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You are wrong. They are not humid at all. If you want a humid winter go to the border of the Great Lakes. It is dry, and we usually don't get too much snow. I can tell you it's nothing compared against say NE Ohio.
Yeah, it's simply too cold for humidity in Minnesota in the winter. It's bone dry around here from November-March. I've been known to run my humidifier non-stop through the cold months.
As far as snowfall goes, a lot of the country seems to think we're buried to the rooftops each winter, but we only get about 55" annually on average. That's the same amount that Denver gets in the winter, and Denver is in a semi-arid climate!
Aren't they frozen in the winter? I don't see how frozen lakes and rivers would contribute to humidity.
Exactly. The dew points around MSP are insanely low all winter because the lakes around here are typically frozen and the air most often is coming from Canada. That actually makes the winters more tolerable since it isn't a damp cold like you have closer to the great lakes.
I spent years 3-5 in Minneapolis...my first memories of the place were the blinding sunshine of a Minneapolis winter. Crystal blue skies without a cloud....bright sunshine made brighter by everything covered in white...even at that age My Mom made sure we had sunglasses (or goggles when playing in the snow) to protect our eyes.
Chicago gets the same feel but for only January.....There is something almost exotic about Minnesota winters. And for those from less frigid regions...it's really not that bad....it's all about skilled layering.
Nah, people from the Twin Cities compare Seattle to Minneapolis. I've never heard anyone from a state outside MN do this. I've also heard extreme local wonks compare TCs to the Bay Area. TCs are very nice, but it's telling that they look to Seattle while Seattle looks elsewhere. There's a major inferiority complex in Minneapolis, which is unecessary.
Well regardless if Seattle looks Minneapolis' way, it SHOULD. Few cities are more similar in many of the major indicators (population, density, GDP, diversity (or lack thereof), GDP/capita, income, education, employment/unemployment, etc.). They even look a lot alike (architecturally) and grew up primarily during the same eras (late 1800's/early 1900's).
It's no different than if Minneapolis doesn't look to San Diego, Denver, St. Louis, Cleveland, Portland, Baltimore or Pittsburgh -- just because they're atop of that heap population-wise or GDP-wise. They're all still peer cities, by and large.
Actually, you have no idea what I'm talking about.
People in the Twin Cities yearn towards places like Seattle, not Chicago like you would expect; Seattle, in turn, doesn't look towards the TCs (obviously), it looks towards the Bay Area. I believe we're saying the same basic things here, not sure why you'd think differently. Seattle and TCs may ostensibly be "peers," but Seattle is a level or two above overall when you break it down...and this includes "perception."
How many levels are there then, 100?
If Level 1 is NY or NY/LA/CHI and Level 2/3 is SF/DC/BOS/PHI for example, in what realm would Seattle be TWO levels beyond Minneapolis? Level 3/4 is SEA/DAL/ATL/HOU/MIA, Level 4/5 is PHX/DET/.......Riverside? And then Level 5/6 is MSP/STL/DEN/etc...?
That would be overstating SEA and potentially understating MSP. I guess I don't view the current situation that way whatsoever, boom times for Seattle or not (Mpls isn't exactly in decline either).
P.S. I'm noticing the anti-Midwest/anti-MSP people are taking up for Seattle in droves. They call this "hogpiling" in the NFL....I can't think of a better word for it here. Leave biases aside and provide objectionable data, where possible. Anecdotes are okay to a degree, as long as experience was actually had in both places (rather extensively).
I think you are right. Having lived in the Twin Cities myself, I think that people in Minneapolis yearn to be more like Seattle than a place like Chicago. In some ways I can see why. Lots of people living in Minneapolis are outdoorsy. They ski, hike, and enjoy winter sports. Minneapolis is a very nature oriented city. Seattle shares many of these traits with its nearby mountains and inland sea. Chicago is none of them.
Plus lots of people in Minnesota have Scandnavian heritage. In my own experience, I find that Minnesotans tend to idealize Norwegian, and Swedish Heritage. Many Nordic people also came to Seattle because it reminded them of Old Scandanvia. I think the draw towards Seattle has something to do with this as well.
When a Minnesotan of Nordic heritage thinks of Scandnavian sensbilities, Chicago does not come to mind. The first thought is Seattle.
The quotes below are taken from an Old Article concerning the early residents of Seattle from Scandinavia.
"The jagged summits of the Olympics now appeared clear and cold, sticking out of the dark, green bank of firs on the foothills. I thought of Norway. This scene was different but just as beautiful," wrote O.B. Iverson, a Norwegian immigrant who settled north of Seattle in the 19th century.
By 1910, about one-third of Seattle's foreign-born residents hailed from Sweden, Norway, Denmark or Finland. They established a Nordic community in Ballard and defined a young city's ethnic identity — a legacy that endures.
The Twin Cities and Minnesota/Wisconsin is also HEAVILY German, and also Irish and Polish (which coincidentally is 90% of my ethnic background). I don't know if that's also true of Seattle/Washington but it is very true of Chicagoland, which is probably why 50% of my family lives there and 95% of my extended family lives in the Upper Midwest between Detroit and MSP (and my mother and older sister grew up/were born in Chicago). I'm at least somewhat representative of the region from which I was raised, too, so it's not really an anomaly. For this reason, Chicago has some ties to the Twin Cities, even if it's small.
As it were, I do not look Seattle's way whatsoever when I think of my city or region. I look to the East, if at all.
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