New survey reveals what temperature is too hot to enjoy in the lower 48 states
WEATHER.COM -- The threshold at which temperatures are too hot to enjoy varies from 85 degrees to 100 degrees in the Lower 48 states, according to a new Forecast Factor survey of weather.com users.
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About 68 percent of those surveyed associated a temperature between 85 and 95 degrees as too hot to enjoy, with 90 degrees being the tipping point for about 22 percent of the people. Either side of that range, 5 percent said a temperature between 70 and 79 degrees was too hot while 2 percent said they could handle the heat until it was about 101-105 degrees.
As you might expect, most states in northern climates had a lower threshold for summer's heat than states in the South.
"It turns out the answer to the question 'how hot is too hot for you?' is dependent not so much on who you are, but where you live. The effect of weather on all us, as in politics, is all local," said Paul Walsh of The Weather Channel, who is a major contributor to the Forecast Factor.
Arizona and Nevada tied for the highest median temperature, both coming in at 100 degrees. The lowest median temeperature by state was 85 degrees in Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington, Vermont, Rhode Island, Idaho and South Dakota.
Below is a state-by-state list of the temperature threshold for what was considered too hot in the Lower 48 states, according to the survey results:
100 degrees: Arizona, Nevada
95 degrees: Texas, Arkansas, Utah
93 degrees: Mississippi, North Dakota
90 degrees: Florida, Illinois, Virginia, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Maryland, Connecticut, South Carolina, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Alabama, Delaware, Oregon, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico
89 degrees: Pennsylvania, Wyoming
88 degrees: New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado, New Hampshire, Maine
87 degrees: New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana
85 degrees: Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington, Vermont, Rhode Island, Idaho, South Dakota
Regionally, the trigger point for what was considered too hot varied from 94 degrees in the Southwest to 85 degrees in the Upper Midwest.
On a local level, the Phoenix metro area had the highest threshold at 103 degrees, while Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, had the lowest with 85 degrees being the median.
The data for this survey was collected from weather.com users May 27-June 9, 2015. No statistically significant differences were found in the survey results for gender or age.
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