I just read that New York State will have its presidential primary on Feb 5, 2008. So far I think New Jersey, California and who knows how many other states are planning their Presidential primaries for that date. 2/5/2008 could also be in the middle of a freezing cold spell. For example on Feb 5, 2007, the average temperature in Central Park, NYC, was 13 degrees F.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KNYC/2007/2/5/DailyHistory.h...

Being a pessimist, I can see lots of problems.

The states we previously associated with mid-winter primaries are Iowa and New Hampshire, separated, I think, by a week. Then will come big super Tuesday--Feb 5. I have never been to Iowa in the winter, but I think the populace there is similar to New Hamshire in a snow-and-ice-friendly kind of way. That is folks in those states keep moving around during the winter no matter the weather. Obviously, skiing is a major tourist industry in New Hamshire--so snow is welcome. And in those two states, the presidential primaries themselves are tourist/media attractions--so I think the folks in those states are higly motivated to vote (or caucus as in Iowa) even in bad weather.

While I would expect upstate NY to turn out on a snowy primary day, the NYC metro area and South Jersey are another story. Especially if the fact that your state is having a primary is not so important, since so may other states are having it on the same day too. I realize a state can postpone the primary for a week or two if the weather is awful and voters can now vote by mail in many locales, but it just seems to me that mid-February is asking for trouble. Is this nothing to worry about or what?