How the RealWeatherCheck Comfort Score Is Calculated

Four ingredients, not one temperature

A single "average annual temperature" hides more than it tells a person deciding whether to live somewhere: a place that is 60°F on average could be a mild 55-65°F all year, or a blaze of 95°F summers balanced by 25°F winters. So the comfort score starts from a base of 40 and adds or subtracts four things scored independently: how many months land in a comfortable range, how far the hottest and coldest months are apart, and whether rainfall and snowfall run heavy or light.

Mild months: +5 points each

A month counts as mild when its average temperature falls between 55 and 75°F, a band this site chose as "comfortable without heating or cooling dominating the day," not a NOAA or government standard. Each mild month adds 5 points, up to 60 for a city where all 12 months qualify. Seattle, WA gets 5 of its 12 months in that band, worth +25.

Seasonal swing: up to -20 points

The gap between a city's hottest and coldest average month is penalized 1 point per 3°F, capped at 20. Seattle, WA's hottest month (August, 67.1°F) and coldest (December, 41.8°F) are 25.3°F apart, an 8.4-point penalty, a real but moderate swing next to a continental-climate city where the same gap can run past 50°F.

Rainfall and snowfall: up to -10 points each

Annual precipitation between 20 and 50 inches costs nothing; outside that band, 1 point is deducted per 5 inches over or under, capped at 10, so both a desert and a rainforest climate are penalized for the same reason: extremes in either direction. Snowfall costs 1 point per 8 inches, capped at 10. Seattle, WA's 37.82in of rain sits inside the comfort band (no penalty); its 3.8in of snow costs half a point.

Put together: Denver, CO

Seattle, WA lands at 40 + 25 (mild months) − 8.4 (swing) − 0 (rain) − 0.5 (snow) = 56, "mild with real seasons." The homepage walks the same four lines for Denver, CO, which scores 44, to show the formula on a second, different climate.

This site's own reading, not an official rating

NOAA publishes the underlying normals; it does not publish a "comfort score." The weights above (5 points per mild month, the 3°F and 5in and 8in divisors, the 40-point base) are this site's own choice of how to combine them, documented here rather than left for a reader to reverse-engineer from the numbers alone.

Where to go next

See the range this plays out across: Morro Bay, CA, Delavan, WI, Silverthorne, CO.

Why Some Cities Show No Snow or Rain Figure · What a 30-Year Climate Normal Actually Is