Ithaca, NY weather

<p>My son loves Ithaca College which we just visited (July 2010). Everyone says, "He's got to visit in the winter!" My son loves to play in snow (sled, snowball fights, snowboard) as much as he loves to play golf in temperate winter conditions. People say it's not just the snow, but that 'it's so gray!' What's the real scoop on Ithaca weather?</p>

<p>I went there for orientation and in the span of three days it was really cloudy, really hot, and it poured down rain. They say it is Ithacating and its weather can change daily. It can be gray a lot but the area is just beautiful.</p>

<p>Freezing. In the winter, because Ithaca is inland, it’ll get much colder weather than the area by the lakes. And students don’t blink when the snow falls by feet, not centimeters. Don’t expect snow days from classes :)</p>

<p>It’s the kind of weather where layering, good parka, waterproof boots, and warm hat/mittens are essential.</p>

<p>Ithaca is off of Cayuga Lake which makes Ithaca and Cornell get a lot of lake affect snow. Layering is always a great idea. You really do have to love snow and the idea of going to class with a feet of snow outside. Even with this crazy blizzard which came in January/February they didn’t get off for anything.</p>

<p>But upstate NY is extremely gorgeous and scenic in spring and fall! And the winter weather’s not that bad, once you get used to it over time.</p>

<p>Ithaca is around a lake, so it gets a lot of moisture. The first year D1 was in Ithaca, I used to pay attention to weather report:</p>

<p>Sunny with a chance of rain (snow)
Cloudy with a chance of ran (snow)
Rain with a a chance of rain
Snow with a chance of snow</p>

<p>“Mom, I can’t believe it could actually snow side ways.”
“Mom, it was sunny when I walked out of my room, and now it’s a blizzard condition.”</p>

<p>It snowed on a mother’s day once. But it is a beautiful college town. D loves the town and the gorge.</p>

<p>Sillies, Cayuga Lake is way too small to generate meaningful lake effect snow. The lake effect snow in Ithaca is courtesy of Lake Ontario, sometimes Lake Erie.</p>

<p>If you like the outdoors, and you don’t mind winter and snow, Ithaca is great. One of my cousins was a grad student there and we practically had to pry him out, he loved it so much. A friend just retired there a couple years ago in her mid-50s. For years she had been fixing up a farm she bought on the lake.</p>

<p>There isn’t actually that much snow. It really isn’t that bad aside from the greyness. I got though last semester without a winter coat after losing mine right after I got back from winter break.</p>

<p>This past winter Ithaca had more snow than usual but so did the whole northeast. Ithaca is really beautiful, and if your kid loves the outdoors than it is a great place to be.</p>

<p>Average snowfall in Ithaca is 67 inches, vs. 116 inches in Syracuse and 94 inches in Buffalo.</p>

<p>Avg. Temperatures are here:
[Ithaca</a> Weather record and averages on Yahoo! Weather](<a href=“Ashburn, United States - Weather Forecasts | Maps | News - Yahoo Weather”>Ashburn, United States - Weather Forecasts | Maps | News - Yahoo Weather)</p>

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<p>Believe them. Sunny days, esp between october and april, are quite rare. Which makes them that much more special and enjoyable. </p>

<p>I think it depends on where you are coming from. If you are from someplace not known for sunny days, it won’t bother you as much as it would if you were coming from Denver. I grew up there, but having now lived with 300 days of sunshine/year, don’t think I could ever live there again.</p>

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<p>I agree with this, but how weather affects each person can be very different. My husband and I grew up in Delaware and moved to the Finger Lakes area of New York as newlyweds. I never did get used to the length of the winter and we moved after four long winters. I remember it snowing on Easter one year. Another thing I couldn’t get used to was how the snow didn’t melt, the snowbanks just grew and grew. I found it quite depressing around March when winter weather had been around for 6 months and there was no sign of Spring. But if you ask my husband about our time there he won’t even mention the weather!</p>

<p>Expect cold/damp/grey winters. Long ones. That shouldn’t take the school off the list, it just needs to be expected and factored in.</p>

<p>Wow, I haven’t heard that term “Ithacating” in years!!
I agree with “…how weather affects each person can be very different.” I actually liked the rain. .Or at least that’s how I remember it now.</p>

<p>Some more statistics…</p>

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<p>What I remember is :
Fall it was beautiful, though it rained a lot. I loved the feeling of the fresh crisp air in my lungs, and the spectacular foliage.
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Winter it was Northeast temps ie cold, and we got blasted with a few decently big snowfalls. </p>

<p>It seemed a good chunk of the damage occurred when we were on Christmas break though. It started snowing during finals week, and when we got back for spring semester there was lots of snow on the ground. We still got our fair share though, when we got back. Lots of slush on the ground, the whole winter.</p>

<p>Spring was beautiful, though it started late.</p>

<p>Summer is really nice there. Everyone who attends school there should stay over at least one summer.</p>

<p>What I remember now is not the winter (unless someone brings it up), If someone says to me “Ithaca”, unprompted, what I would spontaneously remember is the Fall, a glorious mid-October day, the trees, the gorges, the fresh air. That’s what made the most lasting impression in my mind. Or the summer, swimming in the gorges. Could be we tend to repress less favorable memories, but hey it works.</p>

<p>All in all I agree with #13, for many people anyway. And there is “redeeming value” beyond that, from the other seasons.</p>

<p>It does probably depend on what you’re used to, I grew up in the NYC suburbs and was looking at schools within easy driving distance. Miami was not an alternative.</p>

<p>I bunch of good input and some I consider misleading. The winters are long and it tends to be pretty grey … but similar to most of the lower Northeast (think Mass). Ithaca is at the bottom of the finger lakes and does NOT get the lake affect snow (see Monydad’s post) … the winters are much more like suburban Boston than Syracuse/Buffalo/Rochester … those cities are only 50 miles north but it makes a HUGE difference in the weather (PS - the weather is also similar to metro NY winters but longer; a couple months longer). </p>

<p>If someone hates snow and the cold Ithaca will be a tough place to be … if they like 4 seasons and playing in the snow they will be fine and actually probably love it. (I was an undergrad in Ithaca and a couple of my absolute favorite memories are 1) midnight touch football games during snowstorms and 2) stealing trays from the cafeterias to sled down hills on campus.)</p>

<p>Yes, it will snow, but unlike anywhere near where I live, the roads are cleared/sanded right away and people know how to drive in the snow. A couple of inches of snow is an inconvenience, not the apocalypse it is around here. </p>

<p>We visited Ithaca in December for music auditions and it began snowing while my D was having a lesson with one of the faculty. By the end of the hour, a good 2-3 inches had accumulated and I was really nervous about making it down that steep hill. But we followed the snowplow down, drove v e r y slowly and had no problems at all. The next day, we enjoyed the ice festival on the Commons with ice sculptures, music, hot chocolate etc. </p>

<p>The view of the lake is just as good in the snow, by the way. :)</p>

<p>Ok - you’ve scared me off. Weeks of gray weather - not appealing. Oh well.</p>

<p>I lived in Ithaca for 6 years while my husband was a postdoc at Cornell. It’s an absolutely beautiful place except for the endless grey days, which are very depressing.</p>

<p>Yup - the gray would do me in. We visited Minnesota for a weekend in January - and there was surprisingly little snow. But the entire weekend - it was just gray - we did not see the sun once. Even though we had an unusual amount of snow here in Maryland last winter - we still had plenty of sun - and I think that makes a big difference.</p>

<p>But rockvillemom, Before YOU give up on Ithaca, make your you check with your child. If it was up to me, I would just be looking in the South where it was warm or maybe in the West. My son, OTOH, assures me that weather, good or bad, is not a priority for him. ;)</p>