American Pleasant Weather

Areas with the Best Weather

A new interactive map was created today that charts weather across the country. It is designed to show which cities have the most pleasant weather. The map defines pleasant as an average daily temperature between 55 - 75, with no drop below 45 or heat above 85. There also must be no rain or snow. All five of the country's "best weather cities" are in California; Los Angeles tops the list with 183 days of pleasant weather each year.

If you are interested in seeing how your city stacks up, follow the link to the interactive map and type in your zip code! 

P.S. for those of us living in the Northeast, most cities register somewhere around an unfortunate 55 days of pleasant weather, a far cry from Southern California!

Why Live in the Cold: Climate v. Productivity

I have always hated the long, cold and snowy New England winters and it seems that most of the people who live here do as well. I spent a lot of time wondering why then do people actually stay here generation after generation. It seems that people complain all year about the climate but they refuse to move. Why stay in the North when you could instead enjoy the beautiful climate of the sunbelt?

I have a theory. People who live in areas with better weather get less done. Would you rather work harder and hope the boss notices in time for your performance review or take a vacation day and go to the beach? If you said that you would pack up and head to the beach I will give you some more information. It is January and you live in Massachusetts. Sorry, it looks like you will be clocking some extra hours at work. For those of you who live in Florida, enjoy the sun!

Now in case you don't believe me, here are some interesting statistical maps that I found.

This one is a map of states ranked by per capita income. Dark green states are those with the highest income levels. Notice that with the exception of California, most of these states are concentrated in the North.

This is a map of plant hardiness zones, which are determined by temperature ranges. Warmer orange colors indicate warmer climates while cooler blue and purple colors indicate colder climates.

Now compare both of the maps and notice that there is a general relationship between dark green states from map number one and colder states from map two.