🇺🇸 Buffalo vs 🇺🇸 San Francisco

Buffalo at the eastern end of Lake Erie is America's lake-effect snow capital. When cold Arctic air sweeps across Lake Erie and hits Buffalo, it can dump feet of snow in hours — the 2022 blizzard killed over 40 people. Yet the lake also moderates temperatures, keeping Buffalo's winters less extreme than cities farther from the water when lake-effect isn't happening.

San Francisco's climate is shaped by its position on a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. The coastal fog (Karl the Fog) rolls in through the Golden Gate each summer afternoon, keeping temperatures mild year-round. The city has dramatically different microclimates — the Sunset District fog-bound while the Mission basks in sun on the same day.