Submitted by EconomySeaweed7693 t3_ywzk1f in massachusetts
Looking at weather averages and the weather for the next week, the weather is identical pretty much , only 2 degrees warmer.
DC tends to be 7 degrees warmer than Boston and 5 more than NYC so that difference is noticeable.
Philadelphia's weather also tracks closer to DC's than NYC's.
The reason I ask this is bc I meet people from NYC that say Boston is so cold, and I'm like is it really that much different ???
This sounds right, though I will say that Boston ultimately still falls into that coastal constant freeze/thaw style of winter on the whole. We don't always get every thaw that NYC does, but we do get them regularly on a weekly or biweekly basis throughout the winter.
When I lived in Chicago (which is an additional 4 degrees or so on average colder than Boston in the winter), that's a true deep freeze winter where after some point in December realistically you aren't getting any major thaws until early March. It will stay below freezing for weeks on end and it's rare to have enough of a thaw to actually melt any accumulated snow. An average winter day in Boston still tops out at mid to high 30s and there is regular potential to hit low 40s so it's not really like that here.
>is chicago much worse than boston in winter?
Anecdotally, yes. Boston is right on that temperature line in the winter where it's regularly mild enough to have regular thaw cycles as I mentioned. It's more depressing when it goes 3 or 4 weeks without really breaking the freezing point, which can happen in Chicago.
Chicago is also far more prone to extreme cold than either Boston or NYC. It gets cold fronts down out of the Canadian prairies where the air temperature can drop to -15 or -20, and hit -40 or so with wind chill. That's essentially unheard of in either Boston or NYC. It's also not uncommon to get single digit temperatures in Chicago in the winter, whereas in either Boston or NYC those single digit days are rare and only happen a couple times a year.
Personally, Boston winters are much closer to NYC winters than they are to Chicago ones, though they are slightly colder than NYC.
Freeze then thaw gives us our lovely potholes. I don’t know but logically those should be fewer in both NYC and Chicago.
Oh there are still potholes in Chicago. They just get the freeze thaw cycles in November and March more so than in January and February.
Yes, Chicago is a deeper cold for longer time. If you really want to experience winter head a little farther to St Paul MN. Once you spend a weeks time of highs in the sub zeros it amazing how easy 10 degrees and sunny becomes t short weather.
Good news is when you hit forty below one no longer needs to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius.
It depends on what you dislike more: snow or cold. Granted I only did one winter in Chicago, but the numbers back it up, that there's less snow but more cold.
Chicago is worse…but it is windier in Boston…which I hate. 😳
And the winter comes sooner and leaves a bit later in Boston. Not by weeks and weeks but there is a difference.
Just a few degrees is enough to turn minor rain into a snowstorm.
Have lived in DC, Philly and Boston. The biggest difference I have noticed is that the sun sets a good 30 min earlier in the winter in Boston. It sucks.
My in-laws live in New Jersey and my MIL always says she could never live in MA because it's so much colder. The weather is essentially the same.
I can speak to Philly as I'm from there. I always say it's quantitatively different, but not qualitatively.
It warms up a couple weeks earlier in the spring in Philly. The temperature is usually a couple degrees warmer.
But you still need to get a good winter coat and boots, and worry about how your car drives in the snow. Most people I know down there have snow blowers. There are winters when my relatives get dumped on and we get next to no snow.
Nobody is moving to Philly or NYC after they retire to get away from the cold and snow.
Boston tends to get more powerful storms (and more snow). Spring also comes more slowly in Boston. Both of these are related to the influence of the Atlantic ocean.
Yeah. It snows more in Boston and Spring comes 2 weeks earlier in NYC. Generally the same otherwise though.
I live in central ma and my MIL lives on the north shore. We get more snow and it’s a bit colder here than Boston.
In my very scientific experience, comparing with zoom colleagues, it’s about 10F warmer in the little town down south. I blame it (semi-scientifically) on the cape catching the cold water coming from the artic, and protecting the little town from real weather like we enjoy in Boston.
If you are truly in one of the 5 boroughs the heat sink effect makes them somewhat warmer overall.
But if you're in the suburbs it's nominally warmer in NY.
Once you get to philly, it becomes noticeably warmer.
Yep - I live in queens near the east river and we barely even get frost. I can find flowers blooming in parks until mid December and they start up again at the end of February. The suburbs outside of the heat island and away from the water are much colder.
Average annual temperatures can change just slightly and have drastic consequences. The 2 degrees you mention are what we're trying to drastically avoid for global climate change (though we won't). It's also believed that a volcanic eruption in the mid 6th century CE lowered global temperatures by 2 degrees for several years, leading to the collapse of several civilisations around the world, and a really bad time in most others. Those 2 degrees are also the difference between London and Bordeaux. So yeah, while a single day being 2 degrees warmer or colder might not feel that different, changing average temperatures by 2 degrees is a massive difference.
We get more Nor'easters here. For unaffiliated, this is a mini snow hurricane that stops over Boston and shits snow for 24 hours straight.
2 degress colder is a lot actually if it's consitent.I have a friend in Toronto who knows the weather well (I don't know weather myself) he say Boston gets more snow than Toronto ,yes Toronto!I doubt New York competes with Canada weather wise!
Snow isn't the same thing as cold though. I can believe Boston getting slightly more snow than Toronto, it also gets more snow than Chicago (where I used to live). But Chicago is way worse than Boston for cold, it stays below freezing much more consistently as opposed to the freeze-thaw cycles in Boston that tend to melt snow after a week or two (so a given snowstorm in December sticks around for a couple months in Chicago), and it gets extreme cold below 10 or 0 degrees F much more commonly than Boston does.
Looking at wikipedia, Toronto looks very similar to Chicago in terms of winter climate, so I would say it's a noticeably worse and longer winter than Boston based on my experience in Chicago. Technically Toronto gets slightly less snow, but the difference is marginal, 48 inches per year on average versus 49 inches on average in Boston.
Compared to NY, it’s colder here sooner and longer. It’s snows sooner and later and while NYC can get a whopper of a storm, on average it just snows different up here.
Yes, it is.
Attended college in the NYC area and grew up in Massachusetts.. I can confirm that it’s usually a “few degrees” cooler in Boston compared to NYC.
Spring comes sooner and we usually tended to get less snow accumulation compared to Boston. I remember a few occasions where I left a winter wonderland in Mass and going back to NYC where there was barely any snow on the ground, and spring was definitely in the air.
Just my two cents.
NYC is almost tropical in comparison
jabbanobada t1_iwm2bs0 wrote
As some who spent half his life near NYC and the next half near Boston, I'd say the difference is considerable over a season, but not on a day to day basis. Day to day, we experience pretty much the same range of weather, just a couple degrees colder on average. You don't need to buy new clothes or learn how to drive in the snow when you move to Boston from NYC.
However, that two degrees can really catch up with you over the course of the season. Sometimes the same storm will hit both cities, but it will be a snow event in Boston and all rain in NYC. The other big difference is in how long the snow remains -- it isn't uncommon to have a week of thaw in NYC when our snow all stays. Snow farming is a much bigger thing here than in NYC.