Accessories by state
What the weather where you live actually means for what you buy. National accessory advice is written from two cities and is quietly wrong nearly everywhere else.
Every figure on these pages is measured, not estimated — five years of daily observations per state, from the Open-Meteo ERA5 archive. We picked the thresholds; the weather picked the differences.
Northeast
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Connecticut
Four genuine seasons and a commute that runs through all of them.
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Maine
A 116-day freeze, 43 inches of snow, and three genuinely hot days a year.
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Massachusetts
A walking city, a hard winter, and 12.8 mph of average wind off the harbour.
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New Hampshire
121 freezing days, 44 inches of snow, and a strong preference for not making a fuss.
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New Jersey
The mildest winter in the Northeast and the most varied set of places to dress for.
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New York
The city most accessory advice is secretly written about — and it still gets the winter wrong.
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Pennsylvania
The warmest summer in the Northeast — 24 days above 90°F — and a genuinely mild freeze.
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Rhode Island
Small, coastal, and wetter than its neighbours — 127 wet days a year.
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Vermont
124 freezing days, 49 inches of snow, and the least sun in the Northeast.
Southeast
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Alabama
39 days above 90°F, 74% summer humidity, and almost no winter to speak of.
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Arkansas
57 days above 90°F and 33 freezing days — a hot state with a real, short winter.
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Delaware
Sixty-nine freezing days, nineteen hot ones, and no sales tax on any of it.
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Florida
Zero freezing days, 197 wet days, and 79% humidity — the hardest state in the country on accessories.
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Georgia
64 inches of rain, 75% humidity, and a city that dresses up more than its weather suggests.
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Kentucky
67 freezing days, 21 hot ones, and one weekend a year that dictates a whole category.
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Louisiana
70 inches of rain, 162 wet days, 79% humidity, and two freezing days a year.
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Maryland
61 inches of rain, a real four-season spread, and the Chesapeake in the middle of it.
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Mississippi
63 days above 90°F — the hottest summer in the Southeast — and 24 freezing days.
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North Carolina
The most balanced climate in the Southeast — and three genuinely different states inside one.
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South Carolina
79% humidity, four freezing days, and 13.5 mph of average wind off the harbour.
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Tennessee
72.5 inches of rain — the wettest state in this data set — and 48 freezing days.
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Virginia
15.5 mph average wind — the windiest state in the Southeast — and only 15 freezing days on the coast.
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West Virginia
140 wet days, 8.5 hours of sun, and the lowest wind in the Southeast.
Midwest
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Illinois
15.9 mph average peak wind — the highest of any state measured here.
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Indiana
The most moderate state in the Midwest — and the one with the least excuse for a specialist wardrobe.
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Iowa
117 freezing days, 11 below 0°F, and only 93 wet days — cold and surprisingly dry.
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Kansas
55 days above 90°F, 75 freezing days, 14.5 mph wind, and 63% humidity — the true continental extreme.
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Michigan
107 freezing days, 27 inches of snow, and 14.3 mph wind coming off the lakes.
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Minnesota
149 freezing days and 23 a year at or below 0°F. The hardest winter in the lower 48.
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Missouri
36 days above 90°F, 86 below freezing, and two of the most different cities in one state.
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Nebraska
117 freezing days, 28 above 90°F, 13.4 mph wind, and 27.5 inches of rain.
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North Dakota
167 freezing days, 29 at or below 0°F, and the driest air in the Midwest.
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Ohio
130 wet days, 8.5 hours of sun, and a winter that is long rather than severe.
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South Dakota
146 freezing days, 74 wet days — the driest state in the Midwest — and 14.5 mph wind.
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Wisconsin
120 freezing days, 35 inches of snow, and Lake Michigan making it worse than the numbers look.
Mountain West
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Colorado
160 freezing days, 48 above 90°F, 45% humidity, and a mile of altitude on top.
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Idaho
62 days above 90°F, 17 above 100°F, 33% humidity — the second driest state here.
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Montana
142 freezing days, 11 below 0°F, 40 above 90°F, and 43% humidity.
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Utah
52 inches of snow, 61 days above 90°F, and 30% humidity — the driest cold in America.
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Wyoming
17.5 mph average peak wind, 157 freezing days, and almost nobody to see it.
Pacific
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Alaska
193 freezing days, 86 inches of snow, and 6.7 hours of daily sun — the hardest climate in the country.
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California
Zero freezing days, 53 above 90°F, 19 inches of rain — and the state most accessory advice assumes.
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Hawaii
11.2 hours of sun a day, 70% humidity, zero days above 90°F, and salt in the air everywhere.
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Oregon
148 wet days, 56 inches of rain, 8.1 hours of sun — and 19 days above 90°F that surprise everyone.
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Washington
147 wet days, 7.8 hours of sun — the least in the lower 48 — and one day a year above 90°F.