Dear Chicagoans (Pittsburg, Cleveland, Detroit: live, buses, moving)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

I personally like winter. Its not a big deal to me.

I'm with you. I grew up in Minnesota which is a lot worse on average, but I am a fan of snow. It can be really beautiful, but Chicago doesn't snow a ton (Boston snows more on average). I mean in all honesty, it doesn't snow a TON, I live in the urban core, I don't own a car and take public transit everywhere (or walk, or take a cab) and I live in a high rise where the sidewalks are shoveled for me. Not much to complain about honestly.

Sometimes it can get cold obviously, but nothing that can't be fixed if you know how to dress for the cold days. I think that's pretty underrated from people. Get some 180s, some decent gloves, a coat, and a scarf or something. There's people from all over the world living here. My friend from Saudi Arabia hated winter until he finally learned how to dress for it. Now I never hear him complaining about it.

[IEnjoyBeer]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

I personally like winter. Its not a big deal to me. I really hate hot weather. Basically Chicago weather is pretty good from April to November. It starts getting colder and more wintry around Thanksgiving. It warms up in April. December is kind of a mixed bag and you are usually too busy with the holidays to notice winter plus there is a novelty factor. That leaves Jan Feb and March. The cold months. That is it in a nutshell.

When you have lived in Upstate New York your whole life, its a bit different. You either love it or hate it. Winter here is an extreme.

Most cities average ~100 inches of snow a year.

100.

Chicago averages around 38, or 1/3rd of a normal Upstate winter. Not to mention, the lakes make the region much cloudier than pretty much every other region of the country save for the Pacific Northwest.

Honestly, the sun has probably been out for 7-9 full days since November. Thats an Upstate New York winter.

This tires on you after a while.

[IEnjoyBeer]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'm with you. I grew up in Minnesota which is a lot worse on average, but I am a fan of snow. It can be really beautiful, but Chicago doesn't snow a ton (Boston snows more on average). I mean in all honesty, it doesn't snow a TON, I live in the urban core, I don't own a car and take public transit everywhere (or walk, or take a cab) and I live in a high rise where the sidewalks are shoveled for me. Not much to complain about honestly.

Sometimes it can get cold obviously, but nothing that can't be fixed if you know how to dress for the cold days. I think that's pretty underrated from people. Get some 180s, some decent gloves, a coat, and a scarf or something. There's people from all over the world living here. My friend from Saudi Arabia hated winter until he finally learned how to dress for it. Now I never hear him complaining about it.

At best, Minnesota winters are on par with Upstate.

At worst, Upstate winters are worse.

Upstate NY gets just as cold, its cloudier, and snowier. If you can imagine that, as a Minnesotan.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by IEnjoyBeer

When you have lived in Upstate New York your whole life, its a bit different. You either love it or hate it. Winter here is an extreme.

Most cities average ~100 inches of snow a year.

100.

Chicago averages around 38, or 1/3rd of a normal Upstate winter. Not to mention, the lakes make the region much cloudier than pretty much every other region of the country save for the Pacific Northwest.

Honestly, the sun has probably been out for 7-9 full days since November. Thats an Upstate New York winter.

This tires on you after a while.

Well if it's primarily the snow you're sick of... yeah, maybe Chicago could be a viable alternative. It gets cold here, about as cold as Upstate NY cities. But we never get more snow in one storm than a higher-end snowblower can handle.

[Michael Scott]

As a lifetime Floridian thinking strongly about moving to Chicago, I'm a little nervous about the dead of the winter, but that that I very much so dislike being warm. I think besides the really, really cold months, I will enjoy the cold. Plus, in my field, we are usually locked at the client site all day from January to March or April, so I won't be too exposed in the really cold months. I'm looking forward to the spring and fall so much, its something you don't get in Florida.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by IEnjoyBeer

At best, Minnesota winters are on par with Upstate.

At worst, Upstate winters are worse.

Upstate NY gets just as cold, its cloudier, and snowier. If you can imagine that, as a Minnesotan.

If you're talking about snow then I totally agree with you. Minnesota is a lot colder than most of the NE (except a few areas) in the winter. Anyway, you will almost never, ever get snow like that or even close in the city. I know people here who freak out when we're supposed to get 5 inches of snow like it's actually a lot. Every once in awhile there's a blizzard..2 years ago we had 15 inches, but that's rare. In the city, especially the core, things were cleared off by the next day. Very rare.

If one of your main things is the snow, the wind whipping the snow into your face i.e. a blizzard, etc then you won't have a problem in Chicago unless you live in a suburb way far away. Every once in awhile it can get weird like that but I'd say it's fairly rare. I have experienced winters on par if not worse, overall (when you count the temperature) than the NE and Chicago's winters are on average a walk in the park compared to it (even if they're cold, they're nowhere near what you'll find in parts of MN, Wisconsin, parts of the NE, etc).

[IEnjoyBeer]

Originally Posted by Drover

Well if it's primarily the snow you're sick of... yeah, maybe Chicago could be a viable alternative. It gets cold here, about as cold as Upstate NY cities. But we never get more snow in one storm than a higher-end snowblower can handle.

Yeah I havent been to Chicago in winter, just through O'Hare when I went to Western Michigan for a semester on my way to Cedar Rapids, but ive been only in spring/summer.

The snow aspect is something not nearly as extreme.

Its a lesser winter for sure that im contemplating doing, despite my loathing for winter (thanks Upstate).

I do hear that its quite cloudy and cold though. I wonder if its substantially different than here.

[IEnjoyBeer]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I 100% agree with you. You will almost never, ever get snow like that or even close in the city. Hell, my project manager told us to work from home last week when we had about 4 inches of snow. Every once in awhile there's a blizzard..2 years ago we had 15 inches, but that's rare. In the city, especially the core, things were cleared off by the next day. Very rare.

Ive been to MN too, have friends in Woodbury, dated a St Paul girl.

Been in late May and late Feb/early March.

It was noticably sunnier than Upstate.

TC are great cities.

I love Chicago too, its just the winter.. This is a choice ill have to make over the next little while.

[IEnjoyBeer]

Another thing is that in Chicago id be living in the Northside commuting to work on the L and busses, and outside much more frequently than I am here, which is probably the number one reason why people get up about Chicago winter's so much. At least in Upstate, or Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, etc. youre in your car.

There really isnt any other major public transit city in the country that has such a winter. NYC, Philly, DC and SF either dont have a real winter or are mild.

Boston is the only comparable.

It may not be a bad winter, but youre consistently outside so much.

[marothisu]

Read above, I added on more. Honestly speaking. From someone who grew up where it snowed every other day sometime and was cold, the winters here are a walk in the park. HOWEVER, if you just absolutely hate hate hate cold weather, then yeah, not for you obviously.

People over here tend to overrate the winters though. I've experienced exactly one day of the winters I've lived here where I thought "**** it's cold as **** out." The rest are usually "not bad" or "it's cold out but could be worse."