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Chicago is the 20th Dreariest City in America, Even With Days Like Today

 One Chicagoan's reaction to Monday's weather.
One Chicagoan's reaction to Monday's weather.
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DOWNTOWN — Bummed about the snow today, Chicago? Don't be. 

Plenty of other places have it worse.

Based solely on cloudiness and precipitation, Chicago ranks just 20th on a "dreariness index" calculated by Alaskan meteorologist Brian Brettschneider. 

Though nobody likes snowstorms after St. Patrick's Day, Chicagoans should be cheery that their weather is deemed less gloomy than that of many coastal cities including New York, Seattle and Boston. Chicago's weather ranks better than even Southern locales including Houston and Nashville, according to Brettschneider's index. 


Blue is bad. Take that, Seattle! (Credit: Brian Brettschneider)

Published on Monday morning by The Atlantic's CityLab, the study is admittedly flawed and doesn't take into account temperature, wind or sunshine. Still, Brettschneider said his work provides a good idea which places have the most drab, gray days.

Click the link for a full list of American dreariness by city. Meanwhile, we'll try to recall this story fondly when we're hiking through sludge later. In March. 

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