Question about Oakland County (Detroit, Rochester Hills: 2015, apartment, condo) - Michigan (MI) - City-Data Forum

WinterK · 05-21-2015, 06:16 PM

Hi, I am originally from Rochester. I am thinking about moving back to get out of the heat of Florida. I am miserable all summer which for us is May to October. We had next to no winter temps at all this past year. Believe it or not, I get tired of always sweating, wearing shorts, makeup melting, hair frizzing, etc. A lot of people love it, but I do not. I miss the change of seasons.

Unfortunately I never got a chance to drive in the snow and ice since I was transplanted to "The Sunshine State" by my parents at age 17. Are the roads in Oakland County cleared pretty quickly after a snowstorm? Did you have the same bad winter this year that the news showed in Boston, New England, etc. where people had to go up on the roof to knock off the snow? From my years there, I don't remember my dad having to do anything like this. Hopefully if I lived in a condo/apt. there would be a maintenance service that would do this if necessary, or maybe this is wishful thinking.

I am retired and do not have to commute. The area I would like to be in would be the immediate Rochester area, or nearby towns. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

animatedmartian · 05-21-2015, 06:38 PM

I don't know about the side streets in the Rochester area specifically, but usually the main roads and freeways are plowed pretty much as the snow is falling. Side streets are usually plowed by later in the day.

This past winter, there was only a couple of days where the plows literally got overwhelmed and even with guys working overtime, people couldn't go anywhere for a whole day or two because of back to back snow storms. Though, nothing so bad to the point of needing to knock snow off of roofs. However, it did get dangerously cold pretty often. For quite a while, temperatures struggled to get above zero and pretty much all of the Great Lakes nearly froze completely over. You'd pretty much be going out of the oven to get in the freezer. Just trade shorts for heavy coats and sweating for shivering.

DTWflyer · 05-21-2015, 08:37 PM

You will be perfectly fine in Metro Detroit in almost every type of vehicle.
Everyone gets around fine here in all types of vehicles.

The biggest thing that will be different here than in Florida will be that you will want to be sure that your vehicle is in good shape and mechanical repair to drive in winter/cold weather. For most around here this is no big deal, and should be a part of routine maintenance in all climates, however you can get away with some things in a place like Florida that you can't here.

This includes stuff like having functional windshield wipers, washer fluid, replacing an old battery, making sure your heat/defroster systems work, ensuring you have adequate tire tread, a snow/ice scrapper & brush in the vehicle, etc.]

In the Detroit area, in a "normal" winter we typically have about ~10 days per winter of poor winter driving conditions - where there the main roads are snow covered during the rush hour commutes. Of those ~10 days, maybe 3 days are really of the type where they truly impact commerce where you should avoid being on the roads, would not come into work, deep snow or ice where the plow crews cannot keep-up, etc.
(Winter 2014-2015 had a very cold streak in Jan-Feb but a relatively average snow fall, Winter 2013-2014 was an extreme outlier of cold and the record snowfall for the winter, Winter 2011/2012 was an extreme outlier of mild & little snow).

This isn't the land of the frozen tundra here. The biggest difference in winter driving will be adjusting speed, steering, and braking for lower traction situations.

WinterK · 05-21-2015, 08:46 PM

Thanks for the info, sounds like I might be able to deal with it. I guess it would be like going from the oven to freezer, but I love cold weather. I also love the fall, we don't cool down much in FL until maybe November. Yuck!

DTWflyer · 05-21-2015, 09:02 PM

If you are retired then the snow should really be a non-issue as you can likely plan most of your trips around the weather. You probably no reason then to need to drive in really bad snowy weather or more importantly have to deal with rush-hour commuting in snow.

Most winters it seems we get into a cycle of cold and snow they a brief warm-up and most the snow melts, and then it just repeats. The past two winters have seen the most consistent cold weather than I can remember in over 10 years.
In Winter 2013-2014 we had snow on the ground from right Christmas/early January - late March. It was a sold 3 months of snow cover. This past winter was less snow and it didn't really come much until late January, but it stayed around for about 6 weeks.

DaniellaG · 05-23-2015, 12:45 AM

I am from Oakland County but I was living in Boca Raton for awhile. While I am not a fan of winter I really disliked FL long summers filled with humidity and heat.
When was the last time you were here? If I were you I would come for a vacation or a couple weeks in the winter and just see how you feel. Now winters vary a lot like the year before this one we had record snow and cold temps. This year was not as bad and nothing like Boston got.
They are good about clearing the snow and salting. You just have to be careful and being retired if we got a major snowfall to me it is just better to wait till you know it is cleared but even large snow falls it is usually less then a day but most often a couple hours. If you live in a condo/apartment they do all the upkeep like shoveling or roof issues.

snoopygirlmi · 05-23-2015, 10:01 AM

It really depends on the neighborhood you are in.

If you are closer to downtown Rochester or the main roads, then you will get plowed out pretty quickly. (w/in 24-48 hours)

If you are closer to Oakland Township, then you'll be waiting longer because the bulk of the population is in Rochester/Rochester Hills.

dburbs1975 · 05-27-2015, 11:34 PM

"Unfortunately I never got a chance to drive in the snow and ice since I was transplanted to "The Sunshine State" by my parents at age 17. "

cannot see why that is unfortunate.

"Are the roads in Oakland County cleared pretty quickly after a snowstorm?"
NO. They changed the plowing rules in the last few years and will do nothing for snow under 3" so it got worse, and varies city to city depending on how many (functioning) plows the town has.

".. where people had to go up on the roof to knock off the snow?"
From the 20 + years I lived in D area, I knocked roof snow off with a roof rake most years many times to prevent ice damming.

"Hopefully if I lived in a condo/apt. there would be a maintenance service that would do this if necessary, or maybe this is wishful thinking. "
you can buy good help anywhere you are, in the last couple of years I lived in the D we prepaid each fall for snow removal a flat rate regardless of how much it snowed. Well worth it.

us66 · 06-14-2015, 02:08 PM

Snow (and especially ice) removal is noticeably worse the last several years. Lots of residential streets don't really get salted anymore. It's all very city to city, day to day, and snowstorm to snowstorm. Some snowfalls, the road crew does a great job, the next one, they do little. Friday night to Sunday night seems to be the worst for snow and ice removal. I work Saturday mornings and I have noticed this over the years.

animatedmartian · 06-14-2015, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by us66

Snow (and especially ice) removal is noticeably worse the last several years. Lots of residential streets don't really get salted anymore. It's all very city to city, day to day, and snowstorm to snowstorm. Some snowfalls, the road crew does a great job, the next one, they do little. Friday night to Sunday night seems to be the worst for snow and ice removal. I work Saturday mornings and I have noticed this over the years.

Salt doesn't work below 20 degrees and many of the past several winters on average have been way colder than that.