It is late 2024, about four years since I stopped living in the Bay Area. The whole tech-geography argument feels a lot quieter now. Plenty of good engineers moved back after trying other places during COVID, especially once generative AI pulled energy back into the Bay. I still have not moved back, for one reason I do not see people talk about enough: the weather.
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Source: BestPlaces climate comparison
Data Analysis
Let’s look at how many hours some cities have above a specific temperature. This data was taken from OpenMeteo and is a reflection of the 90 day period between July and September of 2024.
The average number of hours per day where the temperature exceeded 76°F is as follows:
- Orlando, Florida: 20.95 hours/day
- Los Angeles, California: 8.37 hours/day
- San Jose, California: 6.70 hours/day
The average number of hours per day where the temperature exceeded 80°F for each city is as follows:
- Orlando, Florida: 12.34 hours/day
- Los Angeles, California: 6.19 hours/day
- San Jose, California: 4.18 hours/day
Orlando has roughly twice as many warm hours per day as Los Angeles. If you factor in sleep, you are almost never going to be cold in Florida.
My Day
I still get asked why I am still trying to make Florida a thing. Here is the basic case. I am going to focus on Orlando, Florida and San Jose, California. In Florida I have spent most of my time in Orlando because of family. I am using San Jose as my stand-in for “not San Francisco”: still real tech energy, just less cold than SF. I could have used Southern California, but it does not really change the argument. Los Angeles is only about three degrees warmer than San Jose on an average day across the year. I am also only using temperature here. Humidity actually makes Florida’s case stronger, but I do not need it. The specific day I am using below is September 18, 2024, with data sourced from OpenMeteo.
I set my alarm for 8 AM, grab a granola bar, and start typing. At 8 AM on September 18, 2024, it was 74°F in Orlando. That is warm enough to throw on shorts, grab my laptop, and head out to my screened-in porch. At 8 AM PT, San Jose was 58°F. That is too cold to work outside in shorts.
By noon Orlando is up to 88°F, so I head inside for lunch before going back out. Noon in San Jose was 68°F, still too cold to work outside in shorts.
Depending on the day, who I am meeting with, and the vibe, I might work inside or outside in the afternoon. If I am meeting someone new, I usually take the meeting inside so I do not look insane. But I can comfortably work outside in the shade every month of the year. December through February is not an every-day thing, but there are always a few good days. In San Jose I could really only work outside in the afternoon, and even then just barely. On September 18, it was above 72°F between 1 PM and 4 PM.
Working outside is already much better in Florida than California, and that is not even the best part. The real magic is the evening. I like going for a walk before or after dinner to relax. In Florida that is easy because it was still 76°F by 10 PM, so I could be outside whenever I felt like it. In San Jose it was already under 70°F by 5 PM.
So yeah, this is why I am still trying to make Florida a thing. It is not perfect and I might not stay here forever, but I really do like spending most of my time outdoors.