Hacker Remix

BMI-type measure for a place's "goodness of weather"

3 points by profsummergig 9 hours ago | 13 comments

If you're familiar with BMI (body-mass index), read-on:

I am trying to develop a single score, similar to BMI, for a place's "goodness of weather".

Yes, I am well-aware that BMI is flawed. But its simplicity is useful.

The data available to me are:

- MAX TEMP (°F)

- MIN TEMP (°F)

- AVG TEMP (°F)

- PRECIP (IN)

- SNOW (IN)

- Standard Deviation of each of the above.

Data are available for tens of thousands of weather stations in the USA, and are available in the following bin-sizes: annual, monthly, daily, hourly.

I think I want to use monthly data.

BMI is calculated as: weight in kilograms (kg) divided by height in meters, squared (m2).

In your opinion, what should the formula for "goodness of weather" look like?

(Of course, people will disagree on what constitutes good weather. Some like San Diego weather, some like Denver weather. So, what would your formula look like?)

sn9 7 hours ago

Relevant metric: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_globe_temperature

mikewarot 5 hours ago

You just need to decide your own personal hardiness zone, and compare it to the map.

Just like plants thrive in certain zones, you need to consider what you need in order to thrive.

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

codingdave 9 hours ago

Humidity is missing from your list. As is wind chill. Really, you could almost make a score based on just those missing 2, because I can live with a great variety in all the others if I know those two.

profsummergig 9 hours ago

Good point. I'm guessing these 2 must be measured by the weather stations. I'll check the variables available.

Update: dew point and wind chill are collected by the weather stations. So yes, I will now aim to incorporate them.

necovek 9 hours ago

Those values are not independent variables, so some of them are superfluous (like snow strongly correlates with min and avg temp).

But "good weather" is different for a farmer, a surfer, a skier or a city dweller.

profsummergig 9 hours ago

Good points.