It's January! Welcome to the month when conversations are limited to two topics: everyone's new diet and how unbelievably cold it is outside.
Since I've never been a fan of talking about how you're giving up carbs for 30 days, that leaves me with the weather. And thanks to two guys who write for the website Thrillist — Kevin Alexander and Matt Lynch — we have plenty to discuss. Earlier this week the two sat down to find an answer to the season's greatest question: Which state deserves the title of "the state with the worst winter"?
They based their rankings off of everything from obvious factors like weather patterns and average temperatures, to nitty-gritty details like how effectively each state's department of transportation can quickly clear highways and hilarious things like "the historical success rates of their winter-season sports teams."
So which state "won" the honor of being the worst place to spend winter? Sorry, Minnesota. This is the only time that being #1 is really not that great. Alexander and Lynch bestowed the title of the most miserable winter in America on the Land of 10,000 Lakes due these factors:
How can you remain so upbeat when you get all the winter weather patterns? Alberta clippers? Sure. Panhandle hooks? You betcha! Parts of northern Minnesota see up to 170 inches of snow in a winter. One hundred seventy inches! That's like two and a half times the height of Kent Hrbek!! It can get down to -60 degrees, a temperature at which frostbite can occur in fewer than five minutes. Your sports teams never win championships. All of your good high school hockey players end up starring for NHL teams in other cities. Ice fishing can't be that cool, really.
Brutal, right? They didn't hold back with the rest of the top 10 states — listed below — either.
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Alaska
- North Dakota
- Maine
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
- Idaho
- Montana
- Massachusetts
Tip: You can also use their top 10 as a cheat sheet of places to avoid between November and April, if you're smart (and um, don't already live there).
Read the full story to see how the rest of the 50 states stacked up against each other this winter.
