Business location experts cite the climate of a region as an important factor in business location decisions. Climate has a significant impact on the quality of life of individuals living in the region and on the attractiveness of a region to highly skilled mobile workers. It also impacts the cost of government and the services that are expected. Climate, then, is a factor that may be a competitive advantage or disadvantage to a region. If the former, it needs to be marketed. If the latter, it needs to be offset by other factors.

Air quality is probably the most frequently used indicator for overall environmental quality. In part, its use results from the availability of data that is mandated by the Clear Air Act.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established an overall Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) that integrates, into a single measurement, daily monitoring information on five pollutants that are regulated by the Clean Air Act. While there are differing standards and monitoring techniques for the five pollutants--sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and ozone--the PSI number expresses the worst daily air quality experienced in the metropolitan area among the five pollutants. A PSI value of greater than 100 indicates that at least one of the five pollutants exceeded air quality standards on a given day and would be characterized as being in an unhealthy range.

Though there is nothing a region can do about its weather, the comparative tables on climate still provide interesting information. Most of us get used to whatever climate exists where we live. We may in fact not think much about how it compares with the climates of other regions unless we have to deal with climate extremes, blizzards or floods. The limitation of the tables is that they provide averages and obscure significant variations from those averages in any particular year.

The other most frequent calculation for climate is precipitation. Figures are available for both average annual rainfall and for snow.

AIR QUALITY AND CLIMATE CHARTS

• Temperature, 1961-1990
• Sunshine Annual Average, 1990-1994 and 1999
• Annual Precipitation, 1999
• Annual Snowfall, 1996