[U2gurl]

Hello everyone, my husband and I are relocating to Grand Rapids in a week. I have lived in HOT humid San Antonio my whole 27 years of life and I am scared to death of the snow and winter driving in MI!! I am supposed to drive in snow? I barely know what snow looks like! Anyhoo just a few questions for you Michiganders. How difficult is snow driving? Does the city ever shut down due to poor driving conditions because of the weather? Any tips for a Texas girl?


Also was wondering what fun things are there to do for the up coming holidays? I want to try my best to not be homesick and stay busy. I intend on finding a good church and fitness center when I get there and hopefully meeting some friendly new people! Thanks for any feedback you share with me

[M TYPE X]

Fun things to do include decorating in holiday themes and pulling out the snow shovels.

Snow is white. It can be either fluffy or icy. You drive in snow by making sure that the snow isn't too deep or too slick. If you slide into a ditch, you'll sure to be helped by someone. Texan accents amuse all Good Samaritans.

[ErikU19]

Fun things to do in the winter include buying SAD lights, snowmobiling, shoveling snow, filrthy cars, gray ground/landscaping/sky, ice fishing, SALT, turning up the furnace, and eating!!!

Sorry but I'm moving FROM Michigan TO Texas next Summer....I grew up my entire 27 years here in MI and cannot take it anymore. The religious community is not as far Right as it is in Texas, so expect that.

Plenty of good people and fun things to do in the summer, though. It's the endless 5 months of 'nothingness' AKA winter that has gotten to me. I enjoy the warmth and endless possibilities it brings to be stuck here in the winter. 3 months of hot hell > 5 months of freezing cold. But i cannot speak for everyone.

Best wishes to you and your husband.

[magellan]

The main rule of driving in snow is this: If it takes you a while to get going (because it's slippery), then it will take you a while to stop, so just drive slower. I think I've only witnessed one time when it snowed so much that the plows couldn't keep up and the city "shut down". It was New Years Eve and New Years Day about 8 or 9 years ago. We were getting 1 - 2" per hour for about 18 hours straight, and the wind was blowing about 30 - 40 mph and making 3 - 4' snowdrifts.

Really there's not that much to worry about. 10 Million Michiganians navigate snow driving every year. Just drive slower than usual.

[Bydand]

Another thing worth mentioning is tires. Get a set of dedicated snow tires (all 4 corners of the vehicle) and it will make a night and day difference when you need them. The newer ones even handle very well on dry pavement between snowfalls now, unlike tires of yesteryear. Sure GR doesn't get that much snow anymore usually, but if you are not used to it at all, a set of good quality snow tires are cheap insurance in the long run. Take them off every spring and it is easy to get 4 or 5 seasons out of a set, so cost per year is rather reasonable when you look at it that way. I'm right in love with the winterforce tires from Firestone, cheap, balance easy, long wearing, and grip like the dickens. On winter #5 with the set that is on my van right now and putting a new set on the Suburban this week.

[mackinac81]

All good advice. Actually one of the reasons I like Michigan so much is BECAUSE of the snow. I can't imagine living in an oven like Texas. I used to hate winter but then I realized how stupid it was to complain for half the year about weather that you can't do anything about, so I started having fun with it. I went ice skating, and sledding, and drank lots of hot chocolate, all of which are AWESOME! I have yet to take up skiing though. I'd recommend those things, especially if you have kids.

And the snow is so beautiful! It just covers the towns and fields in a fresh white blanket. And after an ice storm, the power can go out, but the branches glitter with ice. Very pristine. And if you go to the great lakes in January, you might just see the frozen waves, which to a non-native are quite a sight. You do have to be careful though, there's a lot to know about how to drive and stuff.

The reason so many people complain about winter is because they don't think they can do anything fun with it, and they don't see the beauty in it either. Whereas the way I see it, you can't do anything fun outside in the summer down south because it's you'll get heat stroke, and even then you have to watch for all the stuff that could kill or bite you. Just think...no fire ants tarantulas, scorpions or poisonous snakes! Michigan is an awesome place, especially with the winter.

Welcome to the Mitten, good luck!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by mackinac81

All good advice. Actually one of the reasons I like Michigan so much is BECAUSE of the snow. I can't imagine living in an oven like Texas. I used to hate winter but then I realized how stupid it was to complain for half the year about weather that you can't do anything about, so I started having fun with it. I went ice skating, and sledding, and drank lots of hot chocolate, all of which are AWESOME! I have yet to take up skiing though. I'd recommend those things, especially if you have kids.

And the snow is so beautiful! It just covers the towns and fields in a fresh white blanket. And after an ice storm, the power can go out, but the branches glitter with ice. Very pristine. And if you go to the great lakes in January, you might just see the frozen waves, which to a non-native are quite a sight. You do have to be careful though, there's a lot to know about how to drive and stuff.

The reason so many people complain about winter is because they don't think they can do anything fun with it, and they don't see the beauty in it either. Whereas the way I see it, you can't do anything fun outside in the summer down south because it's you'll get heat stroke, and even then you have to watch for all the stuff that could kill or bite you. Just think...no fire ants tarantulas, scorpions or poisonous snakes! Michigan is an awesome place, especially with the winter.

Welcome to the Mitten, good luck!

It's funny that you mention kids and snow. My 3 kids (pre-school and elementary school-aged) go outside to play more in the winter than in the Summertime.

One other thing about driving in winter: if you're driving in the dark on the highway, and you can see the taillights of the car in front of you reflected in the road, slow down. The roads are icy (and you may not be able to stop if you have to).

But generally speaking, the roads are kept clean through most of winter. Unlike other areas of the country, Kent County spends a huge amount of money keeping the roads clean in the winter. You won't be able to use "snow on the roads" as an excuse not to come into work.

[Zenstyle]

"Does the city ever shut down due to poor driving conditions because of the weather? " That's actually quite rare; at least as a Texan you'll think so. Everyone's advice so far about slowing down while snow-driving is correct; I'll amend it to say slow WAY down. You will find idiot drivers passing you, and you'll inevitably wonder if you're driving TOO slow: you're not. You'll see those same bozos in the ditch just a few miles up the road. My Michigan-born sister is a 30-year Houstonite, and when she comes to visit, she shivers most of the time. Get yourself a lovely down coat and wear a hat. Temperature-wise, Grand Rapids winters are fairly moderate, due to our proximity to Lake Michigan, but again, as a Texan, you may think differently! Good luck on you're move here, and welcome! About finding a church....Northerners generally have a distinct dislike of proselytizing. Not saying that's your plan, but just be aware. Grand Rapids has changed tremendously in the past five or ten years for the better, and there's a much more urbane feeling here than when I moved here in 1982, and what a change for the better that is!

[U2gurl]

Thank you so much for all the great advice. We leave on Friday to Michigan, I'm so excited!! I am really looking forward to the extreme climate change and all the beautiful snow. I will proabably be the person you're passing on the roads that's doing 10 mph, don't honk!

[horstwessel]

Some of you sound like you are trying to describe the inside of s padded cell as white and very plesent to look at.
it is still a cage. and snow becomes very depressing for many people.
I can remember the first year I moved back from florida. I thought the snow was so wonderful, then after fighting it to go to work, heat my home, shovel off the roof to keep it from caving in, cut 15 chord of wood to off set high heat bills and this was long before the 40% increase of this year. It started to wear on me, and I knew that florida was not so bad. Yes it was hot in the summer, but I did not have to buy special [4x4 or all wheel drive] cars just to make it to work in the winter.
I did not have to fight bad roads, We did not even have a furnace in my home in florida, we used a small electric heater and it kept the house fine in winter.
I did not have to contract for drive way plowing, or fix all the diggs in the lawn that the plow screwed up when moving snow.
All the time spent fixing things that just did not work in extreme cold. the batterys if at all weak would go dead fast in winter.
You had to remove all batterys from your things that did not get used in winter or they were most likely dead next spring.
The house had to be maintained to a higher level than in the south.
Things needed more attention, I had to regularly pour hot water on the car window when the wippers would get stuck and you will go through a couple pairs of winter wippers in a seazon, the rubber just gets torn off.
If you have a diesel you will need a heater for the block so it will start in the morning.
At first it will be fun, but many jobs are fun the first month, but it will become work, and as such eventualy you will come to hate it.
most people here who say they love winter say that because they have no choice, look at one of the posts above, she said she decided that she could not change the weather by griping so decided to work with it, If it was so great why would you want to chang it in the first place? and why would you have to just accecpt it and work with it if it was so darn great? You would not.
I never heard of any one on the beaches in florida say, Man I wish it would snow here, the beaches are so darn hot.
As for the statment you can always put on more clothes but only take so many off. It costs much more to heat a home then to cool it. and it gets so cold in michigan that a heat pump or geothermo does not work, I am in the HVAC business so any one who wants to argue this with me you are welcome. So you are heating with wood, but it is messy and you have to spend a couple of weeks a year cutting or buy it, gas,oil or propain, all of which are going up this year 40% like it or not. So if you pay a very reasonable 125$ a month for heat last winter you are going to pay around 170 this winter. plus gas at 3.30 a gal. remember your milage goes in the toilet on snow coverd roads. And with taxes going through the roof and the high cost of everything in michigan
That great deal on your home is not so great esp. coupled with the fact that what you pay for it today it will most likely be worth less next year. the bottom of this housing crunch has not hit yet.
So good luck to you in the great white north, and remember they call it gods country because no one else wants it. lol