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Regarding the 20 inches snow, I remember it well. It was a once in a lifetime event like a 100 year flood is to those living in a river basin. It does not define the typical year or decade.
I was in Chapel Hill during that storm. It was completely absurd. The folks on WRAL were going on at 6PM that Monday with "We could get 6 inches of snow out of this!" and at that time it was snowing 2 inches an hour. I lived in the mountains for 12 years, and went through two genuine blizzards (tropical storm force winds, 3 feet of snow, drifts to the 2nd floor of houses) up there, and I remember thinking "Nope. The way this looks is what it looked like when it snowed in the mountains, which means we will have way more than 6 inches of snow." It was beautiful the next day. BTW, the record snowfall in North Carolina not in the mountains is 29 inches of snow that fell between Rocky Mount and Roanoke Rapids on March 1, 1980.
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Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
Even Miami has had about a total of a dozen(ish) days that I'd consider cold in my ten years of experience.
I have had family in Miami since the 60s, and I remember the day in January 1977 when snow flurries fell in Miami. It was international news. The reaction of folks down there was - as one would expect - a little over the top.
As for more trivia, Los Angeles has never recorded a 1-inch-plus snowfall down in the basin (lowland) part of the city, but snow flurries were recorded on around 12 occasions over the 20th century; in January 1949 1/3 of an inch fell, which is the record.
The state records for Florida were set during a blizzard that reached all the way to the Gulf Coast in Feb. 1899. Tallahassee got 3 inches of snow and the temperature fell to -2. Accumulating snow fell as far south as Tampa during that storm, and all-time-record lows were recorded in almost every single state east of the Mississippi River. Flurries were recorded as far south as Fort Meyers. Farther west, the Mississippi River froze all the way to the Gulf, and when the ice broke up during the thaw a few days later, it became the only time on record that floating ice was observed in the Gulf of Mexico.
I think Santa Fe, New Mexico has a fair shot at it as it was a hotbed of artistic activity and still has a fairly strong fine arts scene (and part of the old legacy is still there with the Georgia O'Keeffe museum). It's also has the Santa Fe Institute, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Labs are also in the area so that contributes, too.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garfieldian
what about Las Cruces, NM?
NMSU has it's roots in agriculture and still is an agricultural school to some degree as well as applied sciences. Las Cruces is in an irrigated agricultural valley and also has a sizable retirement community. It's actually a nice little city. I think Albuquerque may be a bit more on the intelectual side with the UNM campus, the Sandia Labs, and Los Alamos on the periphery. Though if you don't think Raleigh is warm, then Albuquerque wouldn't qualify either. It's as high in altitude as Denver and is subject to winter chill. Perhaps Tucson, though I'm not sure what the University of Arizona is known for. Also Tempe, AZ near Phoenix has ASU.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
I think Santa Fe, New Mexico has a fair shot at it as it was a hotbed of artistic activity and still has a fairly strong fine arts scene (and part of the old legacy is still there with the Georgia O'Keeffe museum). It's also has the Santa Fe Institute, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Labs are also in the area so that contributes, too.
Though Santa Fe is very sunny and certainly has a vibrant creative class, it's not really a "warm" city as it sits at over 7,000 feet in alitude, it gets its share of winter. I was there in March, the highs were in the low 60's and lows at night were in the 20's.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 09-25-2011 at 11:35 PM..
Oh, for some reason I didn't think southern California counted.
There are parts of both LA and SD metro that have intellectual vibes of sorts. Pasadena definitely has it some extent as does Claremont. Santa Monica does, too, in certain areas. Basically the areas near the schools and certain major employment centers (which themselves are major employers) has that going.
I think Santa Fe, New Mexico has a fair shot at it as it was a hotbed of artistic activity and still has a fairly strong fine arts scene (and part of the old legacy is still there with the Georgia O'Keeffe museum). It's also has the Santa Fe Institute, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Labs are also in the area so that contributes, too.
Good post. I was thinking that also. Though yeah... forgot about the winter aspect there b/c of altitude. Those desert areas can be tricky!
SoCal is almost perfect warm climate....USC data= never average high below 68, with real summer in the 80s on average, and on average never where average lows aren't below 50.
'Warm climates' to me need to get a certain level of heat, but also not dip too cold either. Generally never much below 60 as a daily high, and never below ~40 as a daily low would fit, but also a progression into the 80s.
On further inspection I'd probably consider Palo Alto/San Jose, but other bay area climates are not good at all, like 1/2 the city of SF, Sausalito, coastal Marin/Sonoma. Damn those micro climates.
Pasadena seems like it might fit b/c of Cal Tech. I haven't spent much time there though besides cruising through.
I walked around some areas of Santa Monica, Marina Del Ray, and Venice at night and it did seem fairly upscale, though couldn't really pick up anything intellectual about it, though I wasn't looking for it either. It was definitely a nice area and walkable
Last edited by Garfieldian; 09-27-2011 at 09:45 AM..
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