I can't believe Seattle isn't on there. That was the worst 3 years of my life. Damn you, Navy, for sending me to the miserable gray, rainy, cold PACNORWEST.

Though, I will say the 2 weeks of summer they actually had was beautiful.

Sorry, Seattle natives :(

I haven't been to Miami since I was a kid, so I can't say anything about why it is #1. Detroit being rated #2 does not surprize me at all - so many smoking potholes, and I live in Chicago, so I thought that I'd be used to "big city grunge." I will say that Detroit has some of the most beautiful suburbs that I have ever seen, though.

I'm surprized but not shocked about Chicago's ranking. If almost all of my family was not here, I'd definitely move somewhere warm; somewhere south.

I love Cincinnati...at least for the 24 hrs I visited!!

The smoking pot holes are a steam generated electrical system for city power. They keep the homeless warm in the winter. They usually sleep right on top of them to stay warm. I thought they were very strange until I found out what they were. I guess they beat coal.. lol.

AGDee-
Thanks, I always wondered about all those smoking potholes. It's funny what you remember when you visit other areas. :)

I've lived in metro Detroit my whole life and only found out what those were about 10 years ago, when the system went down and the lights around my work were out. I noticed the steam was gone too and someone told me what was up :) (Oh, and they are man holes, not pot holes...lol). The bad thing is, there are places where the steam is so dense it reduces visibility on the road.

It's not terrible...as long as you stay downtown near the major hotels and the stadiums. I found the areas outside downtown to be extremely economically depressed. It was pretty racially segregated, which I'm not used to for even moderately-sized cities.

Yeah...that's where I was.

Exactly!

The only thing I might find depressing about this city is the Cubs. As someone who roots for the Red Sox, I can't help but feel sympathy for their fans.

Other than that, I have NO IDEA what this city is doing on the list.

They list some of the criteria as weather and political corruption. Also, there are some very economically challenged parts of the city so I suspect those come into play. I love Chicago though.

I also adore Chicago, but having been there in snowstorms and heatwaves can understand why weather would be a negative. Still, Chicago is a fantastic city.

Hm.. Bad weather, political corruption, economically challenged, AND horrible sports teams... Why the hell isn't Buffalo on this list?!