I'm posting from Finland and would like to someday experience winter in the US and I am wondering how similar it would be.
28 comments
It varies a lot based on state and factors like the “lake effect,” which produces more snow in some regions.
We get approximately 2 meters of snow in an average year in my area.
I’ve been to Minnesota in the winter before. The snow was knee-deep, and you could drive across the frozen lakes
“The Northern US” is a very, very large area. You could be talking about upstate Michigan, Western New York, or Maine.
Snow is very random. One year we got over 115 inches of snow. The next year we got 40. Last year we got 10.
We get 2.48 meters of snow, per year, on average.
It depends where you’re at. I grew up in North Dakota. We didn’t get as much snow as some places, but it’s bitter cold and often windy in January and February. If you get around the Great Lakes, they get an enormous amount of snow. I’m sure you have similar differences in Finland.
In Washington, we get slushy, yucky snow that comes and melts again in November. December is typically dry. January is when it starts to get super cold (below zero F) and then we tend to get several feet of snow in February as it starts to warm up. The snow is usually done melting by march
Winters are getting more mild in NY. NYC hardly gets any snow, and the Capital Region and Hudson Valley gets snow, then it melts, then more snow, then it melts, etc. central, Western, and the Adirondacks/North Country still get some brutal winters though.
Winter varies greatly in the US from probably warmer than your summers to pretty close to what you are accustomed to in Finland (very cold, a lot of snow), depending on where you are. You need to be more specific about what you’d like to experience.
Northwest is pretty mild and wet. Northeast gets heavy snow. The two mountain ranges (Appalachia in the east and the Rockies in the west) get hella snow.
But the northern Midwest… that’s where the temperatures get lowest and the snow gets deepest. Minnesota, the Dakotas, and around the Great Lakes can be truly brutal.
It varies *wildly*, even within states. Some of the more west Midwestern states like North Dakota have truly miserable winters.
Here in Michigan, I actually don’t think our winters are that bad, at least in the Lower Peninsula, but compared Virgina or Maryland, they’d probably seem pretty rough. West Michigan gets a lot more snow than the east side, but the east side is typically a bit colder.
Where I live, we usually get somewhere between 80-90 inches of snow each year.
this is highly variable depending on where you are. Vermont winter vs Michigan upper peninsula winter vs north dakota vs idaho vs washington are all totally different!
Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan got 20” (.508) meter on Wednesday night Thursday morning. The Gaylord area also got 98” last year(2.6 M).
Currently in Fairbanks, AK. So I think it’s the exact same as Finland actually lol
I grew up in Minnesota. In January the average low temp is 9F (-12C). Average snowfall in the city where I grew up is about 1.5 meters annually. There’s good reason that area was mostly settled by Scandinavians and everyone else stayed away.
I lived in New England for about 10 years. I believe the winter weather there was pretty comparable to the winter weather in Scandinavia. I used to look it up to compare, for reasons that don’t really matter here.
Western Washington. We get a lot of rain or rain drizzle days. Most days the temperature stays above freezing, but sometimes it will freeze overnight. We usually have a brief snow once or twice in February. Some years not at all. Frequently just an inch and it’s gone by the afternoon. Now and then, it’s more and lasts longer.
I live in Northern New England, Maine, and we get a good amount. 60-80” is probably average. Some areas less, some more, of course. I’ve only seen a light dusting of snow so far this season though.
Month per month, Wisconsin averages colder winters, but also averages 5-6 inches less snowfall per year.
And that’s averages, so some parts vary more than others.
But generally, comparable. Maybe even more extreme in some ways. Northern Illinois is similar, as is all of Minnesota (but colder), as is the northern plains states, and probably the entire great lakes region.
Generally, thr Northern states are wintery, with maybe less snow. Maybe.
Minnesota is most closely equated to the area around and north of Moscow.
Maine would resemble Finland in some ways, though you have to go up into Northern Quebec or Newfoundland in Canada to really match Lapland.
West coast (like Vancouver BC and Seattle) are closer to Ireland/Scotland… like Edinburgh or Glasgow. Or maybe Copenhaagen.
A city like Pittsburgh is going to have weather comparable to Berlin.
Southern California matches Portugal pretty well, at least at the coast.
Northern US is a big piece of territory across an entire continent
New England isn’t going to be Minnesota which isn’t going to be Washington
I made the mistake of going to Michigan in February.
It was 0°F and snow is frozen mud from hell designed to make life miserable.
If it gets more wintery than that I don’t want to know about it and we should work together as a species to bring heat to these frozen wastelands.
I recommend propane porch heaters in a grid pattern.
You gotta be more specific because winter will vary widely depending on what part of the country you’re in
The “Northern US” stretches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. It’s a huge area. Where I grew up in New England we get about 26 inches of snow and most days are above freezing
A lot less than it used to be in New England. We used to get a lot of snow, but the last few years there’s been very little. It still gets cold, but we don’t see temperatures below 20 degrees like we used to.
My husband is from Finland, and we live in NY. It’s roughly comparable to Helsinki where we live in the Finger Lakes- our January might be colder some years.
But go an hour north, or 2 hours west, and it can be considerably worse. Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Tug Hill plateau can get storms that bring a meter of lake effect snow or more. It’s a true natural disaster when the storms hit. We handle it, but it’s a rough few days.
Based on the anwsers that I have gotte thus far I see now that my European brain has completely failed to understand the sheer size and magnitude of the US.
I looked up your average winter temperatures –you’re a bit warmer than some northern states, and a bit colder than others. There’s the midwestern lake effect dumping tons of snow, but also far north states like Maine or Northern Minnesota. But you do have more dark, which can make the cold feel colder. American states tend to get more snow than you do. But your winters last longer.
28 comments
It varies a lot based on state and factors like the “lake effect,” which produces more snow in some regions.
We get approximately 2 meters of snow in an average year in my area.
I’ve been to Minnesota in the winter before. The snow was knee-deep, and you could drive across the frozen lakes
“The Northern US” is a very, very large area. You could be talking about upstate Michigan, Western New York, or Maine.
Snow is very random. One year we got over 115 inches of snow. The next year we got 40. Last year we got 10.
We get 2.48 meters of snow, per year, on average.
It depends where you’re at. I grew up in North Dakota. We didn’t get as much snow as some places, but it’s bitter cold and often windy in January and February. If you get around the Great Lakes, they get an enormous amount of snow. I’m sure you have similar differences in Finland.
In Washington, we get slushy, yucky snow that comes and melts again in November. December is typically dry. January is when it starts to get super cold (below zero F) and then we tend to get several feet of snow in February as it starts to warm up. The snow is usually done melting by march
Winters are getting more mild in NY. NYC hardly gets any snow, and the Capital Region and Hudson Valley gets snow, then it melts, then more snow, then it melts, etc. central, Western, and the Adirondacks/North Country still get some brutal winters though.
Winter varies greatly in the US from probably warmer than your summers to pretty close to what you are accustomed to in Finland (very cold, a lot of snow), depending on where you are. You need to be more specific about what you’d like to experience.
Northwest is pretty mild and wet. Northeast gets heavy snow. The two mountain ranges (Appalachia in the east and the Rockies in the west) get hella snow.
But the northern Midwest… that’s where the temperatures get lowest and the snow gets deepest. Minnesota, the Dakotas, and around the Great Lakes can be truly brutal.
It varies *wildly*, even within states. Some of the more west Midwestern states like North Dakota have truly miserable winters.
Here in Michigan, I actually don’t think our winters are that bad, at least in the Lower Peninsula, but compared Virgina or Maryland, they’d probably seem pretty rough. West Michigan gets a lot more snow than the east side, but the east side is typically a bit colder.
Where I live, we usually get somewhere between 80-90 inches of snow each year.
this is highly variable depending on where you are. Vermont winter vs Michigan upper peninsula winter vs north dakota vs idaho vs washington are all totally different!
Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan got 20” (.508) meter on Wednesday night Thursday morning. The Gaylord area also got 98” last year(2.6 M).
Currently in Fairbanks, AK. So I think it’s the exact same as Finland actually lol
I grew up in Minnesota. In January the average low temp is 9F (-12C). Average snowfall in the city where I grew up is about 1.5 meters annually. There’s good reason that area was mostly settled by Scandinavians and everyone else stayed away.
I lived in New England for about 10 years. I believe the winter weather there was pretty comparable to the winter weather in Scandinavia. I used to look it up to compare, for reasons that don’t really matter here.
Western Washington. We get a lot of rain or rain drizzle days. Most days the temperature stays above freezing, but sometimes it will freeze overnight. We usually have a brief snow once or twice in February. Some years not at all. Frequently just an inch and it’s gone by the afternoon. Now and then, it’s more and lasts longer.
I live in Northern New England, Maine, and we get a good amount. 60-80” is probably average. Some areas less, some more, of course. I’ve only seen a light dusting of snow so far this season though.
Month per month, Wisconsin averages colder winters, but also averages 5-6 inches less snowfall per year.
And that’s averages, so some parts vary more than others.
But generally, comparable. Maybe even more extreme in some ways. Northern Illinois is similar, as is all of Minnesota (but colder), as is the northern plains states, and probably the entire great lakes region.
Generally, thr Northern states are wintery, with maybe less snow. Maybe.
Minnesota is most closely equated to the area around and north of Moscow.
Maine would resemble Finland in some ways, though you have to go up into Northern Quebec or Newfoundland in Canada to really match Lapland.
West coast (like Vancouver BC and Seattle) are closer to Ireland/Scotland… like Edinburgh or Glasgow. Or maybe Copenhaagen.
A city like Pittsburgh is going to have weather comparable to Berlin.
Southern California matches Portugal pretty well, at least at the coast.
Northern US is a big piece of territory across an entire continent
New England isn’t going to be Minnesota which isn’t going to be Washington
I made the mistake of going to Michigan in February.
It was 0°F and snow is frozen mud from hell designed to make life miserable.
If it gets more wintery than that I don’t want to know about it and we should work together as a species to bring heat to these frozen wastelands.
I recommend propane porch heaters in a grid pattern.
You gotta be more specific because winter will vary widely depending on what part of the country you’re in
The “Northern US” stretches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. It’s a huge area. Where I grew up in New England we get about 26 inches of snow and most days are above freezing
A lot less than it used to be in New England. We used to get a lot of snow, but the last few years there’s been very little. It still gets cold, but we don’t see temperatures below 20 degrees like we used to.
My husband is from Finland, and we live in NY. It’s roughly comparable to Helsinki where we live in the Finger Lakes- our January might be colder some years.
But go an hour north, or 2 hours west, and it can be considerably worse. Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Tug Hill plateau can get storms that bring a meter of lake effect snow or more. It’s a true natural disaster when the storms hit. We handle it, but it’s a rough few days.
Based on the anwsers that I have gotte thus far I see now that my European brain has completely failed to understand the sheer size and magnitude of the US.
I looked up your average winter temperatures –you’re a bit warmer than some northern states, and a bit colder than others. There’s the midwestern lake effect dumping tons of snow, but also far north states like Maine or Northern Minnesota. But you do have more dark, which can make the cold feel colder. American states tend to get more snow than you do. But your winters last longer.