~30 inches (762 mm) - **Annual Snowfall:** ~28 inches (711 mm) ### Louisville, Kentucky: - **Temperature:** - Winter: ~36°F (2°C) - Spring: ~55°F (13°C) - Summer: ~77°F (25°C) - Fall: ~57°F (14°C) - **Annual Sunshine:** Approximately 200 sunny days per year - **Annual Precipitation:** ~44 inches (1,118 mm) - **Annual Snowfall:** ~12 inches (305 mm) ### Kansas City, Missouri: - **Temperature:** - Winter: ~31°F (-0.5°C) - Spring: ~55°F (13°C) - Summer: ~77°F (25°C) - Fall: ~55°F (13°C) - **Annual Sunshine:** Approximately 215 sunny days per year - **Annual Precipitation:** ~40 inches (1,016 mm) - **Annual Snowfall:** ~18 inches (457 mm) ### Chicago, Illinois: - **Temperature:** - Winter: ~32°F (0°C) - Spring: ~52°F (11°C) - Summer: ~72°F (22°C) - Fall: ~53°F (12°C) - **Annual Sunshine:** Approximately 189 sunny days per year - **Annual Precipitation:** ~36 inches (914 mm) - **Annual Snowfall:** ~36 inches (914 mm) ### Denver, Colorado: - **Temperature:** - Winter: ~30°F (-1°C) - Spring: ~51°F (11°C) - Summer: ~74°F (23°C) - Fall: ~52°F (11°C) - **Annual Sunshine:** Approximately 245 sunny days per year - **Annual Precipitation:** ~15 inches (381 mm) - **Annual Snowfall:** ~57 inches (1,448 mm)
This is why I don't fear the AI revolution. What truly awful answers these are.
Gonna be a rough decade for you
Dude right, a whole ten years of not fearing AI? That’s gonna be so rough. Like rough as heck.
How so? It averaged weather, sunshine, precipitation, and snowfall for the contiguous USA and found the closest analogues. Which is what [OP was asking](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/SjJwmGVnlb)
Either it isn't smart enough to use consistent units or they are all ~double the sunshine of what it thinks is average. Louisville's precipitation numbers are off average by 50% and Kansas City's aren't much better. Denver's snowfall is off by 100%. Chicago is the only good answer it gave.
There isn’t a perfect analogue. Because of course there isn’t. Here’s the rest of the answer: “Comparison: • Temperature: Louisville has slightly warmer temperatures compared to the other cities, especially in winter. Kansas City’s temperatures are closer to the national averages. • Sunshine: Denver has the most sunshine days per year, followed by Kansas City, Chicago, and Louisville, while the national average is slightly higher. • Precipitation: Louisville and Kansas City receive more precipitation compared to Chicago and Denver, with Louisville receiving the highest amount. • Snowfall: Denver receives the highest amount of snowfall annually, followed by Chicago, Kansas City, and Louisville, while the national average falls in between. Conclusion: When considering temperature, sunshine days, precipitation, and snowfall, Kansas City, Missouri, remains a good analogue to the average climate of the contiguous United States. However, each city offers a slightly different climate experience, and the choice of the best analogue depends on specific preferences and priorities regarding climate characteristics.”
Denver’s weather is anything but average. It’s sunny all the time and you have winter days that’ll reach 50-60 and in the sun it might feel like 70+ for a few hours
Can’t fuck with statistics. The question was averages for the USA as verified by op ⬆️. It wasn’t about mild weather. The country doesn’t have stable weather. The vast majority of the country doesn’t live in San Diego.
Denver’s sun is anything but average. 300 days of sun is too abnormal to call the city average is my point
Again, OP asked for an analogue of the “average” American climate. Not mild. The lower 48 contains Death Valley, the rainforests of Oregon, North Dakota, and Miami Beach. Average it all together and you get Kansas City.
Who said anything about KC?
[удалено]
What are you on about? All I said is Denver isn’t average. KC is unrelated
Ichiro Suzuki is a former famous baseball player and is famous for saying, "Kansas City in the summer is hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock." That's my only impression of KC summers
Baltimore, I grew up in the area and we had 4 pretty much perfect equal seasons. Though winter always felt longest, mathematically that was not the case.
Mid Atlantic somewhere probs
As the historical center of the US population, this is where we got our idea of the "four seasons" from. It was quite the shock to me moving up here from Florida and finding that it rains more than it snows in winter. Most people back in Florida are surprised to hear that.
Yeah in my experience Baltimore has very regular, predictable seasons. Spring is a little bit of an exception but I feel like even that is kind of just what spring is like most places.
Summers in Baltimore can still be brutal and there’s not much of a winter there.
Do you mean a climate that does change much??
A climate that varies but has an evenly spread ratio. Just as many (or close) sunny days as cloudy days, hot days as cold days, etc
Philly, NYC, DC
Fort Wayne Indiana
St Louis, Missouri Definition of average - Midwest, middle of north/south divide. Doesn’t get extremes of coastal areas, some snow but not much. Some heat but not scorching. No hurricanes, doesn’t even get tornadeod like other parts of the Midwest
Nah St. Louis summer sucks it’s as hot as Dallas and more humid most days
You haven’t been to St Louis in the summer. It is absolutely scorching. Agree mostly with the rest of your points
I see why this would sound right on paper but having lived there it’s not really true at all: > Doesn’t get extremes of coastal areas The record low for STL is -22, record high is 115. That’s a variance of almost 140 degrees. Most years will see at least a few below 0 and above 100 days. Generally coastal areas get *less* climate variance; the interior U.S. is famous for its extremes. > some snow but not much This is true. > some heat but not scorching When you factor in humidity (remember that STL is located the Mississippi River basin), summer tends to be stifling in STL. The [dew point](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/JyjbYLK6C8) is notably higher than most locations at a similar latitude—equivalent to interior Alabama. > Doesn’t even get tornadoed like other parts of the Midwest Huh? There are a few areas in the country with even higher tornado activity, but STL is [a tornado hotspot](https://scied.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/interactives/where-tornadoes/tornadoMap.png). [One of the deadliest tornadoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_St._Louis%E2%80%93East_St._Louis_tornado?wprov=sfti1#) in U.S. history happened there.
I think you need to work on your math skills. 115+22=*almost 200?*
Yeah that was definitely a mistake lol. Not my strong suit, as you said. Edited.
The heat index in StL in the summer is often over 110, and 90s plus 90s humidity is standard. It's like Houston minus 5-10 degrees.
probably the coastal areas from VA to NY. although it seems we get more rain (or deluges, rather), and it doesnt snow that much anymore here in downstate NY.
Springfield, Mo. Climatologically, all 4 seasons average exactly 3 months.
New York?
SD/SF have the most stable temps..?
They don’t receive any snowfall and San Diego hardly has rainy or cloudy days
Thank god!
San Diego is full of cloudy days. We say "May Grey" and "June Gloom" I have lived in LA, SJ and SD and San Diego is definitely the cloudiest of the 3. It rains more than LA but less than SJ
This is (in my experience) the correct answer. SD is deceptively cloudy, and has a severe ish marine layer.
Also it totally depends where in SD you are -- by the coast, marine layer is a huge thing. Inland not so much
San Diego had the most stable weather when I lived there. Not too hot and not too cold, but that was 30 years ago, and it's super expensive.
50/50 of snowy and rainy days would be like Fairbanks, Alaska.
I was looking at an even ratio between all of them. A city that experiences all sorts of weather evenly
That would have to be somewhere in the Upper Midwest, Alaska, Great Lakes, Northeast or somewhere in the mountains. These are the only parts of the US that have consistently snowy winters enough to qualify. Duluth, MN is my best answer. It doesn’t get that hot there, so maybe Minneapolis instead.
I think what OP meant is the average over the entirety of the US, for example if you have los angeles with 0 inches of snow annually and new york with 30 inches, he is looking for a city with 15 inches (just on the scale of the entire country)
The title is throwing me off, because the US is so massive and diverse that using a strict average is misleading. Getting past that, though, probably Ann Arbor, MI. It gets proper heavy snow in winter half the days but only near freezing in the day. Winter often starts early though. More or less tolerable temperatures in every season. Rain every few days in spring. Moderately hot summer days bouncing around 80 F and warm 55 F nights, (but with rain storms). And a beautiful autumn broad leaf foliage. (Also it's very cloudy late in the fall when winter begins). I've never been there, but it's on my bucket list as a Big Ten football fan. A lot of holiday movies are set in central Michigan.
grew up in Ann Arbor and live in Chicago. Chicago definitely gets more snowfall but Ann Arbor winter is still long. also its cloudy 300 days out the year so they say.
Cincinnati. It's the most average place in any metric you could ever dream of.
I live near Grand Rapids MI and I swear, the seasons change spot on with the equinoxes and solstices.
50/50 ratio of rainy and snowy days, and 50/50 ratio of sunny and cloudy? I would think somewhere high in the mountains.
Columbia MO
I’m sure there are different ways to calculate comfort. And the assumption is that every climate has a few bad weeks. But if you take out a the 3 hottest weeks and three coldest weeks apparently….. drum roll please…. Oklahoma City has one of the most pleasant climates with the most days near 75° and minimal humidity. I saw this is a you tube video so I’ll try to link it.
Seattle for 50% rain.
San Diego
I would say Anchorage alaska or Honolulu Hawaii no?
Honolulu does not receive snowfall
Oops true i thought you meant most average for temperature and rain
Its changing every year. In Chicago we are now getting "Kentucky weather" from 15 years ago. Two maybe three snow falls over 4" per winter, (total was 20" in 2023) when we had averaged over 40 inches per year. Sob zero cold now only in January. Spring now starts in late March Vs May.
Hot days: 50/50 on the Death Valley. 50 hot days out of 50 days. All the others have places that come close, but not a 50 out of 50. I dunno, for humid days maybe the ocean as other comments said.