Accessories in Missouri
36 days above 90°F, 86 below freezing, and two of the most different cities in one state.
a real winter — 86 freezing days, 36 genuinely hot days. Measured at Kansas City, 5 years of daily observations.
Missouri runs a full continental swing — thirty-six days above 90°F, eighty-six below freezing, two days above 100°F — which puts it in the same both-seasons-are-real category as Kansas, with slightly more moisture and slightly less wind.
The genuinely useful local fact is that Kansas City and St. Louis have distinct dressing cultures and both have real occasion calendars. This is not a state where formal accessories go unused, and the secondhand market in both cities is unusually good — a consequence of long-established households and a lot of estate sales. Brooches, silk scarves and solid metal jewellery are all better bought used, and Missouri is one of the easier places in the country to do it.
Seventy percent summer humidity with 44 inches of rain is moderate: not the Southeast, but enough that plated jewellery needs watching and a closed closet needs air.
Fifteen inches of snow and eighty-six freezing days makes proper gloves worth owning but not the heavy-duty version. Mid-weight with a lining is right.
Storm season is worth planning for as an accessory matter, oddly: spring here brings sudden violent rain, and a bag that closes and a hair solution that survives being soaked are both more useful than the season's trends.
What national advice gets wrong here
Being treated as a single climate with a single culture. The two ends of Missouri differ, and more importantly the state's estate-sale market means the best version of several accessory categories here is secondhand, which no national coverage ever suggests.
Lined gloves earn their place
86 freezing days a year is enough that unlined leather will disappoint by January. A thin wool lining costs a few dollars more and is the difference between wearing them and carrying them.
Humidity is what will actually ruin things
Summer humidity averages 70%. Suede marks, silk water-spots, leather grows mildew in a closed closet, and plated metal tarnishes faster. Store bags somewhere with air movement rather than sealed in plastic, and treat a protector spray on suede as mandatory rather than optional.
Worth owning here
| Secondhand brooches and scarves | An unusually deep estate-sale market in both cities. |
|---|---|
| Mid-weight lined gloves | Eighty-six freezing days but only fifteen inches of snow. |
| A bag that closes | Spring storms arrive fast and hard. |
The numbers
| January low – high | 23°F – 39°F |
|---|---|
| July average high | 88°F |
| Freezing days a year | 86 |
| Days at 90°F or above | 36 |
| Annual snowfall | 15.7" |
| Annual rainfall | 44.3" over 103 wet days |
| Summer humidity | 70% |
| Bright sunshine | 9.2 hours a day |
