Optimal driving route for 70 degree high every day year

[tx2sturgis]

Just like vehicle insulation helps you stay in and enjoy cooler temps, some shade helps you tolerate the higher temps.

An awning, portable shade room, or just camping under some trees, make a HUGE difference during the mid-day heat..

Of course, the need for sunlight on roof-top solar panels means the vehicle needs to get some sun for at least part of the day.  But portable panels can help with that.

 

[Stymie]

To me just my opinion, the cost of fuel would be several thousand. A lot of driving.
One question is why backtracking Dec 31 back to Dec 1?
Curios if you can maintain your desired living temp.

 

[MrNoodly]

While I'm a believer in not putting up with crappy weather if I don't need to, I'm also a believer in not chasing nice weather into places I have no interest in being otherwise.

 

[sushidog]

"I'm going where the weather suits my clothes." fits my sentiments exactly.


In addition to temp, humidity and precipitation are critical too. A few years back I went to an Aliner rally in Land Between the Lakes, between Kentucky and Tennessee in July. The temperature wasn't that bad, peaking in upper 80's, but it was near 100% relative humidity there at the time. Now I'm from New Orleans, so I'm used to high RH and high temps, but that year, the super high humidity made it oppressively hot. Sitting under a nice shade tree with a breeze blowing off the lake didn't help. Indeed, I think it made it worse, as within 5 minutes of being outside you were drenched in sweat with little to no activity whatsoever, forcing us to remain in our air conditioned camper until the sun went down. If you look at the heat index chart, a relatively comfortable 88 degrees in dry desert SW feels like 85 at 25% RH, but at the near 100% RH we were experiencing, it felt like 121 degrees! Plus it destroys my sinuses. It's no fun to blow your nose constantly 24/7 while having your sinuses throb so bad you feel like your eyes are about to pop out of your head. I'll take dry desert heat any day compared to the wet heat where I live. Plus it's no fun if it rains every stinking day - all day, like it's been doing here lately. Last month in New Orleans we had over 12 inches of rain! Couple that with high heat and extreme humidity and it's like living in a sauna. I have 2 little motorcycles under my back porch that is open on both sides for good air flow. In spite of this, almost all exposed metal is rusting and the seat and painted surfaces are covered with mold and mildew. I can't wait to leave this place in a year or so and retire to a FT mobile lifestyle.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/heat_index.shtml
http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/heatindex.shtml

In addition to following the comfortable weather I'm planning on a massive solar/off-grid air conditioner set-up for use when boondocking, to avoid having to move quite as much. What I pay for this expensive solar ac set-up I'll save in fuel costs and campground fees in a couple years, not to mention the additional comfort and flexibility of movement it will give us. Besides, when all the other boondockers leave the area as it starts to get a little too warm, I'll be able to have the area all to myself for more privacy too. Not that I'm particularly antisocial, but I think we all are just a tad or we wouldn't be "free range humans."

Chip

 

[Richard]

I used data from nearly 7,200 weather stations run by the national weather service to come up with a map for each month of the year.

The maps show monthly averages of daily high temperatures for each weather station, averaged over 30-years time (to smooth out any extremes due to unusual circumstances).

Given the interest in 70-degree days year-round, I've keyed those maps to show the following:

Hearts in a green circle are the 'sweet spot': 68-72 degrees.

For a bit of context, I also color-coded a 5-degree range above and below that sweet spot:

Tiny blue dots are daily high temperatures between 63 and 67 degrees.
Tiny orange dots are daily high temperatures betweem 73 and 77 degrees.

The remaining tiny gray dots are temperatures that fall outside this overall 15-degree range of temperatures (so, either below 63 or above 77).

Anyone who's seriously interested in mapping out where to be for year-round 70-degree days should find these maps invaluable. June and July are the months with the fewest locations in that sweet spot temperature range so I suggest picking places from those months and then planning the rest of your travels around those relatively limited options.

Each map will take a few moments to load. Once loaded, click the check box next to each of the 4 layers to make visible the locations. I had to use 4 layers because Google Maps limit each map layer to a maximum of 2,000 data points. Given nearly 7,200 weather stations, that's 4 layers.

These are standard Google Maps which I've shared to anyone who has the link. No sign-in is required, but they are read-only. I've exported the data for each month's map into .kmz files. If anyone would like to import this data into their own Google Maps, let me know and I'll upload those files someplace where you can download them.

Happy journeys!



JANUARY (click here for map)

• 71 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 128 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 257 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

FEBRUARY (click here for map)

• 133 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 189 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 504 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

MARCH (click here for map)

• 232 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 733 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 827 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

APRIL (click here for map)

• 911 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 996 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 1,191 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

MAY (click here for map)

• 1,370 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 1,930 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 1,348 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

JUNE (click here for map)

• 1,504 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 521 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 130 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

JULY (click here for map)

• 406 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 82 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 42 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

AUGUST (click here for map)

• 637 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 107 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 34 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

SEPTEMBER (click here for map)

• 1,816 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 1,390 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 348 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

OCTOBER (click here for map)

• 920 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 1,169 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 1,325 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

NOVEMBER (click here for map)

• 247 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 579 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 810 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

DECEMBER (click here for map)

• 86 weather stations showing 73-77 (Five degrees ABOVE sweet spot). 
• 115 weather stations showing 68-72 (Seventy degrees, plus/minus 2).
• 352 weather stations showing 63-67 (Five degrees BELOW sweet spot).

If you have any questions about, or problems with, the maps, let me know and I'll do my best to answer/fix things. Enjoy!

 

[Richard]

...
June and July are the months with the fewest locations
...

Sorry, that should read "July and August" but I noticed too late to edit for correction.

 

[lenny flank]

My Daughter & Son both spent ~7 years in the "Sand Box" at various Air Bases (so far) for the USAF. 
Daughter now stationed in Phoenix and son at Alamogordo, they both said just about the same thing. And don log sleeves or a hoodie if it is below 70 outside.

Thom

I spent two months in NM and AZ. Albuquerque felt downright COLD to me in October ..............



PS--I liked Alamogordo. Nice little town, great space museum, nice little zoo. And i got the chance to visit the Trinity Test Site.

 

[kittty55]

:thumbsup: Totally Awesome!  Thanks so much for the work you put into this.  Cheers,  Kitty

 

[MrNoodly]

Regarding the original map: So, there you are in San Diego on the 31st and you need to be in Brownsville the next day. Good luck with that.

 

[user 423]

It probably won't last but I'm really enjoying mid-70s to low-50s here in Fairbanks.

Of course I'll have spent about $1700 for gas by the time I get back to AZ.

 

[owl]

Rather than spend time and dollars chasing temps around the country, going places you may have no interest in, think about elevation. Temps drop 3 to 5 degrees for every thousand ft. in elevation gain and much more at night. If you are at sea level and it's 90 degrees F, go up 4000 to 5000 ft. and it's 70 degrees F. Yuma is sea level (141) Flagstaff is 6900 ft. Right now in Yuma it is 102 F. in Flag it's 75 F. 6800 ft elevation gain 27 degree temp drop. Almost 4 degrees per 1000 ft.

 

[wayne49]

A lot of work into those maps. Now I know something about loading KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files from my GPS logger app into Google Maps.