Let's Discuss Cities In Terms Of "Cool." OK, I Realize This Forum

[S de Garmeaux]

Parts of the South get cold in the fall/winter time. I was in the upper South during winter break 2 months ago and it snowed a couple of times and was as cold as the upper Midwest for 2 weeks. (Unusual winter supposedly, but still) I went again 2 weeks ago and it was still cold, about the same temps as the Upper Midwest. LA on the other hand is hot (80*+) year round it seems and the continuous humidity seems to go with it. (In fact LA is right now 30 degrees hotter than the place I was in in the South.) Parts of the South do get more humid than LA during the spring/summer time, but LA is more humid than the parts that actually cool down the rest of the year.

LA is not 80+ year round., usually just July/August. closer to 70 Spring/Fall. 60's in the Winter. I dislike LA too, but you're bashing it for all the wrong reasons. Also, it is 20 degrees hotter in parts of LA than in other parts, its a big place holmes.

[Fark-o-vision]

Parts of the South get cold in the fall/winter time. I was in the upper South during winter break 2 months ago and it snowed a couple of times and was as cold as the upper Midwest for 2 weeks. (Unusual winter supposedly, but still) I went again 2 weeks ago and it was still cold, about the same temps as the Upper Midwest. LA on the other hand is hot (80*+) year round it seems and the continuous humidity seems to go with it. (In fact LA is right now 30 degrees hotter than the place I was in in the South.) Parts of the South do get more humid than LA during the spring/summer time, but LA is more humid than the parts that actually cool down the rest of the year.

LA is not 80+ year round. July/August. closer to 70 Spring/Fall. 60's in the Winter. I dislike LA too, but you're bashing it for all the wrong reasons.

Shenanigans. LA is 80+ all year? Absolutely not. And I still don't get this humidity thing. Do you know what humidity is? LA might have a little coming off the ocean, but it burns up very, very quickly. I spent a month in Little Rock about six years ago. It felt like a Sauna. For humidity, every location in the south, most of the Southwest and the Midwest were all more humid during the summer than LA.

[fortissimo]

Parts of the South get cold in the fall/winter time. I was in the upper South during winter break 2 months ago and it snowed a couple of times and was as cold as the upper Midwest for 2 weeks. (Unusual winter supposedly, but still) I went again 2 weeks ago and it was still cold, about the same temps as the Upper Midwest. LA on the other hand is hot (80*+) year round it seems and the continuous humidity seems to go with it. (In fact LA is right now 30 degrees hotter than the place I was in in the South.) Parts of the South do get more humid than LA during the spring/summer time, but LA is more humid than the parts that actually cool down the rest of the year.

LA is not 80+ year round. July/August. closer to 70 Spring/Fall. 60's in the Winter. I dislike LA too, but you're bashing it for all the wrong reasons.

I know. It's about 80* right now though...just using that as an example to gauge how fucking hot it is there even in the winter time because someone compared it with the South. The upper South cools down, LA doesn't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles

65-80..all the same shit to me.

[fortissimo]

And I still don't get this humidity thing. Do you know what humidity is? LA might have a little coming off the ocean, but it burns up very, very quickly. I spent a month in Little Rock about six years ago. It felt like a Sauna. For humidity, every location in the south, most of the Southwest and the Midwest were all more humid during the summer than LA.

I live in the Midwest right now and I have lived in the Southwest too. The Midwest rarely gets humid, maybe on "off" days when we get 80+ degrees in the summer. (One 80*+ week was unbearable this past summer, but that was about it.) As for the Southwest, w-t-f? You mean the DESERT states? The desert isn't humid. It gets really hot in Phoenix, but it's dry as hell. Same with Vegas.

(As for Vegas, it's an alright city. The strip can get annoying, but there are nearby places like Henderson that are really nice places to live.)

[S de Garmeaux]

65-80..all the same shit to me.

lol ok, i guess above 65 degrees=uncool then.

[Rawlsian]

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Austin. +1 to Chicago, and throw Nashville in there as well.

[Vegas_Rebel]

I live in the Midwest right now and I have lived in the Southwest too. The Midwest rarely gets humid, maybe on "off" days when we get 80+ degrees in the summer. (One 80*+ week was unbearable this past summer, but that was about it.) As for the Southwest, w-t-f? You mean the DESERT states? The desert isn't humid. It gets really hot in Phoenix, but it's dry as hell. Same with Vegas.

(As for Vegas, it's an alright city. The strip can get annoying, but there are nearby places like Henderson that are really nice places to live.)

Tempe gets monsoons, doesn't it? I remember visiting ASU as a contender for my undergrad, and it was about 100 degrees and 90% humid. God-awful.

Henderson is all right, though Summerlin is more Vegas-proper and nicer than anywhere in Henderson.

[beef wellington]

And I still don't get this humidity thing. Do you know what humidity is? LA might have a little coming off the ocean, but it burns up very, very quickly. I spent a month in Little Rock about six years ago. It felt like a Sauna. For humidity, every location in the south, most of the Southwest and the Midwest were all more humid during the summer than LA.

I live in the Midwest right now and I have lived in the Southwest too. The Midwest rarely gets humid, maybe on "off" days when we get 80+ degrees in the summer. (One 80*+ week was unbearable this past summer, but that was about it.) As for the Southwest, w-t-f? You mean the DESERT states? The desert isn't humid. It gets really hot in Phoenix, but it's dry as hell. Same with Vegas.

(As for Vegas, it's an alright city. The strip can get annoying, but there are nearby places like Henderson that are really nice places to live.)

The bolded is just crazy. I lived in Missouri for three years and the summers are unbearably humid.

Haven't been following this argument, but California is not humid, if you're on the coast you've got a breeze and if you're inland it's a dry heat.

[fortissimo]

And I still don't get this humidity thing. Do you know what humidity is? LA might have a little coming off the ocean, but it burns up very, very quickly. I spent a month in Little Rock about six years ago. It felt like a Sauna. For humidity, every location in the south, most of the Southwest and the Midwest were all more humid during the summer than LA.

I live in the Midwest right now and I have lived in the Southwest too. The Midwest rarely gets humid, maybe on "off" days when we get 80+ degrees in the summer. (One 80*+ week was unbearable this past summer, but that was about it.) As for the Southwest, w-t-f? You mean the DESERT states? The desert isn't humid. It gets really hot in Phoenix, but it's dry as hell. Same with Vegas.

(As for Vegas, it's an alright city. The strip can get annoying, but there are nearby places like Henderson that are really nice places to live.)

The bolded is just crazy. I lived in Missouri for three years and the summers are unbearably humid.

Haven't been following this argument, but California is not humid, if you're on the coast you've got a breeze and if you're inland it's a dry heat.

Upper Midwest, obviously.

Nor Cal =/= So Cal.

Out of all the regions I've lived in, the Southwest is by far the driest place because it's a fucking desert. Seriously, people.

[AdmiralNelson]

Cool depends on the criteria.

Lived in LA area for 18 years. Not uptight fashion-wise or inspiring downtown-wise like some of the Northeast, but for my money, one of the most therapeutic environments. If you enjoy going to the beach, cracking open a beer and sitting around a bonfire in shorts and sandals at 9pm at night you can't beat the SoCal coast. Year-round jogging, golfing, pickup sports etc. No jackets required unless you're a wimp. Can't beat it.

If you're into fashion, hipster culture, gloomy weather, Irish pub, hustle and bustle, etc... then New York or Boston are way "cooler".

But when December, final exams, and blizzards and Noreasters start rolling around, keep in mind all those law students in SoCal studying together out on the grass in 70 degree weather and a nice ocean breeze. Quite a tradeoff.

[Fark-o-vision]

And I still don't get this humidity thing. Do you know what humidity is? LA might have a little coming off the ocean, but it burns up very, very quickly. I spent a month in Little Rock about six years ago. It felt like a Sauna. For humidity, every location in the south, most of the Southwest and the Midwest were all more humid during the summer than LA.

I live in the Midwest right now and I have lived in the Southwest too. The Midwest rarely gets humid, maybe on "off" days when we get 80+ degrees in the summer. (One 80*+ week was unbearable this past summer, but that was about it.) As for the Southwest, w-t-f? You mean the DESERT states? The desert isn't humid. It gets really hot in Phoenix, but it's dry as hell. Same with Vegas.

(As for Vegas, it's an alright city. The strip can get annoying, but there are nearby places like Henderson that are really nice places to live.)

The bolded is just crazy. I lived in Missouri for three years and the summers are unbearably humid.

Haven't been following this argument, but California is not humid, if you're on the coast you've got a breeze and if you're inland it's a dry heat.

Upper Midwest, obviously.

Nor Cal =/= So Cal.

Out of all the regions I've lived in, the Southwest is by far the driest place because it's a fucking desert. Seriously, people.

Shenanigans again. The Southwest is by far the driest most of the year. But when it really counts, like July and August, Monsoons roll in and wreck weeks at a time. I'll grant that it isn't constant. Just almost. And the heat is even more oppressive. Phoenix, Tempe, Tucson, Las Cruces, all of these are incredibly humid 75% of the hottest two calendar months.

[ccs224]

Meh, if the San Juans count for Seattle then the Oregon Coast counts for Portland. I do love me some NW WA, born and raised, it really is one of the best places in the world. Just wouldn't want to live in Seattle proper (or Everett, Tacoma, or Bellevue, all of which are even worse; Portland on the other hand has some nice burbs--Clackamas County and Oregon City come to mind).

I'll give Portland the coast - I've spent longer times commuting from Brooklyn to the Bronx than it takes to get from Portland to the coast or Seattle to Anacortes, so I think both are valid assets to the cities. But, Oregon's, while really beautiful, always surprises me by how windy and cold it is.

Should have mentioned earlier though, that Portland certainly beats Seattle for mass transit and bike-friendly culture.

[Hilger]

Live in the LA suburbs; anyone that says it's humid either doesn't know what humidity is or has never been to LA. Really, it's dry as fuck out here. The heat is a legitimate concern, but it really depends where exactly in LA you are. I live about a half an hour inland, and some of the summer days can be fucking awful. I'm talking the days when it's 100+ degree weather (too fucking often). Nearer the coast, however, it's a lot better.

As to whether or not LA is cool, it sort of depends on your personal definition of cool. LA might be cool in the relaxed, laid-back, have-a-good-time sense of the word, but it really isn't cool in the culturally trend-setting, on-the-cutting-edge sense that a place like maybe NYC is.

Also, our hipster cred is pretty low if you're into that kind of thing.

[AdmiralNelson]

Live in the LA suburbs; anyone that says it's humid either doesn't know what humidity is or has never been to LA. Really, it's dry as fuck out here. The heat is a legitimate concern, but it really depends where exactly in LA you are. I live about a half an hour inland, and some of the summer days can be fucking awful. I'm talking the days when it's 100+ degree weather (too fucking often). Nearer the coast, however, it's a lot better.

As to whether or not LA is cool, it sort of depends on your personal definition of cool. LA might be cool in the relaxed, laid-back, have-a-good-time sense of the word, but it really isn't cool in the culturally trend-setting, on-the-cutting-edge sense that a place like maybe NYC is.

Also, our hipster cred is pretty low if you're into that kind of thing.

Agreed from a native Southern Californian. It is DRY. We don't have a humid season. We don't have monsoons. We have droughts and wildfires and mudslides when it rains (because dry, loose topsoil struggles to absorb water). Now if you live right on the ocean then yes, you may get a marine layer until approximately noon on most days. But no humidity for the majority of us. I moved to Boston five years ago and learned what "oppressive heat" was. Certainly not as "scorching" as SoCal, but just unbearably sticky, swampy, and gross 24 hours a day.

[fortissimo]

Shenanigans again. The Southwest is by far the driest most of the year. But when it really counts, like July and August, Monsoons roll in and wreck weeks at a time. I'll grant that it isn't constant. Just almost. And the heat is even more oppressive. Phoenix, Tempe, Tucson, Las Cruces, all of these are incredibly humid 75% of the hottest two calendar months.

It's interesting that 3 out of the 4 cities you named are in Arizona. Arizona is different to other SW states as it's the only state in the SW that really gets affected by monsoons. When you said "most of the SW is more humid," it's wrong. The SW includes NV, AZ, NM, UT, and CO. (Some of these states some may consider to be part of the Mountain region, but whatever.) I lived in two of those, and it is very dry in both states. No "monsoon" shit. I needed to use lotion everyday because the skin on my hands would crack and I tended to get major "lip peel" damage due to the dry air. It gets hot in Vegas, for example, during the summer, but not humid. I spent more money buying lotion (not perving) living in the SW region than I ever have elsewhere.

But anyway, humidity in the Upper Midwest is about the same as it is in Nor Cal most of the time (except for maybe one week during the summer). The Upper Midwest does get more extreme weather though (either hotter or colder depending on the season), but it gets much, much greener here in the spring/summer (and in the Pacific Northwest too) than it does in California. Maybe I'm basing my "humid" experience off a few bad trips to LA (I haven't lived in LA, but I have a lot of family that do and I visit them) but the weather was nasty when I went. Then again, I also tend to associate bad thoughts with hot weather and for some reason the hot weather in LA just felt grosser than the hot weather in places like Vegas, where it's really dry.

[ccs224]

Jesus Christ, is this conversation still going on?

Here it is people, straight numbers: http://ggweather.com/ccd/avgrh.htm

[fortissimo]

Jesus Christ, is this conversation still going on?

Here it is people, straight numbers: http://ggweather.com/ccd/avgrh.htm

not to beat the dead horse into a bloody pulp but
keep in mind that those numbers are useless without taking it into context of temp too.

Hot + dry >>>>>>>>>> hot + humid. Humidity seems to add about 20 degrees.

but seriously, "most" of the SW is much, much drier year round than LA because it is a fucking desert. And because parts of Arizona =/= "most" of the SW.

[daesonesb]

I'm still wondering how discussing cities in terms of "cool" has anything to do with the weather.

The fact that you end up talking so intensely about the weather is pretty solid proof you're not a good judge of cool.

Scottsdale AZ is hot year round, and it's quite possibly the least cool place on Earth.

[fortissimo]

I'm still wondering how discussing cities in terms of "cool" has anything to do with the weather.

The fact that you end up talking so intensely about the weather is pretty solid proof you're not a good judge of cool.

Scottsdale AZ is hot year round, and it's quite possibly the least cool place on Earth.

true, most people who use internet forums are probably a poor judge of cool...so this is a pretty pointless thread.

[Kchuck]

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Austin. +1 to Chicago, and throw Nashville in there as well.

I'm shocked that you did not read the first page of the thread.

[daesonesb]

I'm still wondering how discussing cities in terms of "cool" has anything to do with the weather.

The fact that you end up talking so intensely about the weather is pretty solid proof you're not a good judge of cool.

Scottsdale AZ is hot year round, and it's quite possibly the least cool place on Earth.

true, most people who use internet forums are probably a poor judge of cool...so this is a pretty pointless thread.

lol +1

It's not cool to +1 either though, is it?

[fortissimo]

I'm still wondering how discussing cities in terms of "cool" has anything to do with the weather.

The fact that you end up talking so intensely about the weather is pretty solid proof you're not a good judge of cool.

Scottsdale AZ is hot year round, and it's quite possibly the least cool place on Earth.

true, most people who use internet forums are probably a poor judge of cool...so this is a pretty pointless thread.

lol +1

It's not cool to +1 either though, is it?

probably not ...at least it's not l33tsp34k lulz

[ccs224]

but seriously, "most" of the SW is much, much drier year round than LA because it is a fucking desert. And because parts of Arizona =/= "most" of the SW.

Really? When I think of New Orleans, Miami or St. Louis, I think swamp. When I think LA, I think desert. I've never experienced any significant humidity in my few visits to LA; NYC seems significantly more humid from my experience.

[sch6les]

.

[things fall apart]

Whoever said Minneapolis is clowning.

Not too be stereotypical(and outside of weather), when you say city, there are not many choices to choose from in the first place. I consider a city to be a place where you can get around quite alright without a car. Though this would nearly knock LA out of the picture, the list is something like this:

New York
San Fran
Chicago
Seattle
LA

and thats pretty much it. I know those are the lock-stock answers, but its a sad reality of the migration of people and the suburban effect. If you consider Boston, Austin, anywhere in North Carolina, Nashville to be cool, then you are sadly, SADLY mistaken.

In the 5 cities above you can live the: upper class yuppie, broke college student, dirty hipster, regular working joe, struggling artist, fratastic bro lifestyle all pretty equally. You can also live autonomously, meaning if you want to enjoy yourself you can do it well no matter what your lifestyle is. These places have great nightlife, great artistry, they are aestethically pleasing and for the most part have no resemblance of a suburb.
I can speak of NY, Chicago, and San Fran near first hand on these accounts, with second hand knowledge of Seattle and LA.

I skipped past the front page so idk if this has devolved into another lame weather thread(which is all most people on TLS have to talk about when they discuss parts of the country they have no experience here)