Yes, It’s Colder Here, Dear

Oct 21, 2011; 4:35 PM ET

I’ve talked before about why Pennsylvania is much cloudier and windier than my home state of North Carolina. But recently, in trying to convince my girlfriend that “it’s a lot colder up here in State College” than what she’s used to in York, Pennsylvania, I of course turned to AccuWeather.com’s “Past Months” section. Here I found that the average high and low in the dead of winter (mid-January) are about 34/20 compared to York’s 40/22. At first glance, that doesn’t sound too different, and the cities are only 80 miles away, but it’s what about 800 feet of elevation and a slightly northward jaunt, closer to the jet stream, will do.

Since I wasn’t painting the picture of extreme weather here that I wanted to, I decided to look at the last 24 hours of observations on AccuWeather.com Premium. One thing I know in State College is that it’s always windy here, owing to being in a valley on the edge of the mountains. Now we’re talking — check out the RealFeel^TM temperature (solid lines – takes wind into account). It was 20 degrees lower yesterday afternoon when a weather system was moving through, and even today, when temperatures are uniform over the Northeast, the way it “feels” in State College is 10 degrees below York.

That, my dear, is what you can come to expect here this winter