It's not the Arctic, it's New England :) (Valentine's day, to rent)

[Sporin]

I regularly scan the VT & NH forums here on City-Data and am pretty surprised by the number of folks moving to this area who are, frankly, SCARED of the weather. There are multiple topics about..

How well do they plow the roads?
How many days each winter will I be stranded at home?
Obviously I'll need a Subaru.
Will I be able to get to work in the winter?
How do you survive the winter?

But it fascinates me the perception of Northern New England by people from other areas of the country. I suspect lots of areas of the country suffer from overblown/exaggerated/misinformed perceptions by other places. When many people think of NH or VT, they apparently think of ...



As a lifelong New England resident, I can only offer my best advice to each to help correct the misinformation they have. New England gets it's share of snow and cold but it's not the Yukon Territory.We aren't shut-ins all winter, our world doesn't stop every time it snows. I've lived here all my life and the number of days of work I've missed because of weather could be counted on 1 hand.

Unless you live way outside of town on a dirt road, chances are you'll be plowed out before you leave for work each morning. Most folks do just fine with careful driving and front wheel drive. The smart ones use dedicated snow tires but chains and studs are overkill except in the most extreme circumstances. All wheel drive is nice to get you going but it's 4 wheel go, not 4 wheel stop. Is it nice to have? Sure. Is it a necessity just to get around from Nov. to March? Of course not.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share, in a "thinking out loud" sort of way....as it gives me a chuckle. =)

Please bear in mind I'm not ripping on anyone, perceptions are what they are until they are corrected, no harm in that.

[Steve-o]

Good post! Same goes for the midwest...

[Ohiogirl81]

Great post, Sporin; growing up along Lake Erie myself, I get a kick out of how freaked out people get by even a few inches of snow. How I managed to get a public school education with all that snow, I'll just never know ...

But I have a question: Isn't it written in the constitutions of Vermont and New Hampshire that all residents must drive Subarus?

[Sporin]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Great post, Sporin; growing up along Lake Erie myself, I get a kick out of how freaked out people get by even a few inches of snow. How I managed to get a public school education with all that snow, I'll just never know ...

But I have a question: Isn't it written in the constitutions of Vermont and New Hampshire that all residents must drive Subarus?

You'd think so, they just added the Subaru Outback to the VT state flag.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Great post, Sporin; growing up along Lake Erie myself, I get a kick out of how freaked out people get by even a few inches of snow. How I managed to get a public school education with all that snow, I'll just never know ...

But I have a question: Isn't it written in the constitutions of Vermont and New Hampshire that all residents must drive Subarus?

Subawho? Subaru
AWD vehicles= more efficient than 4WD vehicles.
4 cylinder engine + fairly good fuel economy + low center of gravity + good handling + 5 star front and side crash test ratings = Subaru

[GraniteStater]

Oh, northern New England DOES get colder than -30F in the winter occasionally. Although with global warming the frequency of that happening is getting less with time. In January 2004 when I was in northern New England it did feel like the arctic with frozen fog and temperatures of below -30F. That is frigid. However, the roads are always plowed so well. They do an excellent job.

[Sporin]

-30F is very rare unless you live on Mount Washington.

[vter]

It is fairly common to get windchills of -30+...usually a couple weeks during the winter. Base air temp? Sure it happens, but rare (in my neck of the woods).
Great post Sporin. I buck the trend re: Subarus. I'm a Honda person. I have a CRV....because I live out in the boonies and have a scary driveway, the 4WD & extra clearance helps a lot. I actually missed work for the first time this year due to snow - The Valentine's Day blizzard - we had so much snow (3 feet +) our plow guy had to rent a bobcat and it took him 2 days to get to us. But, as Sporin mentioned, this is a rarety.
You certainly don't need a 4wd if you're tooling around the Burlington area (suburbs).

[Sporin]

Oh yeah, Wind chill is a whole 'nother ball of wax!

Here's some data....

2006 was the third-warmest and third-wettest year on record in Burlington.
1891 = warmest year (mean temperature 48.5 degrees)
1998 = wettest year (precipitation 50.42 inches)

The last time temperatures in Burlington fell to:
0 degrees = February 26, 2006
10 below = January 28, 2005
20 below = January 15, 2004
25 below = January 29, 1994

(National Weather Service, South Burlington)

I'm actully a good 2 hours south of Burlington.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Sporin

-30F is very rare unless you live on Mount Washington.

I was in Coos County in NH in January 2004 and it was not Mount Washington. Some of the river valley and mountain valley towns of northern NH get very cold in the winter.