GoAllOutdoors.com ranked the best and worst winter states, and Colorado is near the top.
In news that we Coloradans already know, our state is one of the best there is for winter fun. But GoAllOutdoors.com has made it slightly more official thanks to its recent ranking of the 25 best and worst winter states.
While most of us would agree that the Centennial State is straight-out No.1 in all the seasons, Colorado came in third behind Wyoming and Utah, respectively. The site only created their ranking with using a variety of factors.
"For starters, all 25 states on this list have an average winter temperature below freezing - any higher than that and it's not really a winter state. Next, we ranked states based on climate data like average annual snowfall, average number of clear winter days. We also took a look at access to public land and water, because both of those usually lead to more opportunity and more fun," said GoAllOutdoors.com.
While Colorado had more average annual snowfall than Wyoming and Utah, it fell behind the top two in square miles of water and public land acres. The website deemed that downhill skiing and snowboarding, ice fishing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, sledding, and hiking were our top winter activities.
"Colorado may be the most visited and well-known winter state in the country," said the GoAllOutdoors.com. "It's the top skiing and snowboarding destination in the country with 28 ski resorts to choose from. Colorado also has more than 300 days of sunshine per year, and has almost 24 million acres of public land. Knowing it's so sunny, we don't mind that Colorado also gets about 68 inches of snow per year."
Idaho and Montana, respectively, rounded out the top five-ranked states on the list.
Pulling up the rear of the rankings was Iowa, coming in at No. 25.
What do you think about Colorado's ranking? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
