Finding the best climate
Writing by Rich on March 14, 2007
Climate is a major factor in determining our choice for the best place to live. So today, we’re going to take a look at summer and winter temperatures, as well as precipitation. I’ll close with how climate might impact our choice of the best place to live. The city names in the tables below are live links to additional climate information. Oh yeah, I threw in Grand Rapids, MI to give my wife a point of reference (she grew up there).
Winter temperatures
My wife and I love outdoor recreation, so I’ve included a count of the number of months with an average high of less than 50 degrees. All temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit.
| City, State | Jan. avg. high | Jan. avg. low | Months with avg. high < 50F |
| Albuquerque, NM | 47.2 | 23.4 | 1 |
| Asheville, NC | 46.1 | 26.6 | 2 |
| Bishop, CA | 52.9 | 21.7 | 0 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | 42.6 | 16.6 | 3 |
| Durango, CO | 39.6 | 10.2 | 3 |
| Farmington, NM | 40.6 | 16.8 | 3 |
| Grand Junction, CO | 36.7 | 16 | 3 |
| Grand Rapids, MI | 29.4 | 15.6 | 5 |
| Las Cruces, NM | 58.2 | 28.1 | 0 |
| Las Vegas, NM | 45.5 | 18.3 | 3 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 59.7 | 31 | 0 |
| Prescott, AZ | 50.7 | 21.3 | 1 |
| Pueblo, CO | 46 | 14 | 2 |
| Reno, NV | 45.4 | 20.6 | 2 |
| Salida, CO | 43.6 | 12.9 | 3 |
| Silver City, NM | 50.7 | 24 | 0 |
| Truth or Consequences, NM | 57.8 | 28.2 | 0 |
| Tucson, AZ | 65.5 | 37.6 | 0 |
| City, State | July. avg. high | July avg. low | Months with avg. high > 90F |
| Albuquerque, NM | 91.7 | 64.6 | 1 |
| Asheville, NC | 84.3 | 63.5 | 0 |
| Bishop, CA | 97.6 | 56 | 3 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | 84.8 | 56.9 | 0 |
| Durango, CO | 85.1 | 49.9 | 0 |
| Farmington, NM | 91.7 | 60.1 | 1 |
| Grand Junction, CO | 92.7 | 64.1 | 1 |
| Grand Rapids, MI | 82.6 | 60.5 | 0 |
| Las Cruces, NM | 94.9 | 67.2 | 3 |
| Las Vegas, NM | 83.2 | 54 | 0 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 103.7 | 69.0 | 4 |
| Prescott, AZ | 89.0 | 57.4 | 0 |
| Pueblo, CO | 92.8 | 60.2 | 1 |
| Reno, NV | 91.4 | 50.3 | 1 |
| Salida, CO | 84.1 | 48.0 | 0 |
| Silver City, NM | 87.3 | 59.6 | 0 |
| Truth or Consequences, NM | 95.8 | 66.5 | 3 |
| Tucson, AZ | 100.1 | 73.9 | 5 |
Precipitation is given in inches. All cities and towns except one had no months with snow cover of greater than one inch. The exception was Durango, where the month with the deepest snow cover was January with 7 inches. Snow cover data was not available for Asheville, NC or Grand Rapids, MI (*).
| City, State | Annual precipitation | Annual snowfall | Average snow cover | Months with snow cover |
| Albuquerque, NM | 8.67 | 9.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Asheville, NC | 37.3 | 15.2 | * | * |
| Bishop, CA | 5.33 | 8.4 | 0 | 0 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | 16.1 | 40.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Durango, CO | 19.09 | 68.8 | 1 | 4 |
| Farmington, NM | 8.21 | 13.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Junction, CO | 8.7 | 21.6 | 3 | 0 |
| Grand Rapids, MI | 37.12 | 70.7 | * | * |
| Las Cruces, NM | 9.23 | 3.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Las Vegas, NM | 16.3 | 37.2 | 0 | 3 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 4.77 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Prescott, AZ | 19.04 | 21.6 | 0 | 1 |
| Pueblo, CO | 11.82 | 29.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Reno, NV | 7.33 | 23.2 | 0 | 1 |
| Salida, CO | 10.13 | 47.6 | 0 | 4 |
| Silver City, NM | 16.08 | 11.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Truth or Consequences, NM | 9.92 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tucson, AZ | 11.15 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 |
Our choice for the best climate
Our choice for the best place to live will likely be influenced by multiple factors. Just because I rate a city poorly on climate, it doesn’t mean that we won’t end up there.
As I indicated in the introduction, long winters are not something we’re looking for (despite a love of snowboarding). As a result, I’m going to be less inclined to favor cities that see three months with their average high not reaching 50 degrees. On that basis, my top choices would include Tucson, Las Cruces, Bishop, Prescott, Silver City, Albuquerque, Pueblo, Reno and Las Vegas (Nevada). But their are plenty more criteria to look at. So stick around, and see where we end up.
Category: Best places criteria
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