Climate Report - 3
Climate Report 3
By Keith Carlsen
Introduction
Not even one of the ten candidate states has what most people would consider ideal weather. However, many of the candidate states have their strengths, or weakness, depending on how you look at them. South Dakota has many wind tunnels; Delaware, New Hampshire, and Maine get the occasional tropical depression; Idaho gets frequent summer heat waves; and Alaska has more in common with Russia than with the lower forty-eight states.Most Free State Project members will need to make small adjustments to their life, no matter which state is picked. Members might need to buy warmer winter clothes, wake up 15 minutes earlier so they can shovel snow, or replace their car with one that has front-wheel drive. Delaware offers members the mildest climate, whereas North Dakota and Alaska offer members the most dramatic climate changes.
For the purposes of this report, climate consists of five major variables:
- Sunshine "The Alaska Report" by Joe Littlejohn, compares some of the candidate states and a few other states for sunshine in January:
- Humidity Generally, the western and mid-western states are less humid than the eastern states. Wyoming is one of the least humid states being considered. The east coast states of New Hampshire, Maine, and Delaware range from average humidity to above average, depending on the season. Sussex County, Delaware even has a large swamp called the Great Cypress Swamp.
- Winter Temperature In order to better understand the temperature issue, I listed the average January temperature for thirty-eight Wyoming, nine Idaho, nine South Dakota, nine New Hampshire, eight Alaska, eight Montana, six Maine, five North Dakota, two Delaware, and two Vermont towns. These towns are of varying size and from varying parts of the states. I listed a great deal more Wyoming towns because this information was originally compiled for a report on Wyoming.
- Snowfall In order to better understand the snowfall issue, I listed the average yearly snowfall amount for twenty-three Wyoming, ten Montana, nine Idaho, eight South Dakota, eight New Hampshire, seven Alaska, seven Maine, seven Vermont, five North Dakota, and two Delaware towns. These towns are of varying size and from varying parts of the states. I listed a great deal more Wyoming towns because this information was originally compiled for a report on Wyoming. There are two very noticeable observations. First, Delaware, on average, gets much less snow than the other nine states. Secondly, Alaska, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, on average, get much more snow than the other six states.
- Wind Generally, the mid-western states are the windiest states, followed by the western states, and finally by the eastern states. Generally, the eastern states are not any windier than the rest of the country. However, the eastern states have been known to experience very fast winds, especially near the mountains and coastline. South Dakota and North Dakota are by some distance, the windiest states.
| City | State | Avg January Sunshine |
|---|---|---|
| Sheridan | WY | 57% |
| Portland | ME | 56% |
| Concord | NH | 52% |
| Fargo | ND | 50% |
| Green Bay | WI | 49% |
| Duluth | MN | 48% |
| Burlington | VT | 41% |
| Boise | ID | 40% |
| Anchorage | AK | 34% |
| Mt. Washington | NH | 32% |
| Grand Rapids | MI | 28% |
| Seattle | WA | 28% |
Climatesource.com produced this map that shows average annual precipitation amounts for the entire country. The western and mid-western states tend to get noticeably less precipitation, according to the map. From least precipitation to most: brown, orange, yellow, light green, green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, and purple.
(Climatesource.com has a special map for Alaska.)
Based on just the cities listed, Delaware, Idaho, and Wyoming, seem to be the warmest states. Again, based on just the cities listed, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota seem to be the coldest states. The entire state of Delaware is warm, when compared to the other nine states. Idaho has several warm and cold spots. Alaska has the second warmest areas and all of the coldest areas. Wyoming's warmest area is its banana belt area in Laramie, Platte, and Goshen counties. South Dakota's Black Hills are much warmer than rest of South Dakota.
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| Fairbanks | AK | -10.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nenana | AK | -10.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Pole | AK | -13.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow | AK | -13.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | State | Avg Jan Temp (F) |
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Source: ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/support/climate/taps/
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Source: ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/support/climate/taps/
Climatesource.com produced this map that gives general estimates for snowfall though out the county. The map vividly shows that New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont are the three snowiest states in the lower forty-eight. >From least snow to most: white, light orange, light green, green, dark green, light blue, blue, dark blue, purple, and gray.
Average Wind categories for selected western cities: These numbers are estimates collected from several sets of wind maps:
| Avg Wind (Mph) |
State | Cities |
|---|---|---|
| 0-12 | Wyoming | Sheridan, Green River, Riverton, Worland, Lander, Jackson, Thermopolis, Evanston |
| Montana | Missoula, Bozeman, Helena | |
| Idaho | Boise, Nampa, Lewiston | |
| 12-14.5 | Wyoming | Cheyenne, Laramie |
| South Dakota | Pierre, Sioux Falls | |
| North Dakota | Fargo | |
| Montana | Billings, Great Falls | |
| Idaho | Pocatello, Idaho Falls | |
| 14.5+ | Wyoming | Casper |
| South Dakota | Rapid City, Aberdeen | |
| North Dakota | Grand Forks, Bismarck |





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