Minnesota vs Arizona or New Mexico (Minneapolis, St. Paul: relocating, property taxes, tornado)

[arkeuler]

Originally Posted by EricBrewer

I live in minneapolis and am thinking of living elsewhere for awhile. I am considering the southwest just because I think it would be interesting to hike the wilderness and maybe find those lost gold mines:-) i have not lived anywhere else so maybe I do not know just how bad it is out there.

Consider Flagstaff if wilderness is what you're looking for. I've lived in Mesa, AZ for 7 months and it doesn't begin to compare to the Midwest. I love to visit the Southwest, but living here just isn't my thing.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by arkeuler

Consider Flagstaff if wilderness is what you're looking for. I've lived in Mesa, AZ for 7 months and it doesn't begin to compare to the Midwest. I love to visit the Southwest, but living here just isn't my thing.

We drove through Flagstaff when we were in Arizona a couple years ago and I have to agree, our first impression is that Flagstaff looks a LOT like northern Minnesota. We don't have rattlesnakes or scorpions in MN though.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by golfgal

We drove through Flagstaff when we were in Arizona a couple years ago and I have to agree, our first impression is that Flagstaff looks a LOT like northern Minnesota. We don't have rattlesnakes or scorpions in MN though.

Minus the 12,000 ft mountains of course. Yes, the pine forests are reminiscent of northern Minnesota in a strange sort of way.

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

You aren't the first person to say there hasn't been a real winter in 15 years. If it's that much worse, I hope I don't ever see one!

Um, has everyone except me forgotten the Winter of 1995/96? Coldest Winter on record! -70 degrees windchill! Not to mention 1996/97 when we had the most snow ever!

[PowderSpringsDad]

Originally Posted by golfgal

We drove through Flagstaff when we were in Arizona a couple years ago and I have to agree, our first impression is that Flagstaff looks a LOT like northern Minnesota. We don't have rattlesnakes or scorpions in MN though.

Too damn cold in MN!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by chilaili

Um, has everyone except me forgotten the Winter of 1995/96? Coldest Winter on record! -70 degrees windchill! Not to mention 1996/97 when we had the most snow ever!

We lived in South Dakota that year and it was in the 60's all through January .

[redheadsdontdye]

I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to move to Minnesota! I've lived here all my life and finally I'm planning on moving somewhere either in the southern or northwest region of the United States... WA, OR, AZ, NM, TX or FL. I'm not sure which yet, but I'm convinced it'll be better than here!
Don't get me wrong though, Minnesotans are great & I like the idea of "Minnesota Nice", but personally i think it's flat, boring & cold.
: )

[PowderSpringsDad]

Originally Posted by redheadsdontdye

I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to move to Minnesota! I've lived here all my life and finally I'm planning on moving somewhere either in the southern or northwest region of the United States... WA, OR, AZ, NM, TX or FL. I'm not sure which yet, but I'm convinced it'll be better than here!
Don't get me wrong though, Minnesotans are great & I like the idea of "Minnesota Nice", but personally i think it's flat, boring & cold.
: )

I lived in MN for two years and I was so very glad to leave it. We do have some friends there we visit in the warm month. Come down to GA. 70 today.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by golfgal

And we have had all of 2" of snow this winter in my part of the state

Well, according to the Weather Channel (www.weather.com) (broken link), the current temperature - 3pm Mountain / 4pm Central - here on Feb. 1 in Minneapolis is 10 degrees with a wind chill of 0 - and cloudy.

According to the Weather Channel, the 10-day forecast for Minneapolis is (High listed first / Low listed second):

Thu, Feb 1
LOW: -1 ° F
Few Snow Showers

Fri, Feb 2
8 ° F / -7 ° F
Few Snow Showers

Sat, Feb 3
-2 ° F / -12 ° F
Mostly Cloudy

Sun, Feb 4
2 ° F / -11 ° F
Mostly Cloudy

Mon, Feb 5
-1 ° F / -13 ° F
Partly Cloudy

Tue, Feb 6
6 ° F / -3 ° F
Partly Cloudy

Wed, Feb 7
13 ° F / 0 ° F
Partly Cloudy

Thu, Feb 8
18 ° F / 9 ° F
Mostly Cloudy

Fri, Feb 9
19 ° F / 7 ° F
AM Clouds / PM Sun

Sat, Feb 10
19 ° F / 14 ° F
Snow Shower

So, with some days of the high not even getting above negative digits, if folks were missing a more "typical" Minnesota winter, hopefully this stretch should give them their fill!

--On a related note, of the Top 50 biggest Metro areas in the U.S., Minneapolis averages the lowest annual temperature. So for folks wondering, yes, on average, Minneapolis/Minnesota will still be quite brisk in the winter.

[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate...%2C_Minnesota]


--Also, someone asked how sunny it was in Minneapolis - it is sunny in Minneapolis approximately 58% of the year - roughly 211 days of sunshine per year. For a ranking of cities, folks can reference:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...pctposrank.txt

So I do not have data comparing winters from year-to-year in Minneapolis, but for folks dreading cold, Minneapolis will still have plenty of it in winter. For folks who love cold, there will still be plenty of wintertime activities to fulfill you.

[sarahrose]

Thats the kind of weather we should have had in dec and jan, but we are getting it now. A person who has lived here all their life doesn't think too much of -1 temps though, and we don't get them much anymore anyway. Snow seems to be in short supply as well I would love to live somewhere where it's like 60-70 in the winters, but as i've been looking around on these boards, I'm finding that the southern states have lower standards for schools and in particular, special ed, which my son would need. I have started to research TX schools, and they seem a bit more promising, but time will tell. Anyone got a HUGE sunlamp for sale??