The Goldilocks Temperature: Finding the Right Place For You

Using  30-year temperature averages maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out which places in the country had the most days where the average temperature within a range that wasn't too hot, or too cold, but juuuuuust right - hence the Goldilocks reference - the Washington has created an interactive map that allows you to find your ideal location based on temperatures.

The site lets you select the high and low temperatures of the range you most think is comfortable, and then provides a map which shows you, by county, which areas are most in line with what you find to be perfect! As you slide the upper or lower temperature guide, notice how the map changes. If you hover over a county, it will give you the number of days the temperature is in that range ! Below is a screen shot for Herkimer County I did for temperatures between 60 and 75 degrees. Click to enlarge the graphic.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Go to the website and try your own range and see where you might be more comfortable !

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday: Most Pleasant Places to Live

Kelly Norton is a designer and software engineer living in Atlanta, Georgia. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and from the MIT Media Lab. He has put together an interesting map showing where the most "pleasant" places to live are in the US. “Pleasant” for his purposes means the average temperature was between (55° F and 75° F), the minimum temperature was above 45° F, the maximum temperature was below 85° F and there was no significant precipitation or snow depth.

As he points out, "It has been a winter of dreadful weather so far. I spent January flying back and forth from New York expecting to find a different set of conditions at the end of each leg. Whichever way I went, bitter cold greeted me at the end of the jet way and often with a coating of slick ice. It’s hard not to dwell on anomalous and unpleasant weather. It got me wondering, though, where in the U.S. do you go if you want the most “pleasant” days in a year?"

To see his interactive map visit here! You can put in your zip code to get a look at your area's "pleasantness".

In the meantime, here's what he has for the Utica area.

Click to Enlarge

How Much Snow Does It Take To Close Your School?

A recent post on reddit provided a map of the US, broken down by counties, which predicts the general amount of snow needed before your local school closes. It was created based on a combination of local news reports, a survey, and average snowfall levels from NOAA maps. It then makes an approximation of the differing levels of snow it takes to call off school. While the map is based on hundreds of data points, it is by no means considered to be 100% accurate. Nonetheless, it is sort of interesting to think about, given the deep South's recent "Snomageddon".

How Much Snow to Close School ?

Click to Enlarge

Weather, You Like it Or Not...

With another blast of cold frigid arctic air blanketing the area, some people might wonder if this is the coldest temperatures we've ever seen. Well that answer would be no....for now ! According to the New York State Climate Office, housed at Cornell University, minus 29 degrees (in 1995) was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Utica.

The State Climate Office has all sorts of weather related data that you can see based on city location. The page on Utica shows the historic temperatures, precipitation, and snowfall by month. Take a look at the Utica records, or any of the other major cities in New York State by visiting the Climate Office website.

And while I'm not sure about the rest of the country, all I know is that when I turned on the shower this morning, it snowed for the first 10 minutes ! THAT'S COLD !