<p>How severe are they? And how do they compare to Chicago winters?</p>
<p>Well, the last two winters we had were some of the most severe we’ve had in recorded history, but they’re usually not terrible from what I understand. (Chicago is worse!)</p>
<p>I think it depends on where you come from. I’m a girl who lives in a desert climate and I get cold whenever the temperature drops below 60 F. I am positive the winters will seem brutal to me, but if you’re from Chicago or used to that type of climate, I’ve been told Philly winters aren’t so bad.</p>
<p>In general, Chicago winters are significantly worse than Philly winters. Chicago has frequent “lake-effect” snowstorms, and they don’t call it “The Windy City” for nothin’! :)</p>
<p>As wayward_trojan points out, this past winter was one of the–if not THE–worst winters in Philly’s recorded history in terms of volume of snow. But normally, Philly has significantly less snow–and WIND!–than Chicago, and its winter temperatures are generally somehwat higher than Chicago’s.</p>
<p>^true, but walking through the wind tunnel that is the superblock sure feels like Chicago in January!</p>
<p>Haha, awesome, because I hate Chicago weather.</p>
<p>Which is good, because my other option outside of Penn is UChicago.</p>
<p>I live a little outside of Philly. The biggest downfall to the weather is the rain, wind, and most of all HUMIDITY.
Besides that, there is usually one big snowstorm a winter, and every once in a while there are bad winters (none as bad as this one though). And if you have allergies, springtime is going to suck though this is probably universal.</p>
<p>^ The humidity is bad only in the summer, and not during the school year–unless you go to summer school! :)</p>
<p>Philadelphia is located in the humid sub-tropical zone, which means it has, on average, hot and humid summers, pleasant but erratic springs and falls, and generally mild winters (compared to areas of similar latitude across the country).</p>
<p>In the summertime, it is typically pretty humid with high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s. It rains about once a week, and there are frequent thunderstorms.</p>
<p>During the fall, the weather usually moderates quite nicely, but there will be periods when there is a sudden drop in temperature (i.e. 70 as a high one day to 60 the next). Later in the fall, when the winter weather pattern begins, we will begin to see nor’easters.</p>
<p>In a normal, non-el-Nino and moderately negative NAO winter, we will see one “big” snowstorm of 6-10 inches, and for the other nor’easters we will be right on the border between rain and snow. The Atlantic Ocean insulates us very well, as nor’easters usually hug the coast and bring with them warmer ocean air, which gives us snow to start, followed by a changeover to rain as the storm progresses.</p>
<p>This winter was exceptional and was BY FAR the snowiest winter on record. At no other time in recorded history in Philadelphia has there been a winter with more than one storm of 15" or more; this winter we had three. Around Penn there is an incredible amount of wind, but honestly, you will get used to it.</p>
<p>Springtime is gorgeous, but the temperature is erratic. For example, it was 90° on Wednesday with a low temperature of 61°. Yesterday the high temperature was 60° or so… this is rather typical. But with that said the spring time is usually pretty dry and generally pleasant.</p>
<p>^dude you described it perfectly
I’ve lived near philly all my life, so I’m used to the ridiculous erratic (and short) springs/falls, but didn’t know there was a climate zone for that ;)</p>
<p>I completely forgot Penn ends in early May, still on high school schedules haha.</p>
<p>chicago’s winters definitely rapes philadelphia’s</p>
<p>Let’s put it this way… this year was the first time in one of my prof’s 20 years at Penn that there was a snow day.</p>
<p>Lots of gray. Cold and gray. Rainy and gray. Usually not as much snow as this past year, which was exceptional. But very cold rain. Did I mention gray???</p>
<p>You make it sound as if the rest of the East Coast isn’t like that. Philly is usually milder in Winter than other East Coast cities but isn’t especially more depressing.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s any more depressing than Boston, but perhaps a little more so than DC.
I agree that winter is pretty awful throughout the northeast and lower midwest. At least there is a little more sun along with the multi-feet of snow in the upper midwest.</p>