Louisiana has the WORST Summers. Literally.
Scientists have used science to scientifically prove that Louisiana has the worst summers in the entire nation. Okay, technically it was a journalist at Forbes who wrote an article about it, but it seems pretty scientific to us.
The article took the following four different factors into account when determining how "oppressive" summer is in each state.
- Temperature 95°F or warmer or heat index 95°F or warmer
- If temp or heat index < 95°F, dew point 75° or higher
- Wind 10 mph or less
- Between the hours of noon and 6:00pm
The idea was to look beyond things like the highest daily temperature and humidity levels, and instead focus on places that consistently experience high temperatures with little to no wind throughout the day, which is defined as "oppressive" heat.
To do this, Forbes looked at 380 automated weather stations across the country and evaluated their hourly data during the summer months between 1997 and 2017, specifically looking at the hours between noon and 6:00pm.
According to the article, "Louisiana is the epicenter of summertime oppressive weather."
Well, yeah. No duh.
It's a pretty impressive conclusion though, especially when you stop to think about how the Bayou State somehow managed to beat the harsh desert areas of Arizona and Nevada. Even more impressive is that South Louisiana is the worst of the worst.
While the entire state experiences "oppressive weather conditions" between noon and 6:00pm every day, only South Louisiana stays there. We keep experiencing those same conditions even overnight, between 11:00pm to 6:00am - which is something any Louisiana native whose air conditioner has gone out at midnight can tell you.
Congratulations, Louisiana! We're #1!
You can read the full article here.