Hot cities or cold cities; 4 seasons or no seasons; desert cities or green cities?
 

What is your favorite climate for a city? Do you like desert cities or rainy forested cities or something in between? Mild climate or four seasons? What do you like best and least of the climate of the place where you live?

I dislike extreme heat or extreme cold. So the coastal climate of California suits me. San Diego to Eureka. The northern end is a bit too cold and overcast and rainy in winter, the southern end much less so but also a browner landscape escept in the mountains or canyons with streams where there are oaks and other trees. I like some woods to walk in. Perhaps the central coast, somewhere between Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo north to Monterey/Santa Cruz is best. Maybe Mr. Hearst selected the perfect spot in the middle near San Simeon, when he built his grand mansion on a partly wooded hill about 5 miles from the coast, with the slightly inland location providing some sunshine and mild warmth away from the coastal winds and fog. Or along San Francisco Bay, inland enough that you don't get the summer cold, fog and strong winds. Sunny afternoons that aren't too hot. But the fall colors and bracing weather of New England Autumn have appeal as well. Maybe I should spend October and November in Boston. The summer heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas are intolerable to me, as are winters in Toronto or Chicago. Same with the humid summer heat in the south and midwest. Humidity plus heat, no thank you.

We’re thinking about leaving London because I just can’t handle the rain and grey skies anymore.

The problem is that there are no decent cities the Southwestern US, and I’m not a big fan of LA, so this would mean moving to either Southern Europe (harder now thanks to the Brexit disaster) or somewhere like Mexico City (harder for other reasons).

I’d love to spend winter in Miami, late spring/early autumn in London, and a couple months of “real summer” in the Mediterranean. That’s the life.

San Diego probably has the best single climate in North America but I split my time. Northern CA can be (not every year) dreary in the winter but I love the cool summers so that's for me, May-October. On the other hand, the desert southwest is really nice late October through April, so it's the general vicinity of Tucson for me that time of year.

Besides San Diego, if you must stay in one place, places like Flagstaff, AZ or Santa Fe, NM are smaller towns but have good year-round climates because they have enough elevation to keep them from having the brutal summers of Phoenix or Tucson or even Albuquerque (plus the nearby mountains make them scenic). Colder winters though with occasional snow but nothing like farther north--mostly just scenic snowfalls with skiing in the nearby mountains.

Of course none of them would be good enough for 10023 it seems.

Seasonal migration makes sense.

Your selection makes sense. But I would add a month or two in New England for the glorious bracing fall weather and leaf spectacle, and probably a few weeks in a mountain resort in July/August:

To wit: Ca. Coast: May-Sept., perhaps with 2-4 weeks in mid summer in the High Sierra above 7,000 feet where it is cool in July/August, perhaps around the Mammoth Lakes area, or the Alps if I want to put up with the hassle of air travel and covid risks; New England: Oct-Nov. (Thanksgiving); Desert Southwest: Dec.-April. Ideal.

Rain, forest and seasonal changes.

Hate dry weather, desert, sterile landscapes.

My favorite climate type is Mediterranean, which is generally popular worldwide. Warm summers with a marked dry season and mild, wetter winters. This climate is more widespread than just the Mediterranean basin, with zones on the west coasts of continents from Australia to Chile to South Africa and, yes, famously California.

Having lived in Los Angeles for 4 years, I loved the green hills in the winter that tone out to a nice tan over the summer, and the lack of temperature extremes. Where I lived, just over 4 miles inland from the coast, it was almost never hotter than 90f or colder than 40f. Very comfortable.

You still get a sense of seasons, there is a cool down and warm up, but it's gradual, and the difference in precipitation makes winter and summer feel even more different than one another. In late spring, there is fog that rolls in from the Pacific, sometimes quite dense fog, but it almost always burns off by lunchtime.

Personally, having lived in a cold climate only once (6 years in Denver), I just do not prefer it. I hate the stinging feeling of cold air on my face. I hate being outside when all the trees are barren. I hate living where there are no palm trees or other tropical/subtropical vegetation, which are the plants I find the prettiest.

The climate is lovely. The problem is the inhabitants, who generally speaking are a lot of people like you. They’re also not real cities and are far too remote from everything else (a positive for some, not for me).

Agree on the benefits of altitude, but I’d move to Mexico City before the American southwest.

LA isn’t really a Mediterranean climate though. It is classified as such, but it’s different. Nowhere in the actual Mediterranean is quite that warm and dry in the winter.

It’s really a cross between a Mediterranean and a hot arid climate.

I loved the weather in Scottsdale in October-November when I was there, but sprawly desert metro is probably my least favourite type of city. No way I could do a full year there once it was 45 degrees in the summer and the limited walking options became even less attractive.

For something full year-round I think the ideal is a warm-weather, breezy coastal city. San Fran, San Diego, Barcelona, Lisbon maybe.

The coastal Mediterranean climate or the high and dry sky island ecology of the mountain southwest are ideal for human health and well being. Hot humid lowlands are the worst, unless you like a long summer of sticky itchy marinating in your own juices. It's no wonder those places breed such intemperate people :P.

The primary thing which affects my enjoyment of the weather is sweat. Thankfully I don't have much in the way of body odor at all (stopped using deodorant back in high school, none of my girlfriends/wife ever noticed anything) but it's still copious. Starts out as a ring around my scalp, and then switches to all-over sweating. It makes summertime (or really, any temperature over the mid 70s) completely gross and unenjoyable for me. So no, I'd never want to live anywhere which is hot/humid. I've not spent any real time in hot/arid climates, so I'm not sure how I'd do in them. I've heard from people that the sweat evaporates so quickly you don't notice it.

As for the cold, I don't really mind it much. I don't like when it gets below 20, as that's the temperature where your face starts burning when it's exposed to air, but I can walk around with a jacket in "normal" winter weather outside indefinitely and feel just fine.

My ideal climate - like many people - probably would be along the California coast somewhere - I really like temperatures in the low/mid 60s the best when it comes to the outdoors. But I don't have any real desire to live somewhere with an ideal climate - having nice weather part of the year is good enough.

Most of the Earth's surface is wasteland. Most of the United States is wasteland. Very little of it is broadly productive land.

Industrialization has allowed people to move, by the tens of millions, away from broadly productive land (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.) to precarious wastelands like Southern California, Arizona, and Florida.

What do people do in this "nice" weather? They mostly sit inside and watch TV or scroll on their phones. Most people like bragging about "nice" weather to their friends and acquaintances in "bad" weather, without actually doing much of anything outdoors.

The Mediterranean is a much warmer body of water as well, so not a lot of coastal fog or harsh winter storms.

I like places with four distinct seasons, though it's hard to find a place that gets all four of them just right. Toronto is great from spring to fall, but winters are a bit too long & cold for my liking. The US Mid-Atlantic meanwhile is perfect from fall to spring, but summers are too hot. Something like New York that borders on a humid-continental & humid-subtropical climate is probably the best balance for me. Or, perhaps a southern European oceanic climate (eg. non-alpine portions of Switzerland, Austria, and Northern Italy)?

Of course, can never go wrong with a Mediterranean climate either.

I also like the weather of Coastal CA, but I'm starting to not care about it enough to stay. Seasons are pretty cool so I might go back to the NE. Yeah, the summers are humid, but I never had issue with that. I've lived in FL for quite a while so I'm used to the humidity. The winters can get tough with the snowstorms but I like snow too.

Plus the humidity moderates the temperature. That fog that rolls into California from the Pacific is essentially water vapor or "humidity". Cool humidity, but it counteracts the dry heat that makes Death Valley hell on earth. However, the marine layer/fog can only go so far inland. Beyond its reach, the dry heat is unbearable.

"Hot humid lowlands are the worst". Curious that New Orleans and Miami are regarded as fun places. Only with constant air conditioning.

nyc has four rock solid seasons. take your pick when you want any of them. so thats fine for a homebase weather wise.

Houston is known for epic swamp ass from mid-May to Septemberish but after that, the weather here is actually moderate and pleasant. having grown up in New York, I miss the summers and fall up there but could never do the winters again. I would rather deal with tank top and flipflops here in July than wear a thousand layers in February up there.

Many cities along the Med., like Athens and Marseille, have much warmer summers than coastal CA cities. They lack the summer fog that the CA coast usually gets, esp. in NorCal. The Pacific off CA is colder than. the Med. I find the summer heat of places like Athens and even Rome to be excessive.

Four Seasons for me. Appalachian Piedmont in US fits me well.

Trees, hills, fall leaves, spring blossoms, cozy rainy days, rivers/creeks (love flowing water). Landscape full of life and in motion - always changing, becoming, being then repeating.

NYC seasons graded:

Spring: B+/A-
Summer: B-/B
Fall: A/A+
Winter:C+

Not bad. The rains are a bit much, but make the forest trees grow. Summer days can be hot, humid and rainy, but a surprising number of days are nice. Fall is often beautiful. Spring too, but it rains a lot. Winter has cold snaps, but most days aren't intolerably cold. Not bad at all. I could handle NYC.

The summer heat not too bad? I agree, there us much to be said in favor of four seasons. As long as the extreme heat of summer and cold of winter don't get too out of bounds, Dallas and Winnipeg being examples of out of bounds summers and winters respectively. Maybe the Piedmont fits the bill.

Coastal California, especially the middle third, is really hard to beat. I just got back from a conference in Monterey. My wife and I rented a car and traveled down to the Hearst Castle, through Big Sur (and up the other direction to Santa Cruz and Big Basin Redwoods State Park), by way of California Highway 1. Stunning, to say the least. Surprisingly brisk climate for this late in May (but as you said, move inland a few miles and things warm up quickly). The water is way too cold to swim in, but the scenery is almost peerless.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ge_%282%29.jpg

Agree with the Mediterranean climate takes. There are two main types. Under the Köppen climate classification, there are "hot dry-summer" climates (classified as Csa) and "cool dry-summer" climates (classified as Csb). Coastal CA is more the latter, as the summers never really get too hot as compared to the inland CA areas, and there is the marine fog to help keep the air from becoming too dry. The areas where the coastal redwoods grow have the best blend of warmth in the summer times but wet winters to keep the area from becoming too try.

We drove from LA where it was about 75 or so degrees and breezy to Mojave (the city) and it was about 95+ and stifling. Only about an hour and a half drive.

Plenty of places in the Mediterranean have similar winter weather to L.A.

Yeah, depends on the city. Lisbon is probably most like L.A. in the summer, but it has noticeably cooler winters. But it's also on the ocean, like L.A., instead of on the Mediterranean like all of the other major cities in that climate zone.

Indeed. There are several different micro climates in the LA area considering you go from beach up valley to foothills to mountains then high and low desert within 60 miles. For example, it's common to have the following Temps at the same time.. In summer, you can have 70 at Malibu, 80 in Westwood, 85 in downtown LA, 100 in woodland hills, 75 in big bear, 105 in Palmdale and 120 in palm springs.

In winter, it's common for it to be 60 at the beach, 65 inland, 55 in the foothills 20's in the mountains and deserts

Coastal LA/OC has to be Mediterranean, no? My aunt lives right on the coast, she has no AC, and she barely uses her heat. She's in permanent Spring, more or less. I don't really notice any difference whenever I visit. The only changes are May/June gloom and and a little winter rain.

Twenty miles inland, yes, totally different climate. Even Irvine is very different from Coastal OC. It's hot. You'd be in hell without AC.

I second this and I don't live there. I like having all the seasons but I don't like harsh winters.

To me, Atlanta's weather is pretty spot on for me. Yes, it gets hot as hell in summer but where doesn't it? I find that its location inland and slightly higher in altitude makes the other seasons there near perfect. I assume it's very similar in Greenville SC and Asheville NC, but those places are too small for me.

I do love the Ocean though, so it would be hard for me to live anywhere further than and hour or two from an Ocean (or the gulf).

But people in the actual Mediterranean do need AC right? I've never been there during summers but I hear it gets very hot on most places.

I've spend one whole summer in Cape Town, and it could get hot during the day, specially in the vineyards. In the evenings, temps used to fall considerably to 14C-16C or so. I guess it's more similar to California than with the actual Mediterranean.

So would I if they weren't ridiculously long drives and if moving around like you suggest weren't a difficult proposition when you have pets and lots of things to take with you. Maintaining just two locations is plenty of work and expense for me, thanks.

I used to work in Concord, CA, a commuter suburb of San Francisco. I took BART, the commuter rail line. When I left work in Concord on a typical summer day it was often in the mid-90s, 96F being common. When I exited the station in downtown SF where I live it would often be in the mid-60s, say 66F: A 30 degree temperature shift on opposite ends of a commuter rail line.

These are California micro-climates. They don't surprise anybody here. The cities around the Bay but away from the Golden Gate strait, like Fremont where you plan to live, tend to be somewhat between the extremes which makes them popular. They get warm enough to be comfortable outdoors in summer (though sometimes a little hot and A/C can be useful) and in winter it almost never gets cold enough to snow (except on the highest peaks like Mt. Diablo).

I suspect that's wrong. I think you are comparing coastal locations in the Mediterranean with inland ones in California. Much of LA is not really coastal.

But still, the climatic variables of a larger coastal city like Marseille don't appear that different to me. If anything the LA climate appears a bit more moderate (higher winter lows, slightly lower summer highs):

Marseille
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1654024716
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille

Los Angeles
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1654024888
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles

I've actually been very surprised how hot (reading climate data) Rome and particularly Athens gets in the summer.

Athens has average daily means close to 85 in July/August, and average highs of 94 degrees. I wouldn't call that pleasant at all.

The craziest thing is when you take the Dumbarton bridge from Fremont to the Palo Alto area; the east Bay is more scrubbish while on the other side, it's more green with taller/ lusher trees. The two can't be more than a mile or so apart.

My understanding is there are even microclimates within San Francisco. Like The Mission is almost always warmer/sunnier than Outer Sunset.

That’s not true, I spent a few weeks in southern France, Cannes and a few other cities in that area during the month of October several years ago. It is my understanding this region is considered a Mediterranean climate. It was definitely warmer and very uncomfortable than what I’m used to in much of the Los Angeles basin.

Also much of the vegetation I seen all around that region as we drove into Italy looks like a lot of Southern California.

It really depends on where you live in the LA area. The valley you will need a/c but not even every day, and night time temperatures are cool enough to turn it off. I grew up with no AC so did most of the people around me.

I totally agree. I was expecting Barcelona to be like LA weather-wise but it was hot and humid in the summer, like being in New Jersey or Chicago in the summer. Really sticky. Rome was like that too. I was actually surprised.

But the vegetation did indeed remind me of SoCal, the landscapes around the small towns gave me this weird, familiar "I'm home" feeling, even though I obviously wasn't, hehe... varying shades of tan, gold, brown, olive-green hillsides...

I mean look at this; this could be a gas station outside Ojai, or Castaic: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9404...4!8i8192?hl=en

I don't mind this climate when it's cloudy. Humid, cloudy days where it's not too hot (because of the clouds) are my favorite. I love slow-moving, tropical downpours and all of the lush vegetation too. When the sun comes out though it can definitely be uncomfortable.

Depends on the humidity, but I've lived in Arizona for too long. 85F is not bad if its not humid.

We used to be able to get through a couple weeks of 90+ degree temperatures in Flagstaff without AC but that's changing. The monsoons aren't as frequent and the highs are getting higher and lasting longer.

Rainfall varies greatly in the L.A. area. Places near the coast can have as little as 10-12 inches of rain per year, while foothill suburbs like Glendale and Sierra Madre average well over 20 inches (Sierra Madre has 24). So, most so of the coast under 20 and downtown at 14" are technically Koppen B (semiarid steppe) climates, while the areas over 20 inches are type C Med. climates. But that us true in the Med as well. Athens only gets about 15 inches, so it is technically Koppen B. Even in the Bay Area, some cities in the rain shadow of the Santa Cruz Mountains or Oakland Hills get less than 20 inches per year. San Jose gets about the same rainfall as downtown L.A., about 14-15 inches. A Koppen B climate. Downtown SF averages 23".

I'm 76 years old and have lived all over the US at different points in my life. California has the nicest overall climate, but it is possible to find aspects of it objectionable. SF is just too chilly and windy in the summertime unless you live in one of the micro-climates sheltered from the wind and fog. LA is just too damn sunny. Day after day of monotonous sunshine. On the other hand, the weather can be so mild and pleasant that it almost feels like floating in the air. Phoenix was just too much for me. The summer heat cancelled everything else out. Atlanta was agreeable for the most part. Mild winters. Spring and Fall rather beautiful. Summer kind of a humid slog. DC was a lot like Atlanta, except the winters were a bit more rugged and tended to linger into March and early April. I always seemed to have a nasty chest cold by late March or early April in DC. NYC was a slightly colder version of DC. I did not like winters in NY. Summers, especially weekends, were not so bad. BTW, I much prefer east coast beaches (North Carolina all the way up to Provincetown) to California beaches. I grew up in Texas, and now I am back living in Austin. I often regret my decision to return here. The summers are brutal in every way. The allergy season is almost year round, but it is at its worst (Cedar/Mountain Juniper) in the winter when the weather is otherwise usually highly agreeable. I think I might like living in coastal North Carolina for some reason, maybe a nice little city like Wilmington. Oh, well. That's not going to happen. I am beached (and there are no beaches) here in Austin for the duration.

I used to think I would like cold snowy winters but the older I get the less I seem to like it. Some of it was the novelty of it not experiencing snow growing up in Los Angeles. The first time I actually seen snow was when I was 12 years old when our church took us to the local mountains.

I do like four seasons and green scenery, and would like more but also at the same time we have enough here in LA, during winter and spring that it keeps me satisfied. I wouldn’t want to live in the desert at all, way too dry and hot. It’s okay to visit during winter but that’s it.

I think my favorite climate would be ... Cleveland.

I think a lot of that is due to the topography. The 925 ft tall Twin Peaks serves as a physical barrier. The west side of Twin Peaks, where the Sunset is, gets most of the fog and wind, whereas the east, where Noe Valley and the Mission are, is more protected from the Pacific Ocean and gets more sun and warmth.

Fun fact, before it was renamed Twin Peaks, it was called "Los Pechos de la Chola" or "Breasts of the Indian Maiden".

This is a very common sight up and down the Peninsula.
https://live.staticflickr.com/1827/4...3e365377_b.jpgSan Francisco Morning Fog by David Yu, on Flickr

It depends. A/C is not very common in Lisbon, but is very common in much of Spain. Even in places where it always gets hot, like Greece, the need for A/C depends on the material that the homes are made from. The stone houses that are common on the islands don't need A/C because they're built like caves. But the houses built in the 20th/21st century tend to use materials that are more prone to heating.

:runaway: