Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't want to hijack the thread, but I agree Kansas weather is terrible 40 weeks of the year! Actually this year has been pretty nice, but last year was brutal. Is where you live more temperate? I always assumed the weather was pretty much the same all the way to the Appalachian mountains, heading east and one either gains cold days going north or hot days going south. The worst summer I ever faced was in N. Arkansas...
And here is my off-topic reply to answer your question. The Ohio Valley is technically thrown into the "greater Appalachia" region as it is strongly influenced by it due to historic migration patterns and historical employment trends related to the Great Migration of the 20th century. It is a cultural hybrid of the South, Midwest, and Appalachia all thrown together.
Elevation is a key factor in terms of local climate as well as land cover and land use. Places at 800-1000ft tend to mostly have high temperatures in the 80s for a good chunk of the Summer and some days in the 90s, much better than the Great Plains. Areas by the Ohio River at low elevation tend to get hotter, with urban Louisville having the worst heat due to the urban heat island. I am in a wooded region north of there that is quite a bit cooler. Precipitation is consistent all year, averaging 45-50 inches during the calendar year. Winter tends to be milder and cloudier with less wind compared to areas of the Great Lakes and Great Plains with high temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Also, air quality here is better now compared to the past due to the US transitioning from coal to natural gas in the utility sector. It is much better now than when I was here last in 2010-2011, a huge difference.
No. The West Coast is far, far too expensive for a person of average means to comfortably live
The west coast is expensive if you live in the bay area, LA or San Diego. Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, and some parts of Washington outside the Seattle/Tacoma area are affordable
COL and QOL are being conflated a bit in this thread. COL is a component of QOL but it's not the be-all-end-all. The COL is low-ish in Dallas-Fort Worth, but guess what - so is the QOL. I'll gladly pay a little bit more to live in a place where people are better educated, happier, and healthier (although it's not really the West Coast).
The west coast is expensive if you live in the bay area, LA or San Diego. Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, and some parts of Washington outside the Seattle/Tacoma area are affordable
And if only any of those were part of the west COAST...
As cool as it would be to live in one of the big cities of California, sometimes I would rather make a six hour drive to a California beach and experience some serious cost savings. If I lived in California as much as I would like to say I would take advantage of the beach all the time the reality is is that I probably won't. To be honest the ocean is the only big factor that catches my attention to the West Coast rather than staying where I am. Culture is about the same and so on. If I could not afford to find a place in one of these cities that appealed to me, then it's not worth it. Of course if I was rich I would be talking a little differently, actually I would be there now.
Again, the cities are great, but they are so pricy. And it kind of sucks how expensive they are but... there's always a downside, huh.
so Washington state is not on the west coast (it's bold)?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
