OT: How bad is living up in the snow?

schudini

Active member
As a native "cracker" (it's not offensive if I say it about myself ;) ), I never had to deal with snow.

Thinking about making a change.

To the people who come from states at and around the middle of the eastern seaboard (VA, Penn, OH, etc.), how bad is it living in the snow and cold? How does it compare to the heat and humidity of the south (i.e. which is worse)?
 
I grew up 50 miles southwest of Chicago. The change of seasons is nice, spring is great, summer seemed just as hot as here, fall was nice, but winter was rough. I didn't mind the cold as much as the dry air and trying to get to work when it snowed was ridiculous.I spent almost a year working in Happauge Long Island and the weather seemed the same as Illinois. I spent one winter in the mountains of Pennsylvania and It was about the same. You will have a hard time finding sweet tea and cuban sandwiches up there though.
 
I was born and raised on Long Island, (actually worked in Happauge too for a few years) So I was very used to the seasons / traffic / snow. After the winter of 2003/2004 where it snowed 2-4" almost every week, we had enough, and came down here. Now when I go back to visit I wonder why I didn't move hear 15-20 years ago. There are a few things I miss but not so much as to make me even think about going back. One thing I don't understand about here is why there are no diners like the ones in the north. Typically they are owned by Greek familys, open 24 hrs a day, the menu is 8-10 pages thick with just about anything you could possibly want to eat at any time of day or night
 
I grew up 50 miles southwest of Chicago. The change of seasons is nice, spring is great, summer seemed just as hot as here, fall was nice, but winter was rough. I didn't mind the cold as much as the dry air and trying to get to work when it snowed was ridiculous.I spent almost a year working in Happauge Long Island and the weather seemed the same as Illinois. I spent one winter in the mountains of Pennsylvania and It was about the same. You will have a hard time finding sweet tea and cuban sandwiches up there though.

But would you ever want to go back to live there?
 
why there are no diners like the ones in the north. Typically they are owned by Greek familys, open 24 hrs a day, the menu is 8-10 pages thick with just about anything you could possibly want to eat at any time of day or night

There is an awesome 24/7 diner on the corner of W Columbus and N Lincoln Ave, not too far from the stadium.


Thanks for the info guys, keep it coming.
 
I used to travel all over the country for work, and after 10 years of bouncing around the US I decided to settle here. Everyplace has its pros and cons,but as for me I have no desire to go live anywhere else.
One thing I don't understand about here is why there are no diners like the ones in the north. Typically they are owned by Greek familys, open 24 hrs a day, the menu is 8-10 pages thick with just about anything you could possibly want to eat at any time of day or night
In Illinois they were Greek, or Albanian owned and were"family restaurants or pancake houses" and yes I do miss those
 
I grew up in Missouri (you get both the hot and cold) and had a lot of fun during the summers fishing, swimming, nice rivers and lakes. The season change and the hill sides are also nice. I couldn't stand the snow and cold weather. I have no desire go back and there is no replacement to living close to the ocean. Snow sounds like fun but not when you have shovel, live, and drive in it. Not to mention there usually isn't much going on in the cooler months as far as things to do.

There are more usable outdoor months living in this area and I'd pick being warm vs. cold any day. Don't do it man! Make a vacation out of it if you have to experience it but I wouldn't go back. Good luck
 
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I have no desire go back and there is no replacement to living close to the ocean.

There are more usable outdoor months living in this area and I'd pick being warm vs. cold any day. Don't do it man!

Especially no good diving up there probably!


(and no awesome reef club ;) )
 
I live on Long Island NY but have been down south many times and was stationed down there for a while in the Army.
I like the changing of the seasons and in the fall we take trips upstate to take riverboat rides and see the fall folliage. That is a big deal here and tough to get hotel or B&B reservations. In the winter many of us ski or just go to ski lodges to hang out in private hot tubs in the snow.
The houses are built for the cold and snow and last winter it went to zero degrees and we had I think one snowfall of about 20".
It is not like years ago, the snow used to be around all winter, now two days after it stops snowing, most of it is gone and the roads are generally cleared the same day.
The cold is not bad, if it's cold, you put on warm clothes. In the tropics when it is 110 degrees, what do you do? Of course in NY it also gets to 100 degrees and we usually have very high humidity, it is one of the few places on earth where the temperature varies over 100 degrees from summer to winter.
This is not near my house but sometimes it looks somewhat like this

frozen.jpg


Especially no good diving up there probably!

Not so, I have about 200 dives here in NY and although our visability is measured in inches we find much more unusual things than in the tropics.
Most everything that sunk here is still there with everything on it. There are 2,000 shipwrecks around Long Island and they are covered in "real" lobsters, not those sissy tropical lobsters.
Tropical diving is great and I have been to many tropical places but fish are common, sunken submarines, railroad cars, airplanes and machine guns are not :spin2:

One thing I don't understand about here is why there are no diners like the ones in the north. Typically they are owned by Greek familys, open 24 hrs a day, the menu is 8-10 pages thick with just about anything you could possibly want to eat at any time of day or night

And there are probably 25 of them with in walking distance of my house. :wave:
Thats one of the main things I miss in the south, good restaurants. I know there are some but I don't like chain restaurants, I like good sea food restaurants and I think I could eat in a different one everty night for the rest of my life and never hit the same one twice. Red Lobster doesn't count :D
But I like to eat.

I also love everything about the Florida Keys
 
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I live in Ohio and I love getting the change in the seasons. Yes sometimes snow can be a PITA but there is nothing like waking up with a fresh 3 inches of clean snow on the ground. The worst is the ice we get hear sometimes but I will put up with it to get the change in seasons. This all might change when I get older but being only 27 I dont mind pushing the snow around.
 
"Florida cracker" is a completely separate term than the racial slur "cracker." For the record. Ever been to Cracker Country at the Florida State Fair? Pretty neat little deal, and I'm sure they wouldn't call it that if it was a slur. I'm at least 4th generation native Florida cracker. Just learned this recently. Thought I was probably only second generation native. :)

Anyway, I have good friends all over the country, and it seems to me like the best thing to do is be a snowbird. lol Summers up north and winters down here! Yes, it gets just as hot everywhere else, but it only lasts a couple months, and it actually cools off at night even when it's at its hottest.

Also look at property taxes. In some areas of the northeast, they are INSANE.
 
I grew up on Long Island and just moved down here 6 months ago. The heat and humidity was killer for me to get used to. I miss the diners for sure but I'm going to miss the change of seasons and fall. I also miss being so close to New York City. The diversity is incredible. You can get any ethnic food you can think of. Dinner in China town, desert in Little Italy! I agree there's pros and cons of living anywhere. To me, that will always be home and I'll miss certain things. On the other hand there's plenty to do down here that I didn't have up north.
 
You can get just about any ethnic food here, too. You just have to ask around/know where to look. Probably not as prevalent as what you're talking about, but definitely wouldn't write it off.
 
"Florida cracker" is a completely separate term than the racial slur "cracker."

Also look at property taxes. In some areas of the northeast, they are INSANE.

Did not know that. :worried: I was indeed referring to "Florida cracker".


Good tip on the property taxes. Thanks.
 
I grew up in upstate NY for 21 years and the winters SUCK!!! I would not go back for anything -20 below and you can't breath. But just think snowmobiling was great but how fun is your hands freezing along with your lungs, we thought that was fun!
 
I grew up in the midwest, fall is awesome I really miss it. That said the winters get old fast, scraping your windows in the morning, warming up your car before you go anywhere are all things we take for granted. I had to go back in December 2 years ago and it was 20 below the morning I flew back, tried to fill up the rental car and the gas cover was frozen shut!

I say if you decide to make the move go somewhere where you can ski, snowboard, snowmobile, ice skate, make the most of it.
 
Also look at property taxes. In some areas of the northeast, they are INSANE.

Here you go. $11,800 in property Taxes per year on Long Island.
2300 sqft, 1/2 acre property, city water, and because Long Island has such a good water table and drainage 99% of homes have a septic system as opposed to sewer. Dont forget Long Island is in the top 5 highest electric rates in the USA. That's why I will never go back except to visit.

July4.jpg


Here is some snow
Jan 2010
PC200679Jan2010.jpg


And some from this year

P1121150.jpg



PC200683jan2010.jpg
 
Here you go. $11,800 in property Taxes per year on Long Island.
2300 sqft, 1/2 acre property,

I pay those same taxes and am on about 1/8th of an acre, 40' X 100'.

Snow bird is the way to go.
 
"Florida cracker" is a completely separate term than the racial slur "cracker." For the record. Ever been to Cracker Country at the Florida State Fair? Pretty neat little deal, and I'm sure they wouldn't call it that if it was a slur. I'm at least 4th generation native Florida cracker. Just learned this recently. Thought I was probably only second generation native. :)

Anyway, I have good friends all over the country, and it seems to me like the best thing to do is be a snowbird. lol Summers up north and winters down here! Yes, it gets just as hot everywhere else, but it only lasts a couple months, and it actually cools off at night even when it's at its hottest.

Also look at property taxes. In some areas of the northeast, they are INSANE.

The two words are not separate at all, and where you are in FL often makes the difference in meaning of the word. In most of central FL it has become something that native Floridians are proud of because they associate it with the cattle ranchers and rural pioneers of FL, hence Cracker Country, Cracker horses, and Cracker cattle. If you head to the panhandle "cracker" is often considered and insult, and in more urban areas it usually has the racist connotation.

And back to the original question...my wife moved here from northern VA and she says she will never go back. She misses the seasons and that is about it.
 
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