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Coldest Major City in USA


monsoon

Coldest Major City in the USA  

45 members have voted

  1. 1. Coldest Major City in the USA

    • Chicago
      5
    • Minneapolis
      28
    • Boston
      4
    • NYC
      0
    • Detroit
      3
    • St. Louis
      0
    • Denver
      5


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  When stating the mosquito problem and the way things just sink and get bogged down in the few summer months people don't think of that as Siberia but it is (as well as parts of Alaska and Canada) when all that ice and tundra melts you have a huge river delta that is draining a third of a continent. The summers are as bad as the winters.
:o About mosquitos, I HATE THEM!! :angry: When I was hiking with a group up in the high Sierra (similar tundra climate) two years ago, whenever we walked past a high-altitude swampland, there were hordes of mosquitoes and I was like AAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!! :ph34r::wacko::wacko: I had to use like a liter of repellant during that week-long hike and I'm avoiding all swamplands from now on if possible, they're miserable!! :sick:
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As I waited at the light rail station this morning (7:30am), the HIGH was -11 degrees. I'm not sure what the temp. was with the wind chill though. The temp. should reach 30 or above tomorrow. Two weeks ago, the temp. was about 45. Talk about extremes. I love it!!

BTW, I once read that Moscow and Minneapolis were the two coldest, major metropolitan areas in the world.

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^^ true that, Minneapolis would be a great answer (I think it is #1) but I would think Denver would tie it--the higher the elevation the colder it is.  And remember why NO ONE could save the boy from Jack Nicholson and Olive Oil?  Cause everybody left since its too cold to operate a SKI RESORT in winter!?!  Thats cold man.  Denver might not be up that high but those Rockies are scary in the winter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The temperature doesn't drop below freezing very often in Denver.

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Ya, snow maybe, but Denver gets protected from those artic air masses by the mountains. The nothern plains don't have that luxury.

In the news today...

Minnesota Town Hits 54 Below Zero

Here's some more factual data.

Monthly mean temperature (1971-2000 normals)

Denver

Dec - 30.3 - http://www.crh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-den/showPr...n.html&backto=2

Jan - 29.2 - http://www.crh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-den/showPr...n.html&backto=2

Feb - 33.2 - http://www.crh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-den/showPr...n.html&backto=2

Minnp - all found at http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/Temp/MN/215435_tsum.html

Dec - 18.7

Jan - 13.1

Feb - 20.1

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The cities on the eastern side of the Rockies sometimes have a warm wind called the chinook. When cold air passes the high 3,500m Rockies, it blasts down the mountain, compresses and warms; just the opposite rising air. These chinook winds could cause temperature sways of 10C (18F) or more within a couple of minutes and crack windows.

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The region to the east of the Rockies are noted for their extreme temperature sways, such as N and S Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and Colorado. It could warm like 20 C (37F) in a couple of minutes or drop 35 C overnight. Crazy. I probably won't get used to these changes because the SF Bay Area isn't known for large changes in temperatures!

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Boston doesn't belong on that list, and neither does New York City.

While Boston certainly has its cold snaps (we're in one right now), typical winter temperature here is in the 20s and 30s, frequently rising into the low 40s. We've even had a couple of 60+ degree days this winter, though that is unusual.

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Last year, the Northeast really needed their heaters. The whole region fell into a deep freeze and temps never rose above the zero mark for a time, even though near the water. The coast was a little shielded from the bitter cold by water, which retains heat well, so temps were in the -10C's. Inland, in the mountains, temps were in the -30C to -40C since land cools faster than water and the altitude. Some people stupid enough to hike in the cold turned into an ice cube in these harsh temperatures.

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Boston has the Gulf Stream (warm waters flowing north from the Caribbean) warming up the air slowly but surely, one of the reasons I believe Boston and NYC gets lots of snow, the relatively warm water (just a few degrees warmer) meeting the cold artic air coming from the north.

As for the plain states and the eastern Rockies I've heard the "Alberta Clipper" basically blasts of super cold arctic air flying out of the north pole and Canada without any mountains or bodies of water (water changes things because of its ability to remain cold or warm for long after the air temperature changes) to slow it down. Most weather maps this time of year have the plain states and the central/eastern rockies ice cold because of the unstopped Alberta Clipper. Interesting discussion.

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Since the winds often blow from west to east, those people (like me) who like on the west coast have warm winters, cool summers, and no massive temperature changes since the air is moderated by water, which has a lot of thermal inertia. On the east coast, there's the continential climate of hot summers, cold winters and maybe massive changes in temperatures, since the air is moderated by land, which has less thermal inertia than water. So if your a person that likes the cold, live in SF during the summer and Boston in the winter. If you like the warm temperatures, it's vice versa.

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Actually the Gulf Stream turns away from the USA around where the NC and SC borders meet,  and heads straight to northern Europe.  It has little effect on the North East's weather. 

ev25320_image04242003_1km.jpg

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like it indeed, yes that is a sharp shift into the ocean for it there. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear. Does Boston and New York get "ocean effect" snow, is that why they are famous for their snowstorms although it rarely stays lower then 20 or so?

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In order for them to get an "ocean effect" snow the wind would have to blowing out of the east or south and that would be a warm wind. Metro's right, the gulf stream does little to moderate the temps in New England, its the just the water.

I look for climate numbers for the rest of the cities later tonight.

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The Gulf Stream heads out to sea around Cape Hatteras, but it does still have an effect on the weather in Southern New England. The Gulf Stream moderates the ocean temperatures all the way up to the south coast of Cape Cod, the temperature difference is about 10 degrees in ocean water from the north to the south of the Cape, this can often spell the difference between rain and snow. The Gulf Stream also intensifies storms when they make their way off shore and create our large Northeasters.

Southern New England also does get substantial ocean effect snow at times, mostly on the Cape and Islands, in fact the Cape is having a big ocean effect storm today, while the rest of Southern New England is mostly clear. Ocean effect usually hits when a storm pulls out to sea and intensifies, the back side of the storm sends strong winds across the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine and deposits snow on the Cape and Islands. Earlier this winter there was substantial ocean effect snow from the North Shore of Boston through the city, and on down to the Cape. Winds from the east straight off the water can cause ocean effect snow in Boston as well, though those winds tend to be a bit warmer than those coming over the Gulf of Maine.

Rhode Island can get ocean effect snow off of southerly winds if there is enough cold air in place at the surface to keep the winds from raising the temps, but we mostly get rain out of storms blowing directly from the south. We can also get snow from the winds blowing off the Gulf of Maine, but those ocean effects are more often localized to the coast of Massachusetts.

The Labrador current does effect eastern New England, but the waters off of Boston and the north side of the Cape are still substantially warmer than thsoe off the coast of Maine. Portland is considerably colder and snowier than Boston even though it is only a little over an hour north.

New York doesn't get much ocean effect, it's quite rare. New York is usually not cold enough to deflect the warmth that comes with southerly winds.

Occassionally, we get lake effect snow off of the Great Lakes, it is quite rare but sometimes squalls can make it all the way out to us. I can remember the meterologists going crazy a few years ago over a radar image that showed a band of lake effect snow snaking it's way from near Buffalo to Provincetown. It was several miles wide and hundreds of miles long, and actually dumped a large amount of snow over it's narrow footprint.

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Is this the same Denver we all know? That city recieves an average of nearly 70 inches of snow a year. It was cold when I went there.

Denver IS a cold city, on par with Minneapolis. Just not as cold as Minny.

Minneapolis, for all its cold winters, has a very nice summer season and is very livable. Its NOT a siberia.

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BTW guys, Boston IS a fairly moderate city. It gets cold quickly as you go inland, of course.

There are many times i've turned on the TV and its shown 25-35 degrees here in Nashville and it be 45 in Boston.

However its more common to have 35 in Boston and 45 here, I know. Its still not the coldest city by any means.

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I winked for a reason. :D St Louis is most certainly not close to the coldest major US city is all I'm saying. Everytime the local weather here comes up, St Louis is always in the regional weather and its weather patterns aren't that different from here in Nashville. Their big difference is snowfall, they are suceptible to larger snow storms in the winter months, but overall their snowfall isn't that high.

BTW, I looked up Noril'sk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk

Nori'sk is approximately 150,000 people and is a mining center created mostly as a Gulag camp. Nickel is the principle material mined and refined there.

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NOW HIRING:

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industry of NICKLE MINING. No experience required.

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I did some checking at weather.com

Average January highs and lows in F.

Minneapolis 22 and 4

Chicago 32 and 18

Detroit 31 and 18

Buffalo 31 and 18

Denver 43 and 15

Boston 36 and 22

Toronto 29 and 17

Ottawa 20 and 4

Montreal 21 and 5

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