Under the Weather
By Cayleigh O'Hare
Does the Weather Have An IMPACT On Our Moods?
About The Project
I wanted to see if this was a correlation between happiness in individual states in the U.S. with the amount of precipitation in that particular state and a correlation between happiness in the individual state and the temperature in the particular state. I analyzed the average temperature from last year (2019) as well as the average precipitation by state. I used a comprehensive 2019 study by Wallethub to determine the happiness scores from 0-100 of each state. Finally, I analyzed each of these together to see if there was any correlation.
What do we define as "weather"?
There are six main aspects of weather: temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind, humidity, and cloudiness. However, for the sake of research I chose to focus on temperature and precipitation as those are the most recorded and easiest to measure across a wide range of locations.
This map looks pretty familiar, as you can see cooler temperatures in the North and then they gradually get warmer as you move down in the country.
In the next graph, you can see that the happiness by state is very spread out except for a few states in the South and Midwest that the low scores seem to be concentrated in one area.
The final graph is the precipitation graph. The least amount of precipitation is in the Great Plains and in the Middle West. In the South, there is the most precipitation out of anywhere.
Conclusion
Closing Remarks
It seems as though there is a correlation (not a causation) between one factor of weather and happiness, and that factor is precipitation. In the South where there is the most rain (the precipitation wouldn't be snow since it is too hot), it is also the region that has the least happiest people. This could be due to the fact that rain brings flooding, which damages crops, and prevents people from driving. Rain also creates adverse conditions which can cause flight delays and car accidents, all of which induce negative emotions in people. In order for precipitation to occur, there also must be cloud formation which can block out the sun and cause darkness. According to this study by Scientific American, light getting blocked out can disrupt our circadian rhythm and even cause depression. You can also observe that Western states like California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho do not get much rain, and they also are some of the happiest states in the country. These are dry, desert states for the most part, so the less precipitation, the happier they are. Because this project was only based on temperature and precipitation, no conclusions can be drawn as to weather sunlight is actually correlated with mood. We cannot draw the conclusion that temperature is correlated with happiness, as some very cold states like Minnesota are happy, warm states in the South are unhappy, and warm states in the West are happy. However, precipitation often comes with a lack of sunlight and therefore could indicate that this lack of sunlight is causing people to be less happy.