Albuquerque, NM cityscape

a landable guide

Best cities for mild four-season weather

Actual seasons, actual comfort. Cities where summer doesn't cook you and winter doesn't bury you.

By Karol Gajda

photo: Lad Fury / pexels

There is a specific kind of person this list is for: someone who wants four real seasons but has hit a hard limit on one end of the thermometer. Maybe a decade of Phoenix summers, or a childhood of Minnesota winters, has used up their tolerance for one extreme. They do not want to trade it for the opposite extreme, and they do not want to give up seasons entirely either. The goal is the middle: a fall that turns, a winter that shows up and then leaves, a summer warm enough to mean something, none of it punishing.

The filter that gets there is mostly about what to leave out. Cap extreme heat at 50 days a year above 95F and extreme cold at 70 days below 20F, so neither season turns hostile. Then comes the part that actually defines four seasons: a pleasant-days ceiling. The perpetual-spring cities (San Diego, Honolulu, coastal Southern California) post 320-plus pleasant days precisely because they never get a winter. A city with a genuine cold season spends part of the year in days that are not pleasant, which lands it in a middle band, roughly 150 to 215 pleasant days. That ceiling is the difference between a mild four-season climate and a place with no seasons at all.

the ranking

  1. Albuquerque, NM cityscape

    Photo by Lad Fury on Pexels

    Albuquerque

    NM · 924k metro

    Albuquerque tops the list: 205 pleasant days a year against just 34 above 95F and 6 below 20F. A summer that arrives and a winter that follows, neither one overstaying its welcome.

    205

    pleasant days a year

    34

    days a year above 95°F

    6

    days a year below 20°F

    see the full dispatch for Albuquerque
  2. Eugene

    OR · 381k metro

    Eugene comes in second. 206 pleasant days, 2 above 95F, 1 below 20F. The seasons are all present and accounted for, and none of them tips into the kind of week you plan your life around avoiding.

    206

    pleasant days a year

    2

    days a year above 95°F

    1

    days a year below 20°F

    see the full dispatch for Eugene
  3. Seattle

    WA · 4.0M metro

    Seattle sits at six. 182 pleasant days, 0 extreme-heat days, 0 extreme-cold days. Real seasons, mild edges: the summer is warm rather than dangerous and the winter is cold rather than hostile.

    182

    pleasant days a year

    0

    days a year above 95°F

    0

    days a year below 20°F

    see the full dispatch for Seattle
  4. Denver

    CO · 3.0M metro

    Denver closes the ten. 174 pleasant days, 8 days above 95F, 66 below 20F. The fullest four-season swing on the list, with both extremes still kept inside the lines.

    174

    pleasant days a year

    8

    days a year above 95°F

    66

    days a year below 20°F

    see the full dispatch for Denver

how we ranked

Ranked 25% weather (pleasant days minus heat and cold penalties), 25% affordability, 20% parks, 15% activity, 15% walkability. Caps: no more than 50 days above 95F and no more than 70 days below 20F. Pleasant days held between 150 and 215: the upper bound is what separates a true four-season city from a perpetual-spring climate that never gets a real winter.

common questions

What counts as an extreme heat day or extreme cold day?
An extreme heat day is one where the high climbs above 95F. An extreme cold day is one where the low drops below 20F. Both figures come from NASA POWER and Open-Meteo ERA5 climate records. A mild four-season city keeps each count low: this list caps heat days at 50 and cold days at 70 a year.
Why isn't San Diego, Honolulu, or Miami on a mild-weather list?
Because none of them has four seasons. Those cities are mild year-round, which means they never get a real winter or a real summer, just a long temperate middle. They post 270 to 340 pleasant days a year. This list is specifically for people who want seasonal change without extremes, so it caps pleasant days at 215 to filter out the perpetual-spring climates and keep the cities that actually turn over a calendar.
Why use a pleasant-days range instead of just rewarding more?
Because more pleasant days, past a point, means fewer seasons. A city with 330 pleasant days has no winter worth the name. A true four-season climate spends part of the year in cool or cold days that do not count as pleasant, which naturally lands it in a middle band of roughly 150 to 215. Holding the count inside that band is what keeps the list four-season rather than no-season.

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