States With Most Miserable Winters. Where To Rank North Dakota?

We got away with a memorably mild winter in 2020-2021, but stick around long enough and we'll prove why we deserve our spot near the top of this list.  The last few winters have been a real positive for snow shovelers with long driveways.  Snowmobilers?  Not so much.  Here's a shot from happier times.

Farmers missed out on a lot of moisture and soil cover last winter.  Here's a shot from happier times.

Other snow-lovers include skiers, sledders, snowball throwers, and snowplow operators trying to earn cash for Christmas.  Also furry dogs I've had love the heck out of it.

The rest of us are really more like cats...we could do without huge snowfall.

But is North Dakota the most miserable state of them all?  According to the folks from the website Thrillist.com not quite, but we're close.  Out of the 50 states, the least miserable in order of appearance are as follows- Hawaii, Arizona, California, Colorado, and Florida.

What?  Colorado is top five LEAST miserable winter states?

Thrillist defends this placement by making this assertion- "Colorado has basically solved winter".  The one time I went to Denver it snowed three inches and the next day we were lying in the grass. So I see their point.

What are their criteria in establishing a state's level of winter misery?

Well, here they are...

After an intense period of research and debate among friends and colleagues—factoring in everything from weather patterns and average temperatures to the efficacy with which state governments keep roads clear to the historical success rates of their winter-season sports teams

That winter-season sports team success is gonna be pretty brutal for the top miserable state on this list.  So let's run down what they say are the Top 5 Most Miserable States in the Winter

South Dakota gets Honorable Mention as they came in at #6 thanks to being 4 degrees warmer in the winter than North Dakota.  Is there anything we can't beat them at? OK, here we go...

#5 Maine

Probably why Stephen King writes all his stories in either real or made up townships in Maine. Never been there, but if one is to believe Mr. King, they don't care for outsiders. Unless you're shoveling their driveway.

#4 North Dakota

I would like to think the "Alberta Clippers" that rip across our prairies would have blown us closer to number one.  I think the mildness of the past few winters hasn't been very representative of just how damn miserable winter can be in North Dakota.  My personal pet peeve is when people move to North Dakota and we have a winter like last year and they say "I thought winter was going to be a lot worse".  Give it time.

#3 Alaska

How does the state where the sun doesn't actually visit during the winter, not sit on top?

#2 Michigan

It seems the author may be from Michigan because he has some pretty specific complaints...

You can't even tell if it is drizzling rain or snow, because the brown salt sludge that sprays up off the road coats your windshield more completely than anything that falls from the sky. Overnight, the road freezes. In the morning you wake up and it is still dark. You scrape off your car, then get stuck in traffic as the cars ahead of you gawk at the SUV that has slid into the ditch. You actually look forward to a proper snowfall, just to cover the dirt. Even then, you do not go skiing, because there are no hills.

I guess..colder by the lake, right?

#1 Minnesota

North Dakotans will want to argue that most of the state never has any wind because of so darn many trees.  Minnesota has a two-word response- "International Falls".   Fair enough they were at -45 as recent as January, 2019.  Oh, and their winter-season sports teams have had pretty abysmal success as of late.  Sure there's the Minnesota Lynx but that season wraps up in the fall

Check out the entire list of 50 states by clicking here.  To see the coldest days in North Dakota History- just keep on reading!