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I'm an Arizona native but if I were to ever participate in the act of snow birding in my life I probably wouldn't look to Arizona. Winter day temperatures here are amazing, yes, but not the night temps. In some ways it sort of eliminates the whole point of snow birding. Not that it isn't better than Alberta or Michigan where most of the snow birds are coming from but to me if I'm wanting to escape the cold I would want to do it in full. It's all or nothing. Here it can easily go in the 30s or 20s. But I would say night time averages in the 40s. Maybe the Arizonan in me is speaking but that's not necessarily warm.
San Diego really depends on if you're near the ocean or not. I wouldn't say it's necessarily warm there either though.
Florida however is a lot more mild in the winter in comparison. And it's pretty affordable. The gulf side of Florida has similar prices to Arizona COL and even then you're pretty close to a beach (a couple blocks in or so) that is a lot warmer than the Pacific... which is why I think Florida is winning. City amenities might vary but based on sheer temperatures and location I would pick Florida over my own home for snow birding.
I think it has nothing to do with homers. Yes Florida has more people but I know people in Florida who complain about it day in and day out. I think it's people realizing you can get some of the amenities as SD (beach) with warmer temperatures than SD and PHX, golf which frankly is everywhere, and Arizona COL in certain parts of Florida. Sorry but unless Arizona annexes Puerto Penasco it's not going to beat Florida here. However, some people would rather hike than have the beach in which case... not Florida though I do have to say a lot of snow birds aren't very fit and thus shouldn't try hiking Camelback. The beach is a little more friendly to the elderly than the mountains are.
I'm an Arizona native but if I were to ever participate in the act of snow birding in my life I probably wouldn't look to Arizona. Winter day temperatures here are amazing, yes, but not the night temps. In some ways it sort of eliminates the whole point of snow birding. Not that it isn't better than Alberta or Michigan where most of the snow birds are coming from but to me if I'm wanting to escape the cold I would want to do it in full. It's all or nothing. Here it can easily go in the 30s or 20s. But I would say night time averages in the 40s. Maybe the Arizonan in me is speaking but that's not necessarily warm.
San Diego really depends on if you're near the ocean or not. I wouldn't say it's necessarily warm there either though.
Florida however is a lot more mild in the winter in comparison. And it's pretty affordable. The gulf side of Florida has similar prices to Arizona COL and even then you're pretty close to a beach (a couple blocks in or so) that is a lot warmer than the Pacific... which is why I think Florida is winning. City amenities might vary but based on sheer temperatures and location I would pick Florida over my own home for snow birding.
I think it has nothing to do with homers. Yes Florida has more people but I know people in Florida who complain about it day in and day out. I think it's people realizing you can get some of the amenities as SD (beach) with warmer temperatures than SD and PHX, golf which frankly is everywhere, and Arizona COL in certain parts of Florida. Sorry but unless Arizona annexes Puerto Penasco it's not going to beat Florida here. However, some people would rather hike than have the beach in which case... not Florida though I do have to say a lot of snow birds aren't very fit and thus shouldn't try hiking Camelback. The beach is a little more friendly to the elderly than the mountains are.
Thanks for the excellent and thoughful post. FL is definitely the warmest place from Nov-March in the lower 48. So it wins for warm and COL. But some might like the CA culture better, and the feel of the western U.S.. And some may prefer hiking and wide open spaces over beach activities (SD and AZ have a lot of of great hiking - and Sedona, Palm Springs, etc... close). And there are some that feel Florida culture in some places just feels a little more...I don't want to use the term trashy...but it just has a lower end feel than say SoCal in many places when I visited. I can articulate it exactly. On paper it looks better because it's warmer and COL, but one always has to visit these places to get the "feel" of it, and I know a lot of Californians that do not end up liking FL despite it being a bit warmer in winter. Also FL is very, very flat, it's hard to know how much you miss all the hills & vistas of SD (of mountains and ocean) until you try it for yourself.
I have lived in SD in winters, and it is no slouch weather wise, most days are in the high 60's, clear, sunny - but it can cool off quite a bit at night. But most days you are in shorts and sandals and you can hike in shorts all winter long there. When I was in St. Pete Beach FL area last Jan I still needed a sweatshirt by sunset.
Thanks for the excellent and thoughful post. FL is definitely the warmest place from Nov-March in the lower 48. So it wins for warm and COL. But some might like the CA culture better, and the feel of the western U.S.. And some may prefer hiking and wide open spaces over beach activities (SD and AZ have a lot of of great hiking - and Sedona, Palm Springs, etc... close). And there are some that feel Florida culture in some places just feels a little more...I don't want to use the term trashy...but it just has a lower end feel than say SoCal in many places when I visited. I can articulate it exactly. On paper it looks better because it's warmer and COL, but one always has to visit these places to get the "feel" of it, and I know a lot of Californians that do not end up liking FL despite it being a bit warmer in winter. Also FL is very, very flat, it's hard to know how much you miss all the hills & vistas of SD (of mountains and ocean) until you try it for yourself.
I have lived in SD in winters, and it is no slouch weather wise, most days are in the high 60's, clear, sunny - but it can cool off quite a bit at night. But most days you are in shorts and sandals and you can hike in shorts all winter long there. When I was in St. Pete Beach FL area last Jan I still needed a sweatshirt by sunset.
I guess I can see that. My parents are life long Arizonans and are making the jump to Florida next year. They are looking at the Naples area. They went in August and thought the weather was great. They're gonna love the beach and since Naples is in a conservative area in a very gun-friendly state, they're really gonna love it there. However my memories of Florida, haven't been in a while, are not necessarily the best. I remember sweating my *** off in Orlando at Disneyworld lol. And being bit by mosquitos a lot. I've noticed that mosquitos tend to avoid me, I must not be very tasty, but they sure like me in Florida. And Florida is going to identify more with the Southeast and the Northeast (Miami) then the rest of the country. In the eyes of some, that's a negative. I definitely prefer how life runs out here and I can see why.
Hiking is great here but the times you can go are limiting. In our hot months you pretty much have to go within 1-2 hours after the sun has risen other wise it's too hot. Same for the evening, and the mountains are closed at night. I wouldn't dare hike at night here anyway because that's when the snakes and the majority of desert creatures like to come outside. But in snow bird season you can pretty much go at any time. I still like to go around sunrise because it's practically dead as in no people, it's quiet, and the sunrise is beautiful. It's a little chillier which helps motivate me to be more active, which apparently is the opposite of most people. The mountains here are pretty crowded during normal day time hours during snow bird season, but that's expected. Sometimes it's hard with people cluttering and taking up the trails.
I thought that inland San Diego was fine like El Cajones but right along the coast in La Jolla was colder than expected and it's not that friendly to someone who wants to snow bird (since the whole point is being warm). Probably the ocean breeze causing that.
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