Winter Comfort scores a destination by its annual number of days below freezing. Fewer below-freezing days receive a higher score. The measure has coverage for 987 destinations and supplies the required winter input used by Climate Comfort.
It is a broad comparison measure. It does not predict a particular winter or determine whether a destination will feel comfortable to an individual.
Winter Comfort thresholds
The input is the annual count of days below freezing. Retirement Lists converts that count to a score as follows:
| Annual days below freezing | Winter Comfort score |
|---|---|
| 5 or fewer | 94 |
| 6–25 | 78 |
| 26–70 | 58 |
| 71–120 | 38 |
| More than 120 | 20 |
No interpolation between bands is specified.
Temperature evidence by geography
Most temperature inputs use NASA POWER daily evidence from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2023.
Another 48 temperature rows use NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network Daily station evidence from January 1, 1991 through December 31, 2020. Of those rows, 39 are direct-city records and nine are estimated or based on nearby evidence.
Fukuoka uses Japan Meteorological Agency evidence from station 47807 for January 1, 1991 through December 31, 2020. The station is 2.59 kilometers from Fukuoka City Hall, and the evidence contains 10,958 complete daily records. It supports Fukuoka’s days below freezing only.
One artifact uses a NASA POWER 1991–2020 monthly-climatology fallback. The supplied evidence does not identify the destination or provide the fallback conversion method, so this page makes no more specific claim about that record.
Included and excluded information
Winter Comfort includes only the annual frequency of days below freezing represented by the applicable evidence source.
It does not separately measure cold snaps, ice, the heating performance of a particular home, or an individual’s winter preferences.
Missing data and product use
A destination needs a supported annual-days-below-freezing input to receive a Winter Comfort score. Missing required source evidence fails closed and is not replaced with an assumed value.
Winter Comfort has full standalone decision eligibility for all 987 covered destinations. It may be displayed and used in filters, sorting, Fit, hard constraints, and Compare. It also supplies a required input to Climate Comfort. If that winter input is missing, Climate Comfort fails closed.
Data periods and freshness
The applicable data period depends on the evidence source:
- NASA POWER daily evidence: January 1, 2019–December 31, 2023.
- NOAA GHCNd evidence: January 1, 1991–December 31, 2020.
- JMA Fukuoka evidence: January 1, 1991–December 31, 2020.
- One NASA monthly-climatology fallback: 1991–2020.
These labels describe observation periods. No publisher update dates, source-update dates, update cadence, or editorial review date are recorded.
Limits of the score
The threshold bands do not show whether below-freezing days occur during isolated overnight lows or a prolonged cold snap. They also do not capture ice conditions, neighborhood variation, or the heating needs and performance of a particular home.
People can experience the same winter conditions differently. Personal preference and health circumstances fall outside this methodology.
Continue your research
Included, excluded, and eligibility contract
| Item | Contract |
|---|---|
| Included | Annual count of days below freezing |
| Excluded | Cold snaps, ice, home heating, and personal winter preference |
| Missing behavior | Missing required source evidence means no Winter Comfort score; the related Climate Comfort result fails closed |
| Coverage | 987 destinations |
| Display eligibility | Eligible for all 987 destinations |
| Decision eligibility | Eligible for filter, sort, Fit, hard constraints, and Compare for all 987 destinations |
Source ledger
| Organization | URL | Supported claim or input | Geography | Data period | Observed/source-updated | Last reviewed | Evidence type | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NASA POWER | https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/daily/ | Daily temperature evidence supporting annual days below freezing | Main published destination set | 2019-01-01–2023-12-31 | Source-update date unavailable | Not recorded | Daily modeled/reanalysis delivery documentation | Local temperature variation may not be represented |
| NOAA NCEI | https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/global-historical-climatology-network-daily/access/{STATION_ID}.csv | Station evidence supporting annual days below freezing | 48 rows: 39 direct-city and nine estimated or nearby | 1991-01-01–2020-12-31 | Source-update date unavailable | Not recorded | Daily station files | Nearby or estimated rows may not represent conditions within the destination |
| Japan Meteorological Agency | https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?block_no=47807&day=&month=&prec_no=82&view=a2s&year= | Station-normal context for Fukuoka station 47807 | Fukuoka, Japan | 1991-01-01–2020-12-31 | Source-update date unavailable | Not recorded | Official station normals | Applies only to Fukuoka |
| Japan Meteorological Agency | https://www.data.jma.go.jp/risk/obsdl/show/table | Daily export supporting Fukuoka days below freezing | Fukuoka, Japan; station 47807 | 1991-01-01–2020-12-31 | Source-update date unavailable | Not recorded | Official daily station export | Station is 2.59 km from City Hall and does not describe every neighborhood |
| NASA POWER | https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/monthly/ | Documentation for one monthly-climatology fallback | One destination not identified in the supplied evidence | 1991–2020 | Source-update date unavailable | Not recorded | Monthly climatology documentation | Destination and conversion method are not supplied; the fallback must not be generalized to other cities |
Sources and review
- NASA POWER
Daily temperature evidence supporting annual days below freezing.
- NOAA NCEI
Station evidence supporting annual days below freezing.
- Japan Meteorological Agency
Station-normal context for Fukuoka station 47807.
- Japan Meteorological Agency
Daily export supporting Fukuoka days below freezing.
- NASA POWER
Documentation for one monthly-climatology fallback.