Since my last post, I have been researching the cities on my list. I've worked every day, although some days the research is more sporadic than others. Some of the information is easier to find, as I suspected. What I did not suspect was how interesting I would find some of the data, and how much of what I've found is at odds with what I imaged, especially the raw statistical information like weather data, population data, etc.
Since publishing my research all at once would create the longest blog post ever, I'll post it as I finish research bundles, such as groups of information about weather, people, transportation, education, politics, job prospects, etc. Researching weather and climate was one of the easiest topics (although learning about fresh water sources for each city was more time consuming) so it was complete first. In this and subsequent posts, I'll start by just posting raw information, and will highlight or note pieces of information that stand out, either for good or bad. When I'm done, I'll re-read everything and assess which factors are most important to me, which cities have more of the things I like, and then I'll rank them.
So... weather, climate, and access to fresh water. These are all related, even the water, as it is often heavily dependent on rainfall in the area. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves, but I'll highlight things that stand out to me.
Since publishing my research all at once would create the longest blog post ever, I'll post it as I finish research bundles, such as groups of information about weather, people, transportation, education, politics, job prospects, etc. Researching weather and climate was one of the easiest topics (although learning about fresh water sources for each city was more time consuming) so it was complete first. In this and subsequent posts, I'll start by just posting raw information, and will highlight or note pieces of information that stand out, either for good or bad. When I'm done, I'll re-read everything and assess which factors are most important to me, which cities have more of the things I like, and then I'll rank them.
So... weather, climate, and access to fresh water. These are all related, even the water, as it is often heavily dependent on rainfall in the area. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves, but I'll highlight things that stand out to me.
Temperature (Weather Channel, Forbes): Average Summer High & Average Winter Low
LA: High 85 Low 47
Chicago: High 84 Low 18 (Forbes' 5th Worst Winter Weather City: 49F yearly average temp, 36 inches precipitation, 38 inches snow)
Philadelphia: High 87 Low 26
Columbus: High 86 Low 19 (Forbes' 8th Worst Winter Weather City: 53F yearly average temp, 38 inches precipitation, 28 inches snow)
DC: High 89 Low 29
Denver: High 88 Low 16
Portland: High 80 Low 36
Raleigh: High 90 Low 30
Cleveland: High 83 Low 22 (Forbes' Worst Winter Weather City: 50F yearly average temp, 39 inches precipitation, 59 inches snow)
Des Moines: High 86 Low 14
Asheville: High 85 Low 28
Monthly Precipitation, Measured as Rainfall (Weather Channel)
For a lot of these cities, winter precipitation becomes snow, measured in the next category.
LA: Rain summer = 0 inches, winter up to 4 inches.
Chicago: Rain every month steady 2 – 4.1 inches
Philadelphia: Rain every month steady 2.7 – 4.4 inches
Columbus: Rain every month steady 2.4 – 4.6 inches
DC: Rain every month steady 2.7 – 4 inches
Denver: Rain every month steady .6 – 2.6 inches
Portland: Rain summer < 1 inch, winter > 6 inches [Eww, that means freezing rain, not snow!]
Raleigh: Rain every month steady 2.9 – 4.7 inches
Cleveland: Rain every month steady 2.4 – 3.8 inches
Des Moines: Rain winter ~ 1 inch, summer up to 5 inches
Asheville: Rain very steady every month 2.7 – 3.4 inches
Precipitation, continued, measured in inches of snow and precipitation per year: (Multiple sources, especially worldfactsandfigures.com)
LA: 0 inches snow/year. 15 inches rain/year. (Nearly a semi-arid climate.)
Chicago: 39 snow. 36 precip.
Philadelphia: 20 snow. 42 precip.
Columbus: 28 snow. 38 precip.
DC: 17 snow. 39 precip.
Denver: 60 snow. [I believe this must include snowfall on the nearby Rocky Mountains.] 15 precip.
Portland: 7 inches snow. 36 precip.
Raleigh: 7 inches snow. 41 precip.
Cleveland: 57 snow [Probably includes east side snow belt.] 37 precip.
Des Moines: 33 snow. 33 precip.
Asheville: 15 snow. 48 precip. [Anyone else surprised that Asheville gets the most precipitation of any city on my list?]
Number of Sunny Days & Number of Days with Precipitation Each Year
LA: 186 sunny days/yr. 35 days precip/year. [By far the sunniest.]
Chicago: 84 sunny days/yr. 125 days precip/year.
Philadelphia: 93 sunny days/yr. [But I thought it was always sunny in Philadelphia!] 117 days precip/year.
Columbus: 72 sunny days/yr. 137 days precip/year.
DC: 96 sunny days/yr. 113 days precip/year.
Denver: 115 sunny days/yr. 89 days precip/year.
Portland: 68 sunny days/yr. 153 days precip/year.
Raleigh: 111 sunny days/yr. 113 days precip/year.
Cleveland: 66 sunny days/yr. 155 days precip/year. [The least sunny.]
Des Moines: 105 sunny days/yr. 108 days precip/year.
Asheville: 99 sunny days/yr. 126 days precip/year.
Fresh Water Sources Summary
My research about where each city gets its fresh water was much more extensive than what's here, but copy-and-pasting all that data would have made for a long(er) and (even more) boring blog entry than this already is, so I just wrote quick summaries. Interestingly, there was a direct correlation between how scare water is in any given city and the number of websites devoted to information about where the city's water comes from. For instance, there are many websites about Los Angeles and Denver, both of which import water. But websites about Chicago and Cleveland (both with the enormous Great Lakes supplying their water) are few and contain very few details.
LA: Water comes from really far away, and there's a lot of communities and states all relying on the same few water sources. Mostly rivers from hundreds of miles away. No immediate fresh water source.
Chicago: Lake Michigan.
Philadelphia: Delaware & Schuylkill Rivers.
Columbus: Scioto River, Walnut Creek & underground aquifers.
DC: Potomac River near Great Falls.
Denver: Rocky Mountain snow melt, transported from the west side of the mountains and stored in local reservoirs to be distributed all year. No immediate fresh water source, but apparently little danger of water supply disappearing.
Portland: Bull Run Watershed, east of the city, which collects 130 inches of rain each year.
Raleigh: Regional lakes, mostly Falls Lake. (These are small lakes.)
Cleveland: Lake Erie.
Des Moines: Des Moines River.
Asheville: French Broad River (??). Not much info about Asheville's water.
As always, I welcome your input or questions. Keep reading for more city info. It won't all be as dry as this stuff. Hehe, "dry." In a post about the weather... Ah, nevermind...
[Anyone else surprised that Asheville gets the most precipitation of any city on my list?]
ReplyDeleteNope. It's been raining quite a bit lately. We have a slew of rainy days then a couple of sunny ones then more rain. Spring if I remember correctly is pretty rainy with scattered patches through out summer. Falls a bit drier then winter is wetter again.
"French Broad River (??). Not much info about Asheville's water."
No clue as we have a well (two of them actually). The French Broad has breached it's banks more than once, though not while we've been here. When we were looking for a house we leaned to check and see if it was on a flood plain.
Paul, I remember that Heather (and maybe you?) compared Asheville's weather and climate quite favorably to Boston's. It's definitely got less snow than Boston, but must also have a lot of cloudy day. I know that cloudy days aren't quite the same as really dreary weather, though.
ReplyDeletePost was interesting thought that pink highlight....my eyes hurt :P
ReplyDeleteYeah, that bright pink was pretty obnoxious. Sorry about that! I toned it down. Wasn't sure what colors would work well for highlighting against the light blue background of the webpage.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Asheville gets the most precipitation, yet still does well in the sunny day department.
ReplyDeleteIf Asheville is like Raleigh, which is about 4 hours to the east, it doesn't rain all the time in Asheville, but when it does it pours buckets and buckets. Called "gully washers" because the rain washes all the toads away. Or something.
ReplyDeleteHa! Never heard that! Asheville is a bit different than the surrounding cities as far as weather's concerned since we're in a valley surrounded by mountains. It creates it's own weather patterns and such. I work just on the other side of that ring of mountains, about 45 min south of Asheville (the way most sane people drive... takes me about 30 min.) and the weather and temp can be quite different.
ReplyDelete