🇺🇸 Chicago vs 🇺🇸 San Francisco

Humid continental — cold harsh winters, hot humid summers, severe storms

Chicago lives up to its Windy City nickname. Lake Michigan creates its own microclimate — cooler summers and heavier lake-effect snow in winter. Summers are warm but brief; winters are among the harshest of any major American city.

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.