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Coziest Day of the Year

Derek Hales

Written By: Derek Hales

Updated on:

What’s the Coziest Day of the Year in your home state? Continue to the map below to find out!

Cozies Day of the Year - by state in America

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What’s the Coziest Day of the Year in Your State?

  • Alabama – November 30
  • Alaska – October 20
  • Arizona – December 14
  • Arkansas – November 24
  • California – November 19
  • Colorado – October 24
  • Connecticut – October 29
  • Delaware – November 13
  • Florida – December 15
  • Georgia – November 28
  • Hawaii – December 21
  • Idaho – November 4
  • Illinois – November 3
  • Indiana – November 1
  • Iowa – October 24
  • Kansas – October 31
  • Kentucky – November 16
  • Louisiana – December 21
  • Maine – October 26
  • Maryland – November 5
  • Massachusetts – November 12
  • Michigan – October 17
  • Minnesota – October 28
  • Mississippi – December 5
  • Missouri – November 7
  • Montana – October 18
  • Nebraska – November 5
  • Nevada – October 6
  • New Hampshire – October 26
  • New Jersey – November 2
  • New Mexico – October 26
  • New York – November 16
  • North Carolina – November 23
  • North Dakota – October 17
  • Ohio – October 29
  • Oklahoma – November 29
  • Oregon – November 3
  • Pennsylvania – October 30
  • Rhode Island – November 4
  • South Carolina – December 2
  • South Dakota – November 3
  • Tennessee – November 16
  • Texas – December 11
  • Utah – October 24
  • Vermont – October 21
  • Virginia – November 18
  • Washington – November 9
  • West Virginia – October 31
  • Wisconsin – October 28
  • Wyoming – October 6

How Did We Determine the Coziest Day of the Year?

To determine the Coziest Day of the Year our team of researchers scoured through weather, temperature, precipitation, and survey data.

Using these data points our team was able to cross reference the critical factors that create the most cozy day for each state in the USA.

So what did that process look like?

First, we had to ask ourselves, what makes a particular day the most cozy?

In our opinion, there are two primary factors:

  1. Temperature
  2. Precipitation

The Ideal Cozy Temperature

First, it has to be cold, but not too cold. The temperature should be cool enough that you would want to stay inside cuddling up with a blanket watching your favorite movie, reading a great book, or just sleeping in late.

However…

The temperature should not be so cold that it’s able to snow or ice.

To determine that ideal temperature we used data from Weather.com’s 2016 Sweater Weather survey. The survey asked respondents the temperature at which they started wearing sweaters.

I’m sure you’re wondering…what is that number?

Coziest Day in America - sweater weather

Nationally, the number is 60 degrees fahrenheit. However, each state is different. For example, Arizona and Nevada had the warmest sweater weather, at 65 degrees fahrenheit. Whereas South Dakota had the coldest, at 51 degrees fahrenheit.

For our purposes we used sweater weather temperatures for each individual state, as we felt that would give us a more precise and relevant date.

Using the ideal “sweater weather” temperature as a starting point, we then decided to go 10 degrees fahrenheit cooler than that.

Going 10 degrees cooler ensures that it’s sufficiently cold enough that you would want to be bundled up with warm clothes or blankets, but doesn’t go so extreme that you are too cold or it’s able to snow / ice.

Gathering Temperature & Precipitation Data

Next, we used the National Centers for Environmental Information’s (NOAA) data tool set. This dataset compiles 30 years of temperature and precipitation data for all 50 states. NOAA seems to update it about every 10 years.

The dataset:

The most up to date data, and the data set we used, is 1981-2010. NOAA’s data includes an incredible 9,800 individual weather stations across the US.

Example for Average Temperature and Precipitation
Example for Average Temperature and Precipitation data

Using NOAA’S data we looked at each state, selecting the weather station at the state capital, as these weather stations tended to be the most robust.

We looked at two key data points:

  1. Average precipitation levels (by month, as daily precipitation is not available)
  2. Average temperature by day

Bringing It All Together

With all of our data points now assembled, we had to bring them all together. The final Coziest Day selection process for each state used the following formula:

  1. The date had to be within the Fall season, between 9/22 and 12/21.
  2. The average monthly temperature had to be less than the ideal “sweater weather” (according to the weather.com survey) for that state, but not more than 15 degrees cooler than that ideal “sweater weather” temperature.
  3. We identified the month that has the highest average precipitation, while still being within the the 15 degrees of “sweater weather”.
  4. Lastly, we then looked at that specific month and find the single day that is closest to 10 degrees lower than that the ideal “sweater weather” temperature.

This provided us with a single day each year for each state that has the highest chance of rain, and be cold enough to cuddle up with a nice sweater or blanket, but not so cold that it’s uncomfortable.

That’s it!

There you have it! Now get a hot beverage and your favorite blanket, and enjoy the Coziest Day of the Year.

Citations

About Derek Hales

Derek HalesDerek Hales is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ModernCastle.com. He has been featured in Fast Company, Reader's Digest, Business Insider, Realtor.com, She Knows, and other major publications. Derek has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University. Hales has been testing and reviewing products for the home since 2014.