How are the average winters in MSP? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: 2014, job market)

[rtloucks]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

However I can't think of a city that deals with the cold better than us. People work from home when it snows, we have skyways downtown, a good bus system, good plows, a good airport, a huge mall to walk around in, a good zoo, etc. When I read your post title, I was thinking you were going to be from Florida, but I don't think someone coming from Maine is going to run into any winter "shock" in MN. The cold is also self-policing, and helps to keep out some of the problems (crime, homelessness, etc.) that warmer cities deal with. And....we have beautiful summers!!!

So True. We have lived all over and even though i hate to admit it. MN deals with all aspects of winter better than anywhere I have lived, Even Colorado. Yes t is cold and even unbearable at times, but the roads are plowed, the skyways area awesome, sidewalks are cleared and salted and business are more than accommodating. Not much shuts down in MN..... probably why they are so successful!

[FloatOn]

Our winters are probably going to be a bit colder than what you're used to in Bangor, but with less snow. It looks like our average January temp will be about 5-10 degrees colder than the average January temp in Bangor. But in response to your snow question - we obviously get snow, however we don't get dumped on as hard as you do in the NE. This last week we had two major snowstorms a couple days apart, each of which may have been about 6 inches or so. That is the most snow I remember getting here at once in quite a while. A lot of times we'll just get a few inches or less when it snows. But during the peak months of winter the snow keeps building up because it often doesn't get above 32 F for a few weeks. But our average snowfall is going to be a lot less than what you experience in ME.

Good luck with the move if you go for it, many of us love it here and I hope you do too!

[Bradley T]

Have you met him before!? I just saw the new edition of the movie IT and it was awesome!

[MPLSMINN]

In my opinion there are 3 major types of winter misery. a) Snow (and getting around in it), b) cold, and c) duration. and if I were to list them in order of which will cause you misery in Minneapolis it would be duration first (mid November to March 31st), cold second....and snow third. We only average 40-45 inches of that and they clear it pretty quickly here in the city.

The only real strike against this place is the winter. Sounds like it will be a step up for you. I think you'd really like Minneapolis.

Job market is usually close to best in the country. It's irrationally clean, the arts/music scene is off the charts, good schools, low crime, relatively liberal politics etc... I heard it described as a Canadian/Scandinavian mix. I think that's accurate.

[AnthonyJ34]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

A good post, however some of the wording might be deceiving. It can on a small number of days reach high 90's, and once every few years perhaps 100. This is not the norm as the AVERAGE high is 85 in July (which is warmer than the northeast).

We are known for our cold, not our snow. It's not that we don't get snow, but we get less so than Denver/Salt Lake City, parts of the northeast, and even parts of the midwest. Our snow normally comes via clippers that bring small amounts at a time (not to say that we don't ever have large snowfalls).

But the cold...... global warming has helped, but it's not uncommon to have 10 day stretches below zero, which does get trying. I find it particularly difficult with 2 young children, as it naturally forces us to coop up, and cooping up with 2 small kids can drive the most patient parent insane.

However I can't think of a city that deals with the cold better than us. People work from home when it snows, we have skyways downtown, a good bus system, good plows, a good airport, a huge mall to walk around in, a good zoo, etc. When I read your post title, I was thinking you were going to be from Florida, but I don't think someone coming from Maine is going to run into any winter "shock" in MN. The cold is also self-policing, and helps to keep out some of the problems (crime, homelessness, etc.) that warmer cities deal with. And....we have beautiful summers!!!

Not to hijack this thread, but I am similar to the OP in that I am itching to relocate and MSP is one city that has been on my radar for a while. I am single, no kids, and simply looking to start fresh in a drastically different locale. I am a native Southern Californian and stil live in my hometown here not far from Long Beach. And while we do have relatively mild weather year round, that is one of the reasons I wish to relocate: our weather here is rather boring and devoid of any real seasonal shifts. It’s basically warm-ish and mild for the majority of the year. Our fall season is basically just a slightly watered down version of summer, and our winter is mild and unexciting, with a few storms here and there and some cool-ish temperatures, but frequently with some warm spells: 80-degree Christmas and New Year’s Days are not rare.

So, basically, I’d love to relocate (at least temporarily) to an area that has four real seasons, and MSP seems a solid choice, not just weather-wise but for many other quality of life reasons. But I do wonder how much of a shock the MSP winters would be for me. I’ve been in snow and cold periodically in our local mountains as well as in other states, but only for short periods. I do like cooler weather and dislike hot weather, so I would err on choosing a cooler rather than warmer climate.

Anyways, I enjoyed reading your description of the weather in MSP.

[mkdude_08]

Realizing this thread is old, I would say that Minneapolis has seven seasons:

1. Summer (which is hot and humid but very short - from June through early September)
2. Fall (about five weeks long - mid September through the third week of October)
3. Early winter (colder yet not bone chilling) (late October through mid-November)
4. Winter (mid-November through December)
5. Deep winter (bone chilling cold - all the below zero stuff) (January and February)
6. Late winter (March and April)
7. Spring (May)

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by MPLSMINN

In my opinion there are 3 major types of winter misery. a) Snow (and getting around in it), b) cold, and c) duration. and if I were to list them in order of which will cause you misery in Minneapolis it would be duration first (mid November to March 31st)

Someone forgot to tell April about the March 31 cutoff this year.

Another freekin storm coming this weekend.

[ellysbelly]

Originally Posted by mkdude_08

Realizing this thread is old, I would say that Minneapolis has seven seasons:

1. Summer (which is hot and humid but very short - from June through early September)
2. Fall (about five weeks long - mid September through the third week of October)
3. Early winter (colder yet not bone chilling) (late October through mid-November)
4. Winter (mid-November through December)
5. Deep winter (bone chilling cold - all the below zero stuff) (January and February)
6. Late winter (March and April)
7. Spring (May)

I agree with all of this, EXCEPT the description of our summers as either hot or humid-- as a former Floridian, I can assure you that MN summers are neither-- yes, we have a few days where we might hit 90 for a few hours (and, on rare occasion, 100)-- but typically having a high in the mid-to-upper 70s/low 80s and cooling off into the high 50s/low-to-mid 60s at night is more typical. I think our summers are GLORIOUS.

[Justabitoff]

Originally Posted by mkdude_08

Realizing this thread is old, I would say that Minneapolis has seven seasons:

1. Summer (which is hot and humid but very short - from June through early September)
2. Fall (about five weeks long - mid September through the third week of October)
3. Early winter (colder yet not bone chilling) (late October through mid-November)
4. Winter (mid-November through December)
5. Deep winter (bone chilling cold - all the below zero stuff) (January and February)
6. Late winter (March and April)
7. Spring (May)

Hilarious (in that ironic kind of way) that we have 4 winters... although sadly true. I would disagree that Summer is not that short (3.5 months is a quarter of the year, is that not how long a season should be?). It's fall and spring that are too short!

[daboywonder2002]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

So True. We have lived all over and even though i hate to admit it. MN deals with all aspects of winter better than anywhere I have lived, Even Colorado. Yes t is cold and even unbearable at times, but the roads are plowed, the skyways area awesome, sidewalks are cleared and salted and business are more than accommodating. Not much shuts down in MN..... probably why they are so successful!

thats the one thing I love about Minnesota. Plenty of plows to take care of the roads. I remember living in PHiladelphia and you had to listen to the radio to see if schools would be closed. Not here, they don't shut down anything.