People often think about snow when they hear "Syracuse," but May through October are delightful months! For more information, please select from the following:

• Temperatures
• The Snow
• Current Weather Forecasts

Temperatures

People evaluating whether to live in a new area often check out the average temperatures at different times of the year. The graph below shows the average high and low temperatures in Syracuse (blue lines). For comparison, the red lines show the averages for a "warm-weather" city, Atlanta. The quick look is to say, "Wow, Atlanta's not as bad in the summer as I thought -- high temps in the 80's." Or, "Syracuse is not so cold -- the average high is above freezing most of the winter." However, anybody who has visited Atlanta for a few days in the summer or Syracuse in the winter is likely to sing a different song. That's because "average weather" is actually rare.

So let's revisit the graphs, add 10°F to the summer highs and subtract 10°F from the winter lows, and plot only the extremes. The new graph below shows when it is most likely to have days above 90°F or nights below freezing.

The Snow

We average somewhere around 9 feet (~3 m) of snowfall per season. If all that snow fell at once we'd be in trouble. However, it is spread over 5-6 months, with only a few storms per winter that cause real traffic problems. The city is very aggressive in snow removal (unlike Baltimore, St. Louis and a lot of other cities). Of course, the upside of our snow is that you won't have to go far to find downhill and cross-country skiing!

It's recommended that your car have front-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes (ABS) and good all-weather radial tires. 4-wheel drive gives beginners a false sense of security because skids are the most dangerous events and are caused by driving too fast for conditions no matter what equipment you have on your vehicle. 4WD is useless most days of the year in Syracuse unless you have a steep or long driveway.

Current Weather

Here's a few links for the current weather conditions and forecast in Syracuse.

• Intellicast for Syracuse
• Syracuse Online Weather Page
• Yahoo Weather for Syracuse

For more detailed information about our area and its offerings, please select from the following:

• Student Life
• Life In and Around Syracuse
• Housing and Living Costs
• Traffic and Travel Information