<p>I am familiar with both Western New York and SoCal, so I am going to weigh in.</p>
<p>I concur with those posters who have said that in Buffalo, function is more important than fashion. Buffalonians dress far more conservatively than San Diegans. In Buffalo, “designer label” clothing is dismissed as an overpriced frivolity, and styles considered “fashionable” in San Diego are likely to be viewed by Buffalonians as extreme, bizarre, and “I-wouldn’t-be-caught-dead-in-that!” tacky. Dressing appropriately means dressing for the occasion as well as dressing for the weather. Your daughter should dress conservatively whenever she attends the philharmonic or the theater, visits a “nice” restaurant, or visits someone’s home. For job interviews and other important meetings, she should dress very conservatively. </p>
<p>When choosing Buffalo climate clothes, your daughter should make quality her priority.</p>
<p>Buffalo weather is nowhere near as “bad” as reported by the mass media. (I much prefer it to SoCal weather.) Buffalo has four distinct seasons (not just “Winter and the Fourth of July”). Fall (late August through mid-November) is crisp, rainy, and sometimes very windy. Winter (mid-November through mid-March) is cold (but rarely below 20 degrees), very snowy, and often very windy. Spring (mid-March through May) is cold, windy, and snowy-turned-slushy through March, and then very rainy and gradually warmer from April through May. Summer (June through August) is comfortably hot and humid with frequent–and intense–thunderstorms.</p>
<p>For underwear and indoor wear, layers are the way to go. Your daughter will need long-sleeved cotton shirts, cotton turtlenecks, wool sweaters, and something warm (knee socks, long johns, dancewear leggings, or–in a pinch–panty hose) to wear under her jeans/pants. Thick, warm socks are a must. She should have flannel sheets and a quilted comforter for her bed. She will need suitable bedclothes, and a warm bathrobe and slippers. </p>
<p>Outerwear is key. From now until the end of May, your daughter will need outerwear. Yes, some native Buffalonians consider temperatures above 40 degrees to be “t-shirt weather,” but your daughter is not a native Buffalonian; she will find “mild” Buffalo weather to be exceedingly cold until she has lived in the area for awhile, and has had time to adjust to the climate. </p>
<p>For fall and spring, your daughter will need a windbreaker, a medium-weight jacket, and–most important–a good quality full-length raincoat, preferably with a detachable hood and a zip-in/out quilted lining. She will need mid-calf rain boots which keep her feet dry and warm. Boots (and casual shoes) must have good tread, because rain-soaked leaves (there will be plenty of them) are as slippery as ice. The boots should have enough leg clearance for her to tuck in her jeans/pants. She will need a rain hat, medium-weight gloves, and a scarf to keep her neck and lower face covered on exceptionally windy days. She should invest in the best quality umbrella she can find, because Buffalo winds will snap a cheap umbrella in a heartbeat. On very windy days, any umbrella (no matter how well made) will be useless–perhaps even dangerous–to her.</p>
<p>For winter, your daughter will need a full-length (at or preferably below the knee) warmly-lined coat, and a thick quilted mid-length jacket with a hood. She will need warm wool hats, thick wool scarves, thickly lined gloves, and–most important–thickly lined mid-calf to knee-high snow boots with exceptionally good tread. (Icy streets and sidewalks are treacherous.) As with her rain boots, her snow boots should have enough leg clearance for her to tuck in her jeans/pants. </p>
<p>Your daughter’s bookbag/backpack, purse, shoe bags, and other carry-alls should be rain and snow-resistant. Her watch should be water-resistant. If she wears contact lenses, she will find it painful to wear them on exceptionally windy or frigid days; on those days, she should wear her glasses outside, and then change into her contacts once she gets inside.</p>
<p>Your daughter should expect buildings to be well-heated. Fortunately, Buffalo is a walkable city–there is always someplace to duck into to get out of the cold. The public transit system is good; your daughter will not need a car (or have to resort to taking taxis) to get almost anywhere she wants to go. She should listen to weather forecasts and heed them. On extreme weather days, local radio will be her best source of information about emergency closures and cancellations.</p>
<p>I think your daughter will love Buffalo. (Go Bills!) I wish her the best.</p>