In a given STL winter... (Kansas City, St. Louis: house, live, airport)

[EugeneBKLYN]

How low can one expect the temperature to go? I read somewhere that it goes below 0F a few times a year. Is that right? If so, how far below 0?

Thanks in advance.

[CellarBelle]

I live just 15 miles northeast of St. Louis, and have been here for over 4 years. I can't say I remember it going below 0 since we moved here. The winters can be cold, but nothing drastic. It can get in the teens for several days in the winter, but for the most part it is in the 20s and 30s during the winter. If you go to the weather channels website, you can look up some historical data to see about the temps. I lived in Iowa for a year (Des Moines Area), and it is nothing like their winters.

[Fishtacos]

STL winters are similar to lower Midwest winters. Gets cold but not for long periods, and not as cold as upper-Midwest nor for as long. Chicago is 4 to 4.5 hrs North and has MUCH different weather. St. Louis has 4 equal seasons of all extremes. The Upper-Midwest(Chicago,Iowa, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, Indy) is different and much worse. St. Louis has weather similar to Washington D.C. ...slightly better than NYC in winter, but nothing great. 20's and 30's....but not a lot of the teens and single digits of upper Midwest. If you went further South, 5hrs to Nashville, in lower Midwest, a little better than STL, but a short cool winter. Definitely a MAJOR difference between St. Louis and say Chicago, just 4 to 4.5 hrs North.

[ajf131]

[quote=Fishtacos;951464]STL winters are similar to lower Midwest winters. Gets cold but not for long periods, and not as cold as upper-Midwest nor for as long. Chicago is 4 to 4.5 hrs North and has MUCH different weather. St. Louis has 4 equal seasons of all extremes. The Upper-Midwest(Chicago,Iowa, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, Indy) is different and much worse. St. Louis has weather similar to Washington D.C. ...slightly better than NYC in winter, but nothing great. 20's and 30's....but not a lot of the teens and single digits of upper Midwest. If you went further South, 5hrs to Nashville, in lower Midwest, a little better than STL, but a short cool winter. Definitely a MAJOR difference between St. Louis and say Chicago, just 4

Washington goes through much warmer spells than St. Louis does for much warmer periods because it's closer to the ocean, though the winters yes I agree can be similar. St. Louis' winters are comparable to Indy, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. These five cities all belong in a category together in my opinion. Very similar weather, same culture, similar latitudes. Also Nashville is not the Lower Midwest...it's the Southeast. It does not have anything near to a Lower Midwestern winter. It barely averages above 10 inches of snow. St. Louis has historically averaged about 22.5 inches per year. Chicago's historical average is between 30 and 40 inches. If Chicago is much worse than St. Louis, St. Louis is much worse than Nashville. St. Louis has the ability to climb into single digits and teens easily, and can get anything from a winter with 13 inches of snow to occasionally up to 30 inches. Nashville I'd say is a lot better than STL for winter. St. Louis winters I agree can be random. Some years winters will not be that bad, but others they will be bad. St. Louis definitely has real winters, that is for sure.

[Fishtacos]

[quote=ajf131;951722]

Originally Posted by Fishtacos

STL winters are similar to lower Midwest winters. Gets cold but not for long periods, and not as cold as upper-Midwest nor for as long. Chicago is 4 to 4.5 hrs North and has MUCH different weather. St. Louis has 4 equal seasons of all extremes. The Upper-Midwest(Chicago,Iowa, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, Indy) is different and much worse. St. Louis has weather similar to Washington D.C. ...slightly better than NYC in winter, but nothing great. 20's and 30's....but not a lot of the teens and single digits of upper Midwest. If you went further South, 5hrs to Nashville, in lower Midwest, a little better than STL, but a short cool winter. Definitely a MAJOR difference between St. Louis and say Chicago, just 4

Washington goes through much warmer spells than St. Louis does for much warmer periods because it's closer to the ocean, though the winters yes I agree can be similar. St. Louis' winters are comparable to Indy, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. These five cities all belong in a category together in my opinion. Very similar weather, same culture, similar latitudes. Also Nashville is not the Lower Midwest...it's the Southeast. It does not have anything near to a Lower Midwestern winter. It barely averages above 10 inches of snow. St. Louis has historically averaged about 22.5 inches per year. Chicago's historical average is between 30 and 40 inches. If Chicago is much worse than St. Louis, St. Louis is much worse than Nashville. St. Louis has the ability to climb into single digits and teens easily, and can get anything from a winter with 13 inches of snow to occasionally up to 30 inches. Nashville I'd say is a lot better than STL for winter. St. Louis winters I agree can be random. Some years winters will not be that bad, but others they will be bad. St. Louis definitely has real winters, that is for sure.

Indy is colder than St. Louis. I consider much of Kentucky and Tenn in lower Midwest rather than the Southeast, as do many other people. The weather is warmer, considerably in Nashville than St. Louis, much better Spring.

The topic btw was temperatures, not snowfall. ANY city on ANY of the great lakes will receive MUCH more snowfall than a St. Louis or places not on the Great Lakes.

[GraniteStater]

Well, the lowest temperatures that STL experiences in the winter will depend on your relative location in the metro area. The warmest locations will be in the more urbanized downtown areas with a lot of concrete and buildings. In the more rural areas away from the city the lowest temperatures in the winter will often be much lower than the urbanized areas, especially if there is snow on the ground. St. Charles has an airport that routinely registers temperatures at night that are cooler than Lambert International Airport during any season. The same holds true for other large cities. The colder spots, especially during the winter season, will be on the outskirts and rural areas that are farther removed from the urban core.

[ajf131]

[quote=Fishtacos;954012][quote=ajf131;951722
Indy is colder than St. Louis. I consider much of Kentucky and Tenn in lower Midwest rather than the Southeast, as do many other people. The weather is warmer, considerably in Nashville than St. Louis, much better Spring.

The topic btw was temperatures, not snowfall. ANY city on ANY of the great lakes will receive MUCH more snowfall than a St. Louis or places not on the Great Lakes.[/QUOTE]

Indy isn't on the Great Lakes, not even close And it's not much colder than STL at all....I've monitored temperatures using wunderground.com for these two cities for the past two years...both reach the same lows and there generally is never more than a five degree temperature difference between the two cities if even that. it's nothing compared to say, Chicago. I've observed the temperatures at these two areas for quite some time, there is generally not much of a degree difference between the two, five degrees maybe at most. I know people from both Indy and Columbus and they generally say that St. Louis is not much different from where they are. I have family in Columbus actually...Indy and Columbus have very similar winters to St. Louis, hardly any difference that I've noticed. Nashville doesn't get anything close to a lower Midwestern winter. MUCH less warmer and snowier than STL.

[ajf131]

[quote=Fishtacos;954012]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Indy is colder than St. Louis. I consider much of Kentucky and Tenn in lower Midwest rather than the Southeast, as do many other people. The weather is warmer, considerably in Nashville than St. Louis, much better Spring.

The topic btw was temperatures, not snowfall. ANY city on ANY of the great lakes will receive MUCH more snowfall than a St. Louis or places not on the Great Lakes.

There's nothing midwestern about Kentucky or Tennessee, the northern half of Kentucky may sometimes get some weather similar to the lower Midwest, but that's about the only argument you can make. these two generally have warmer climates than any area of the Midwest year-round. If many people consider Kentucky and Tennessee the lower Midwest, you're one of the first I've met. apart from climate there's no way to argue for these being the lower Midwest.

[bls5555]

I live about 45 minutes out from Downtown and I will say last winter was the coldest I remember in some time (though we only got 1 decent snow where I am, maybe 2 inches), though it was only for about 2 months. I remember I was painting the outside of our house in a T-Shirt and Shorts in December!! Then it got pretty cold in January and February. The cold part of winters here are relatively short.

[GraniteStater]

[quote=ajf131;956831]

Originally Posted by Fishtacos

There's nothing midwestern about Kentucky or Tennessee, the northern half of Kentucky may sometimes get some weather similar to the lower Midwest, but that's about the only argument you can make. these two generally have warmer climates than any area of the Midwest year-round. If many people consider Kentucky and Tennessee the lower Midwest, you're one of the first I've met. apart from climate there's no way to argue for these being the lower Midwest.

St. Louis has extremely mild winters compared with Des Moines, Rochester, Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago.None of those cities are in the Upper Midwest. The length of the winters is much shorter in my opinion than the length of the summers. Between June-September temperatures can routinely get above 90F for the high temperature. However, it is quite uncommon for lows to be below 10F consistently during the winter months. The towns in the Upper Midwest are Marquette, Ironwood, Duluth, Hibbing, Rhinelander, Green Bay, Traverse City, Brainerd, Wausau, Grand Forks, etc. All of those towns are located along and north of a 44N latitude line and all have winters that are much MUCH longer than any city located along and south of 39-40N latitude. Sub-zero low temperatures are common and can occur quite often and for several months at a time even with climate change occuring. The 44-45N deliniation in latitude also is the beginning of the northwoods vegetation zone that characterizes the Upper Midwest. Wausau, Wisconsin has been called the gateway to the northwoods. In the Lower Midwest and Upper South the length of the winters is shorter and the types of pine and spruce trees that are planted do not get anywhere near as tall as the Upper Midwest.