I was thinking of New Zealand but thought the climate was a tad on the cool side, at least according to weather.com average temperatures (unfortunately they don't have data for every city like auckland, but here is a link for wellington: wellington, NZ ). Do they get many warm days?

Seems like the average high is 55-65, as opposed to 70-80 which I would prefer (might just be my preference).

NZ weather being overrated ITT.

Summer is awesome, hardly rains and it doesn't get too hot (hardly above 30C) The winters don't get cold (rarely under 10C in the north island) but it does rain a lot.

In terms of precipitation/year, Auckland = Vancouver

Better take a look here

I feel that San Diego would be a credible candidate for "best weather in the continental US" but find it difficult to believe it would be in the ballpark of best weather in the world.

I dunno the more I read about it the more it looks really, really good.


Rain/year
SD = 270mm
Sydney = 1200mm
Auckland = 1200mm

and the thing about SD is that it doesn't look like it get too hot (I'd rather be in cold weather than in stinkin hot weather) as it only has 4 days of >32C

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate

not too easy to find weather like this. However, it's a broad definition...and I ask you to compare these cities' climates and tell me that SD isn't the best by MOST people's definition, that is, avoiding extreme temperatues and precipitiation. The kind of weather you want to live with every day, not savor for two days in the Spring or in the Fall, or one month in the Winter (tropics). The kind of weather with pleasant humidity. Did I mention that there are no bugs flying around and little gnats going into your mouth in the summer? That you rarely "see your breath" in the winter, but it's just cold to enough that you can have a cup of hot chocolate by your fireplace?

Other cities get way more rain, or get super hot in the summer, cold in winter..etc. on the surface, you might think..ok-Nice or Marseille might compare to San Diego, but they both get WAY more rain and are hotter in the summer. Click the links and look at those cities' hottest months' average temperatures as well as annual rainfall and raniest months.

I mean, if 75 isn't warm enough, then no, it's not the best. But for me 75 is plenty warm, remember, it's sunny most of the time.
regarding other cities that have a mediterranen climate- they fall under various Koppen classifications and trust me, they vary a LOT.


Vancouver, Seattle, need I really say anything.
San Francisco is deceptively cold for its latitude.
LA-nice but you've got the smog and it's warmer than SD.
Athens, Perth, Santiago etc-hot as HELL in the summer (for this type of climate)
Cape Town-very nice. Closest to San Diego on the list in terms of average summer temp and rainfall..still slightly hotter and slighly more rain.

source:
have lived in Queenstown, New Zealand, and Fairfax, Virginia. About to move to Mesa, Arizona
nothing else compares to San Diego's mild weather.

Weather varies a lot in New Zealand depending on where you are. For example, the weather on the East Coast of the North Island is a lot warmer and dryer than the West Coast. North Island is generally much warmer than the South Island. Wellington has some of the worst weather of all NZ cities as it is a very windy city which gets quite a bit of rain and isn't overly warm.

didn't read thread - have recently read very much about atenas, costa rica being voted "best climate on earth" by some reputable travel magazines/ others

Basically, 75F/24C and sunny year round dry weather, go for San Diego.

Same temperature but humid sometimes for those that love humidity(not me), Sydney or just a few hours north of it isn't bad. Perth also has nice weather in Western Australia.

Then there's Thailand etc etc.

If you prefer Europe, Spanish coast has great weather in that temperature range.

Miami, no, they got hurricanes.

Arizona winters are incredible. Summers can be brutal if you're near Phoenix but are far more tolerable in the mountains. I spent almost 2 years stationed in Sierra Vista, AZ and the weather was damn near perfect for me.