When was the last time it poured during your family’s trip to the beach? Do you remember the ski vacation that didn’t yield any appreciable snow? What about the trip to the kite festival on a day with no wind? No doubt about it; Mother Nature can really put a damper on even the most intrically planned vacations. Which is why it’s best to know before you go.
For example, did you know the odds of having to protect yourself from a bolt of lightning at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida are greater than anywhere else in the United States? According to the National Weather Service, during the late summer months the Orlando area experiences a ton of late-day thunderstorms that spew out as many as 40,000 bolts of lightning. What’s more, those bolts have attributed to more than 1,500 lightning deaths and injuries in Florida since 1959.
It’s not the lighting, but the rain that may lead you to rethink traveling to Washington State… and Hawaii. Yes, it’s a well-known fact amongst locals (but not so to some tourists) that my hometown of Hilo, Hawaii (located on the eastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii) gets 277 days of rain per year (most of it falls at night). The combination of rainy nights and sunny days helps keep the area at a consistent tropical green year-round.
However, if you cannot stand the sight of rain you may consider vacationing in Yuma, Arizona where it only rains about 17 days per year, or just once every three weeks.
You know the saying, “It’s not the heat it’s the humidity.” If the humidity really bothers you, be sure to steer clear of Quillayute and Olympia, Washington, which both average about 80% humidity during the year, according to the National Weather Service.
Are you sensing a trend here? The fact is you should really assess how important weather is to you in your daily life and consider how it will affect you when you are traveling outside of your comfort zone. For instance, if you can’t stand the heat you may consider vacationing in a place like International Falls, Minnesota, which is located near the Canadian border. It averages 36 degrees year-round. Midsummer temperatures can hit the 70s and 80s around midday, but only for a handful of days during the entire season.
Oh, and if you are looking to take a trip to a city where you are guaranteed a windy day, don’t book your flight to Chicago. The distinction of windiest destination in America goes to Blue Hill, Massachusetts (elevation 628 feet) it is home to the highest peak within 10 miles of the Atlantic and is a magnet for strong ocean breezes.