Rank the months

[NWI_Irish96]

Pretty simple. Rank the months 1-12. Provide some level of explanation.

Likes: football, fall foliage, moderate temperatures
Dislikes: extreme cold, extreme heat

1. October
2. November
3. December
4. September
5. May
6. June
7. April
8. March
9. August
10. January
11. July
12. February

[Roadgeekteen]

The worst month is the current one. It's cold, no holidays to look forward to (I don't have a girlfriend so Valentines Day is just depressing) and nothing really going on. The only positive about this month is the Super Bowl

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Likes: fall foliage, long days, nights at the ballpark, football
Dislikes: the last gasp mud-filled end of winter, high heat (which isn't usually that bad here), seasonal depression

For me, based on living in Minnesota:
September
October
August
July
May
June
December
November
January
February
April
March

[hotdogPi]

I feel like this thread is a duplicate, but I'm on my phone now, so I can't check.

EDIT: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25892

[Roadgeekteen]

Likes: fall foliage, long days, nights at the ballpark, football
Dislikes: the last gasp mud-filled end of winter, high heat (which isn't usually that bad here), seasonal depression

For me, based on living in Minnesota:
September
October
August
July
May
June
December
November
January
February
April
March

I guess in Minnesota April is basically winter.

[US 89]

Highly dependent on location. In Utah, July and August are fun because that's the time of year you can get exciting monsoon severe thunderstorms and flash flooding. Down here in Florida that time of year, it's just unbearably hot and muggy.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Likes: fall foliage, long days, nights at the ballpark, football
Dislikes: the last gasp mud-filled end of winter, high heat (which isn't usually that bad here), seasonal depression

For me, based on living in Minnesota:
September
October
August
July
May
June
December
November
January
February
April
March

I guess in Minnesota April is basically winter.

You'll get a tease of a couple days pushing 50 before sinking back into an extended period of the upper 30s with rain/snow mix. That's what kills.

We don't use the term mud season like New England does (at least not in the metro), but it's a gross time to be out walking.

[Max Rockatansky]

For me:

1.  October
2.  January
3.  February
4.  March
5.  April
6.  May
7.  June
8.  September
9.  August
10.  July
11.  November
12.  December

November and December are ranked the lowest because my job gets weird about me traveling due to everyone but me being busy.  July is ranked 9th due to physical inventory at work coupled with copious summer crowds at recreational locales.  August, September and June are all in a similar situation as July, but I don't have work obstructions.  January through May are usually very open for me to travel, May got ranked sixth due to Memorial Day crowds.  October is the prime month for everything out west.  All the crowds are gone because kids are back at school, and nobody ever requests time off but me. 

[MATraveler128]

My personal arrangement...

December since I've always enjoyed Christmas
January as that is actually my birthday month this year particularly since I just turned 21
November because of Thanksgiving
May because that appears to be when spring begins in New England
June
July
March
October. Halloween is overrated. Personal opinion
September because it always sucks when summer is nearly over
February. I don't celebrate Valentine's Day since I'm single.
April
August is just boring because there are literally zero holidays.

[1995hoo]

The worst month is the current one. It's cold, no holidays to look forward to (I don't have a girlfriend so Valentines Day is just depressing) and nothing really going on. The only positive about this month is the Super Bowl

There is one holiday this month (Washington's Birthday), although many private sector workers don't get that day off.

I think I tend to like fall slightly better than spring because spring pollen often does a number on me for about a month each year. Allegra, or the generic equivalent, helps keep it under control, but it's still a nuisance. November does not rank higher than it does because of the shorter days, although having three holidays that month helps keep it higher than it might otherwise be. January and February rank low because of the short days even though they both have holidays (January has two). I put March ahead of August (neither one has any holidays) due to the very hot, humid weather in August and because hockey and March Madness provide entertainment not available in August.

1. October
2. September
3. May (also the month I was born, which helps its ranking)
4. April
5. November
6. December
7. June
8. July
9. March
10. August
11. February
12. January

[JayhawkCO]

I kind of have two different sets of answers as I enjoy different months in Denver than I do when I go to the mountains. So, when I combine the two:

1. September
2. October
3. November
4. June
5. May
6. August
7. July
8. April
9. March
10. December
11. February
12. January

I'm not as much of a snow sports guy as I am summertime camping and hiking. I probably have peak, hot summer months higher than a lot of people do, but that's when I'm trying to be up in the mountains as much as possible. I love spring in Denver, but it's a bit of a mudfest up in the mountains. January is the coldest month of the year by far. I don't mind cold for sure, but I like my 60° days sprinkled in.

[7/8]

Based on my current location:

1) August - Best part of summer, warm lake temperatures for swimming, less mosquitoes than June/July. I also like the earlier sunsets to enjoy summer nights. Civil Civic Holiday.
2) July - Canada Day holiday.
3) June - Marginally worse than July for not having a holiday.
4) May - The nice half of spring, feels glorious after the slog of March/April. Victoria Day is the unofficial start of summer here.
5) December - Christmas break (one week without work!) elevates an otherwise dreary month. Bonus points for the winter months is encountering very few spiders.
6) September - The better half of fall weather. I can appreciate the cool days after summer and you get some fall colours.
7) January - Usually has consistent snow and is sunnier than Nov./Dec. I often have a ski trip to enjoy which helps with the lack of holidays.
8) February - A hard one to rank since it depends on my ski trip schedule. The later I have one, the more reason I have to enjoy winter, but once the trip is over, it's hard not to want Spring to start.
9) April - Weather is a mixed bag, but the excitement of summer grows as the number of warmer days increases. The second half of the month with my birthday and better weather is particularly nice.
10) October - Fall colours and Thanksgiving is great, but the depressing overcast starts creeping in.
11) March - Winter drags on, but it's just warm enough for the snow to melt on-and-off which looks ugly. Also no holiday unless Easter is early. Silver lining is the start of the F1 season.
12) November - cloudiest month here, cold weather but no snow so everything is dead and ugly like March. It's a long slog between Canadian Thanksgiving and Christmas break.

EDIT 2023-02-10: I swapped April and October.

[thspfc]

1. December
2. October
3. March
4. November
5. May
6. September
7. April
8. August
9. July
10. June
11. February
12. January

I'll put February above January on account that February, 8 days in, has already had more sunny days here than all of January did. And having a glimmer of hope that winter is about to end is nice. This afternoon I stepped into a warm parked car for the first time since early November. Of course, we're getting a snowstorm tomorrow, but it was fun while it lasted.

Spring has grown on me lately, while summer has become monotonous. On a summer day, anytime before 6 PM kinda sucks. It's cooler in the early morning, but it warms up quick, so you have to do things at less than ideal hours to take advantage of it.

[MultiMillionMiler]

1. April
2. May
3. June
4. March
5. October
6. September
7. November
8. July
9. August
10. February
11. December
12. January

The more mild the better, with a preference for warmer weather over colder weather.

[flan]

Like: spring, summer
Dislike: back-to-school season, icy roads, traversing campus in -20 F

1. June
2. May
3. July
4. August
5. April
6. September
7. October
8. March
9. December
10. November
11. February
12. January

[Scott5114]

The worst month is the current one. It's cold, no holidays to look forward to (I don't have a girlfriend so Valentines Day is just depressing) and nothing really going on. The only positive about this month is the Super Bowl

I mean, if you really want a holiday to celebrate, there's always my birthday on February 2. I give you permission to throw yourself a party for it. If anyone gives you weird looks, lie and say it's for Groundhog Day.

[Scott5114]

1. October (I just think it's neat)
2. November (I like Thanksgiving and Election Day)
3. February (my wife, my mom, and I all have birthdays this month)
4. June (summer has started but not yet worn out its welcome, and we're usually still getting rain here and there)
5. April (Nice weather usually)
6. March (Flip a coin, is it going to be warm or cold?)
7. September (I still associate it with the part of the school year when the newness wears off and it starts becoming boring)
8. May (kind of hate it when the sky tries to kill me)
9. July (always hot and miserable)
10. August (always hot and miserable but without fireworks)
11. December (I like having more than one genre of music on the radio)
12. January (too cold and miserable, my school didn't celebrate MLK so we didn't have any holidays, usually get snowed in at least once)

[Ted$8roadFan]

1. October
2. September
3. June
4. May
5. November
6. July
7. March
8. August
9. December
10. April
11. February
12. January

[NWI_Irish96]

I calculated a composite ranking (through thspfc's post) with 12 points for #1 on down to 1 point for #12:

Will update periodically

1 October 78
2 May 67
   September 67
4 December 59
5 June 56
   November 56
7 July 47
8 August 46
9 March 41
   April 41
11 January 38
12 February 28

[texaskdog]

I live in Texas.  October (Oktoberfest, football, etc), September, November, May (my birthday), April, March, December, January, February, August, June, July the God awful hot one.  And when I lived in Minnesota it would be almost the opposite.

[webny99]

I guess in Minnesota April is basically winter.

You'll get a tease of a couple days pushing 50 before sinking back into an extended period of the upper 30s with rain/snow mix. That's what kills.

We don't use the term mud season like New England does (at least not in the metro), but it's a gross time to be out walking.

Even where I'm at, which isn't too terribly far from RGT, April tends to have a lot in common with the winter months and is in many ways just a slightly more bearable extension of March, with a bit less gloom and enough daylight to limit accumulation when it snows. May is the only true month of spring, and June would be the second month if you had to pick one.

[Hunty2022]

1 - July
2 - June
3 - November
4 - August
5 - January
6 - October
7 - February
8 - December
9 - September
10 - March
11 - April
12 - May

[webny99]

When I was younger, I would have easily said that March was the worst month, and I still think so in terms of weather because you think the worst is over when you get past February, and it almost never is. But over the past few years, I've felt what I guess is seasonal depression more in the early fall than any other time of the year. It's a feeling of sadness and inevitability that really hits me in late August and September. I think part of it is a feeling that travel season, and the opportunity for day trips with long evenings and nice weather is dwindling. And I've always loved fall weather and foliage, but I feel like I haven't been able to enjoy it as much recently because of this.

On the flip side - despite my previous post trashing March and April - I've found late winter and spring more enjoyable than I used to. I really appreciated the fact that it stayed light out until almost 6 PM this evening, for example. That's a very tangible sign of spring that means I can commute home in the light instead of in the dark as I do in November/December, and more daylight makes the cold and snow more bearable.

So, with that in mind, I've sorted out my rankings amidst somewhat conflicted feelings. Here goes...

1. June
2. May
3. July
(that was the easy part)
4. October
5. August
6. April
7. September
8. March
9. February
10. January
11. December
12. November

[webny99]

Also, if anyone is interested in a road-related component, here's a previous thread where I tried to rank the months based on overall traffic levels. I still stand by February as being the best month for traffic.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=21813

[1995hoo]

The worst month is the current one. It's cold, no holidays to look forward to (I don't have a girlfriend so Valentines Day is just depressing) and nothing really going on. The only positive about this month is the Super Bowl

I mean, if you really want a holiday to celebrate, there's always my birthday on February 2. I give you permission to throw yourself a party for it. If anyone gives you weird looks, lie and say it's for Groundhog Day.

Or you could celebrate today, a presidential birthday–this year, February 9 is the 250th birthday of William Henry Harrison. (February 6 is Ronald Reagan's.)