Where Is The Best Weather In The World

[yido]

As we sit hoping, praying, will it, won't it, questioning lots of computer runs every six hours, I'm sat in my hotel room in Texas watching the weather channel. Throughout today and tomorow most of the central USA is about to be hit by a snow storm from the west to the east and with temps well below freezing, -40f wind chill in the north western states, there certainly isn't anyone worrying about 'marginal conditions'.

It made me think where is the best place in the world for the weather you like. I peronally love hot dry summers, cold snowy winters and seasonal spring and winters, certainly not something we get in the UK often!

For this reason I'm going to say Salt Lake City in Utah. The summers are long and hot but very rarely humid, the winters are cold and snowy with prolonged periods of dry crisp weather and the change in the seasons brings exactly what I'd like to see. Closer to home it would have to be Prague. A beautful city some very hot summer days, some cold winter snow and it's not too far back to White Hart Lane!

[stewfox]

As we sit hoping, praying, will it, won't it, questioning lots of computer runs every six hours, I'm sat in my hotel room in Texas watching the weather channel. Throughout today and tomorow most of the central USA is about to be hit by a snow storm from the west to the east and with temps well below freezing, -40f wind chill in the north western states, there certainly isn't anyone worrying about 'marginal conditions'.

It made me think where is the best place in the world for the weather you like. I peronally love hot dry summers, cold snowy winters and seasonal spring and winters, certainly not something we get in the UK often!

For this reason I'm going to say Salt Lake City in Utah. The summers are long and hot but very rarely humid, the winters are cold and snowy with prolonged periods of dry crisp weather and the change in the seasons brings exactly what I'd like to see. Closer to home it would have to be Prague. A beautful city some very hot summer days, some cold winter snow and it's not too far back to White Hart Lane!

You know I was thinking about this yesterday, only in the UK are you going to get 150 pages of will it /wont it snow. So marginal, so much up in the air all the time.

If you want a better chance of snow go stand on your roof top.

When I spent time in Alaska they looked out of the window and decided what type of shovel to use to remove the snow.

Saudi area you might get a 10 day for cast as dry and sunny 42c 42c 43c 41c 42c 44c 41c etc Now that would be boring

Utah will get snow and wether that's a drive into the mountains its all very predictable.

In fact worse snow storm I drove in was in Utah coming down from the mountains after an Olympic event in 2002 , it was raining in the City

The best weather in the world of course depends on what you want but the most frustrating /teasing/irritating weather in the world by a mile is the UK.

We dont even have 8,000ft + mountains where you can drive to get a fix

[Marcus_surfer]

I'd say the city of Ottawa in Ontario. Summers are warm and humid with occasional rain and thunderstorms, The average July maximum temperature is 26 °C and record temperatures have reached over 37°C. Severe summer weather events are rare, but have occured with a series of tornadoes in the past.

Winters are cold. Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season. Ottawa receives about 235 centimetres (93 in) of snowfall annually. Its biggest snowfall was recorded on March 3-4, 1947 with 73 cm (2.5 feet) of snow.[15] Average January temperature is -10.8 °C (13 °F), although days well above freezing and nights below -30 °C (-22 °F) both occur in the winter. The snow season is quite variable; in an average winter, a lasting snow cover is on the ground from mid-December until early April, although some years are snow-free until beyond Christmas, particularly in recent years. The 2007–08 winter season snowfall (432.7 cm / 170.3 inches)[16] came within 10 cm (4 inches) of the record snowfall set in 1970-1971 (444.1 cm / 174.8 inches).[17][18] High wind chills are common, with annual averages of 51, 14 and 1 days with wind chills below -20 °C (-4 °F), -30 °C (-22 °F) and -40 °C (-40 °F) respectively. The lowest recorded wind chill was of -47.8 °C (-54.0 °F) on January 8, 1968.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm not exactly sure, but for me the Munich area of Germany would be a good "starter candidate". The winters are colder and snowier than ours but rarely severe, while mild interludes can be every bit as mild as ours, providing greater temperature variety. Also, while continental winter weather is often stable, they do get occasional dramatic Atlantic frontal clearances (check out the Wetterzentrale lightning strikes for 16 February 2000 for example). Springs and autumns appear pretty variable- snowfalls in April and October are not unusual, and nor is 25-degree heat in March or October- and also sunnier and less windy than ours. The summers are warm (average maxima of 22-24C), reasonably sunny (average monthly duration of 220-240 hours), and have a high incidence of convective rainfall, but without the destructiveness associated with Tornado Alley (average of 100mm per month).

Many parts of central and eastern France (also the higher parts of south-western France), Austria & Switzerland also share a similar kind of climate.

I may well prefer the climate of New Zealand as a whole to that of the UK, mainly because of longer sunshine hours and a greater percentage of rainfall being convective- they also enjoy the 10 hours of daylight in winter, 14 in summer distribution that I would rather have. However, relatively low temperature variability in most locations, plus relatively few thunderstorms, makes NZ less appealing climate-wise than the aforementioned areas of continental Europe. I think I would favour the South Island (west & east both have advantages and disadvantages which may cancel each other out) over the North Island.

Having researched the climate of the Great Lakes, despite their tendency for big thundersnow events, on balance I would probably find the climate there a bit too extreme.

[J07]

I think there's something for everyone anywhere! I quite like the longest days of the year to be the driest and sunniest. So for me that rules out the tropics, and means that Mediterranean climates would be most suitable. Parts of California have a great climate for this, and of course parts of the Med. Western Australia is another.

I do love snow...but too much of it would get annoying. Provided there are nearby mountains I am generally OK. But, yes I do crave waking up to lying snow in the morning- something which I never get since leaving the UK!

I may well prefer the climate of New Zealand as a whole to that of the UK, mainly because of longer sunshine hours and a greater percentage of rainfall being convective- they also enjoy the 10 hours of daylight in winter, 14 in summer distribution that I would rather have. However, relatively low temperature variability in most locations, plus relatively few thunderstorms, makes NZ less appealing climate-wise than the aforementioned areas of continental Europe. I think I would favour the South Island (west & east both have advantages and disadvantages which may cancel each other out) over the North Island.

I think a lot of NZ rain is frontal rather than convective. Although frequently they combine, when talking about a southerly change pushing up the east coast. In winter, most of the rain would be "frontal", but in summer the front is probably very weak and the precip is caused by convection and convergence.

The longer daylight hours in winter are nice, compared to what I had growing up. But still in June it feels kind of dark at times....but maybe that's because friends back home are enjoying some much daylight!

The best place for storms in NZ is, tediously, the West Coast. You would have to endure average rainfalls of about 2000mm in populated places (it's even worse than that inland) just to get a dozen or so storms a year!

If you want the combination of summer heat, sunshine hours, winter snow and occasional storms- I think your best bet would be Lake Tekapo. From memory, average highs are 23C in summer and a few days over 30C. In winter you get some truly stunning sunny days with hard frost. Ice days are very rare though. Winter snow is not common, but it happens. You can get storms from spillover on the west coast, and maybe some from convergence. You will get dramatic temperature changes as foehn winds transition to cold southwesterlies. Temps are knocked back a bit by the altitude (800m).

Ground frosts per year: 150

Sunshine hours per year: 2200

Average temps in coldest month: Lows of -3C, highs of 6C

Days with 1mm+ rain: 78 (21%)

The bonus of course is unbelievable scenery.

If you wanted milder winters, even more sunshine, golden beaches and snow capped mountains within 90 minutes then Nelson would be your bet. For my money, the best place to live in New Zealand and one of the best places in the world I've ever visited.

[trickydicky]

I know this thread is ancient but I'm going to throw Hungary's hat in the ring, the homeland of my delightful missus. Compared to us, Hungary only really has 2 seasons, Summer & Winter.

Summers last from about mid March to November. At any time in this period it can be 25C and anytime from June to the end of September it can be 30-35C. In mid summer it can get up to 40C and throughout this extended summer it is sunny pretty much all the time except for in the evenings when large thunderstorms are common. I was there for a week in September when the weather was the equivalent to what you'd expect on a beach holiday in a Mediterranean country, I'm not sure if I actually saw a cloud and it caused me physical pain to get on the plane to come home. Also, everybody's gardens are filled with fruit producing tree's, which when I was there were so loaded I was suprised they could stand up. The country is notable for its fine wines and I saw many vines full to almost bursting point in the gardens of Budapest. In Budapest there are many outdoor restaurants and nightclubs that most of the population take advantage of at this time of year.

Winter is a pretty short lived affair but tends to be what we would class as very cold. Temps down to -20C occur most winters in Budapest, down to -30 in the countryside. It doesn't snow often or in enormous quantities but what does fall tends to stick around for a week or two at a time at least and on occasions can lie on the ground for most of the winter. High pressure and persistant fog causing severly suppressed day time maxima are fairly common, and the Danube often contains floating ice. There are outdoor markets and Ice Rinks but Hungarians are very much warm blooded summer loving people and compared to the fun loving atmosphere of summer it is almost like people go into hibernation in winter. People tend to hole up in their homes with the heating cranked up to ridiculous levels and only ever venture out in the company of an enormous coat and hat.

Little rain, loads of sunshine, long, hot summers and cold winters. Pretty good I think you'll agree

[J07]

I know this thread is ancient but I'm going to throw Hungary's hat in the ring, the homeland of my delightful missus. Compared to us, Hungary only really has 2 seasons, Summer & Winter.

Summers last from about mid March to November. At any time in this period it can be 25C and anytime from June to the end of September it can be 30-35C. In mid summer it can get up to 40C and throughout this extended summer it is sunny pretty much all the time except for in the evenings when large thunderstorms are common. I was there for a week in September when the weather was the equivalent to what you'd expect on a beach holiday in a Mediterranean country, I'm not sure if I actually saw a cloud and it caused me physical pain to get on the plane to come home. Also, everybody's gardens are filled with fruit producing tree's, which when I was there were so loaded I was suprised they could stand up. The country is notable for its fine wines and I saw many vines full to almost bursting point in the gardens of Budapest. In Budapest there are many outdoor restaurants and nightclubs that most of the population take advantage of at this time of year.

Winter is a pretty short lived affair but tends to be what we would class as very cold. Temps down to -20C occur most winters in Budapest, down to -30 in the countryside. It doesn't snow often or in enormous quantities but what does fall tends to stick around for a week or two at a time at least and on occasions can lie on the ground for most of the winter. High pressure and persistant fog causing severly suppressed day time maxima are fairly common, and the Danube often contains floating ice. There are outdoor markets and Ice Rinks but Hungarians are very much warm blooded summer loving people and compared to the fun loving atmosphere of summer it is almost like people go into hibernation in winter. People tend to hole up in their homes with the heating cranked up to ridiculous levels and only ever venture out in the company of an enormous coat and hat.

Little rain, loads of sunshine, long, hot summers and cold winters. Pretty good I think you'll agree

This sounds a bit tourist-brochurey!

"Summers last from about mid March to November. "

The average high in March is 11C, and in November 8C. Hardly summer. In October and April it's 16C, which is kind of cool for summer also!

"At any time in this period it can be 25C and anytime from June to the end of September it can be 30-35C. In mid summer it can get up to 40C "

If you go by absolute records then yes. Record March temperature is 25C, record temperature in any month is 41C. But then this is the same as the UK. You could say "In British summers it can get up to 38.5C!", and not be wrong!

"Temps down to -20C occur most winters in Budapest, down to -30 in the countryside."

As above. Record low is -21C. So is it really accurate to say that in most winters it falls to -20C?

I'll grant you the sunshine though. Annual totals are about 2000, which would be very good for the UK but poor for the Mediterranean Basin (see, for example, Marseille and Almeria). The sunshine looks highly concentrated into the summer months, averaging 10 hours a day in July, but winter is very dull by comparison.

Are you sure you did not just visit during an exceptionally hot period? Everything I've read and heard suggests that Hungary quite easily has 4 seasons, which are very distinct, much more so than the UK, and so to claim it only has 2 seasons seems a bit disingenuous! The "2 seasons" claim is only really valid for tropical and subtropical regions.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Some good points. I think the "two season" comment maybe stems from a desire to flick a switch between winter and summer, but it's easy to forget that in areas with cold winters and warm summers, temperature variability tends to be larger and so summer still arrives in fits and bursts. Snow in April in the Balkans is not that unusual even though their Aprils are warmer than ours, and it can easily happen shortly after a taste of summer with temperatures into the low 20s.

I read the post about NZ with interest, it's good to see a perspective from someone who lives there. On balance I think there are definitely parts of NZ that I would prefer the climate of to anywhere in the UK, but nowhere clearly preferable, in my book, to the areas of continental Europe that I mentioned, mainly due to a relative shortage of snowfalls and thunderstorms.

[Derp Patrol]

If I lived anywhere else in the UK, i'm not sure if I would be able to stand it.. i'm lucky that i'm situated in an ideal position for summer heat, thunderstorms, easterlies in winter and one of the driest and sunniest areas in the UK with an average of just under 600mm per year.

I like long, warm/hot, dry, sunny summers, and short cold winters, but unfortunately there are not many places that offer this type of climate. I find that in the UK, there are a few months of what I would call 'useless and boring' weather - October and November in particular. In these months it is rarely warm enough to wear summer clothes, but rarely cold enough for snow, at least in the SE it is. These months I usually associate with dull, damp weather.I would prefer a sharper gradient, with summer lasting from mid April to mid October, with winter in between, and also with longer daylight hours in winter.

Take July, around here the average is 22c during the day and 14c at night, it rarely goes below 20C, and night time temps rarely go below about 13C. I would prefer it to be warmer, so I can sit outside in shorts and a T shirt comortably.

To be honest, I could live without winter, I much prefer being outside and sitting in the sun than being stuck indoors. On June 21st, the daylight hours would be about 17 (like it is here anyway) from about 4:30am-9:30pm, and on December 21st, there would be about 13, from 7:00am - 8:00pm

Month Av. High Av. Low

Jan 18 12

Feb 19 13

March 22 14

April 24 15

May 26 16

June 29 18

July 32 20

August 31 19

September 28 17

October 25 16

November 22 14

December 20 13

So not excessively hot, but warm pretty much all year around, with dry weather in mid summer, and warm enough to lie on the beach in January The closest climate to this would be Malaga in south east Spain.

[cheeky_monkey]

To be honest, I could live without winter, I much prefer being outside and sitting in the sun than being stuck indoors. On June 21st, the daylight hours would be about 17 (like it is here anyway) from about 4:30am-9:30pm, and on December 21st, there would be about 13, from 7:00am - 8:00pm

Month Av. High Av. Low

Jan 18 12

Feb 19 13

March 22 14

April 24 15

May 26 16

June 29 18

July 32 20

August 31 19

September 28 17

October 25 16

November 22 14

December 20 13

So not excessively hot, but warm pretty much all year around, with dry weather in mid summer, and warm enough to lie on the beach in January The closest climate to this would be Malaga in south east Spain.

or maybe western Australia...Perth perhaps?

[trickydicky]

I'll grant you the sunshine though.

Thank you.

I've been many times, and the weather has rarely let me down. Go and have a look yourself. Just to answer your spectacular knit picking, I meant any day between March to the end of October can be warm and up to 25C - not every day, obviously at the book ends of this period they are fewer and further between and interspersed with cool days. Summer though is in general baking hot and comparable to the Mediterranean. RE the records being -21 and 41. I did say up to -20 and 40. I agree that it doesn't meet the Met Office standard of 2 seasons, but then again I did say compared to us! Hope this clears up any difficulties I may have inadvertently caused.

[BornFromTheVoid]

As above. Record low is -21C. So is it really accurate to say that in most winters it falls to -20C?

The record low is actually -23.4C...

As for myself, I love the cold and snow much more so than any heat, so I think Ostersund in Sweden would be ideal. Average January high of -5C, July high of 18C, so nice and comfortable! Not too much precipitation either and nearly 20 hours daylight in summer, but just a few hours of light in winter being the only drawback.

Nova Scotia would be a very close second choice.

[Janneman24]

I think Malaga has a pretty good climate when I look at it: http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine,Malaga,Spain

But Asia could be nice for me as well.

[cheeky_monkey]

But Asia could be nice for me as well.

any chance of narrowing that down a bit??..after all Asia is the biggest continent on earth

[Nick B]

Japan, North island? Stunning scenery (alpine in places), warm/hot summers, cold and very snowy winters.

[disco-barry]

I agree with Munich,

[AderynCoch]

Much of the North American interior is indeed the hound's gonads - hot, steamy summers and cold, snowy winters with the chance for some ridiculous temperature swings in spring and autumn. In 2006, South Dakota went from a metre of snow falling in April to 49C heat in July.

Bucharest and Seoul also have excellent climates.

[djajb]

For varied weather I love living where I live in Essex - Chelmsford. Winters are often mild but we often get 2 snow events per year on avg. Temps avg around 7c max in Jan. July & August avg at 23c and are often dry and sunny. Rainfall is below 600mm per annum and thunderstorms avg at around 5 in a poor year to 15 or more in a good year. Most of the summer rainfall is showery (although 2008 was unusually frontal). We have high temperatures in heatwaves also with 30c+ being reported most years.

Nights in summer are also warm, Maybe not so warm as Central London but not far off, Definately 2c warmer than the surrounding countryside.

I have chosen here because I hate very cold winters but appreciate a couple of snow events, I like sunshine and dry weather and the area is drier than most in the country and close to the continent so heat and thunder is common in summer months.

I suppose if I wanted something slightly warmer then prob Majorca would be my choice, But im quite happy living in my southeast corner of England!

[Thundery wintry showers]

On a similar note, if the question was "where is the best weather in the British Isles" I would probably go with the Norwich area- it is prone to summer heat and convective storms (but not the prolonged oppressive intense heat that London occasionally gets), and at the same time exposed to northerlies, promoting significant temperature variability, and some pretty potent snow showers from both north and east winds. As for Tyneside, the area I grew up in, it gets similar winters, but I emphatically can't say the same about the summers...

However, it does tend to be pretty non-descript here during "westerly" spells in the winter half-year, and like the rest of Britain it is more prone to overcast weather than over much of continental Europe so I give those areas the nod.

[kold weather]

One thing that I 've noted about SW Essex is just how 'dry' relative to many other places it tends to be, quite a few times I've seen our grass on the edge of dying despite the rainfall across most of the country having decent rains, esp in a westerly airflow...I wonder whether the London urban heat islands helps to falsely lift the lapse rates and as it comes past east London temps slightly drop again and that causes some slight subsidence which weakens precip, plus possibly not being helped by the fact we are the last stop on a westerly so to speak...I wonder whether other large cities (London sized or bigger) have the same thing to the east of them?

Anyway as for global weather, there are many places but I'd suspect the USA isn't far off from having the best of all worlds, it can get real severe cold and massive snows, it can get powerful heatwaves, it gets severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and is also at real risk from hurricanes as well...in terms of varaity of severe weather, thats going to be hard to beat I'd have thought...maybe only Japan can compare on that front.

[J07]

Must admit I'm a real sucker for sunshine. I need the stuff. The temperature can almost do what it likes...if I've got sun it keeps me in a good mood- especially true in winter. Where I live we average about 100 hours a month in the dullest month (either June or July), and that's just not quite enough for me.

~5 hours a day in winter makes a real difference to wellbeing, and in Europe I think you need to hit the Mediterranean to get that. I've had a winter month over here that exceeded 200 hours of sunshine (August 2007), and that was brilliant.

Sunshine also impacts upon peoples perception of summertime...naturally. January here was the 2nd dullest in recorded history. We had 180 hours of sunshine, which was poor for us (average is about 250), but that would not be all that unusual for a summer month in the UK.

The saving grace of dull months is that we are in the southern hemisphere and coastal, which is a combination that can't really be bettered for quality of light. Even if we fall short on the numbers game, it's still very intense light that we do receive.

[snowy owl]

i love the climate in Southern Africa - warm/hot summers, wetter but relatively warm autumns and little but occasional snow in winter - perfect.

Although for winter sun - can't beat Dubai - perfect. sunny day after day and great to get away if your thorougly frozen here.