"Use what you know"
I've lived in coastal California, just outside Atlanta and now Mississippi, with a couple visits to relatives in Kansas and Ohio. As well as a couple week-long trip to Arizona, Wisconsin & Chicago. Most of my campaigns I run in spring/summer areas where the heat index makes plate a bad idea.
...Speaking of snow, the very first time I encountered snow was at system training in Chicago (I was just out of college). When fighting my way through the wind between buildings, I saw a huge pile of snow and decided to fall/allow myself to be blow into it. I had no idea that the wind could freeze it hard as concrete, ouch!!!