In the winter, northeast island hot spots like Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and the Hamptons on Long Island are virtually empty and bitterly frigid with no nearby land mass to block the wind. During the summer, the Bahamas are often stifling hot and swarming with insects and hurricanes. But in many cases from a weather standpoint, the ads don’t reflect climate reality. People always seem to fawn over the idea of “island living” envisioning it to include sunny, 80 degree walks along the beach every day.

In choosing the places included in this story, four specific weather criteria were taken into account: average summer and winter temperature, the average daily high throughout the year, inches of rainfall per year, and the percentage of sun (i.e., sunny days) annually. Note to the geographers and meteorologists who might take issue with my methodology (which is undoubtedly heavily weighted on the anecdotal side). 76) because of a few similarly strategically placed mountain ranges in addition to a localized “marine effect”. Ojai, California, barely 30 miles east of Santa Barbara, experiences summer high temperatures that are often 15 degrees warmer (91 degrees vs.

Summer temperatures consistently range in the high-70s to low-80s while winters are far milder (mid-50s) than other Italian coastal towns due to the Alps to the west and north which shield the town from cold winter storms and wind. Case in point is Liguria, Italy’s western coastline stretching to Monaco. Microclimate plays the key roll in producing perfect weather.

Mountain town the long dark