english natives living in usa

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by Haver

I would hardly classify October and May as Winter, even here! Here is what you can expect, climate-wise:

January - severe cold, heavy snow, high winds & days you won't want to get out of bed. Days of utter clearness and clarity but even colder. Every couple years there is also a thaw where temps get in the mid-30's. Your daily commute will be dark both coming and going.
February - same. Not as cold but still frigid, more snow. Still dark.
March - severe cold is behind you, but still a lot of snow coming down and with more moisture to work with there will be heavy dumps. You'll be able to walk around outside comfortably in normal winter clothing. It will also be lighter out.
April - mix of winter/spring with a lot of variability. Most of the time quite enjoyable, especially after enduring winter. You'll see news stories of people walking around the lakes in shorts while the temps are in the 40's (F).
May through June - the absolute best. You will wonder why everyone doesn't live up here.
July through August - warm & often muggy, sometimes HOT. But also very often just plain pleasant and wonderful.
September - extemely pleasant, often a favorite month and with lots of fall color.
October - variable like April, but almost always without snow. Reasonably pleasant but cool.
November - gray & depressing, usually the first 2 inches of snow falls then. A lot of distractions with Thanksgiving and football and the start of Holiday shopping. You really start feeling the dark closing in on you as well.
December - switches between being a pleasant winter and being a harsh winter.

A+ review is right, excellent.
It's pretty much a perfect picture of weather here.

I like the "December-switches from pleasant to harsh"

Anyone else counting down until Dec. 21? Thats when days turn and start getting more light... AHH this dark at 5 pm is horrible!

[knke0402]

this year we had snow in May. it only stayed for a day or so.

also, i have a home video of Xmas with my cousins and i playing footbal in the yard with jeans and tshirts...no snow either..I wish the date showed up in the corner, as i didnt lable the tape either. Im thinking it was early 2000s, late 1990s... anyone remember this?

[TravisW]

I think it was 1999. We had absolutely beautiful weather most of the way through December. Even in Fargo, no snow stayed until about the 15th.

[golfgal]

I would concur with 1999-I was golfing in shorts in early Dec that year, we played golf in 55° weather on New Years Eve. We had a big party to usher in 2000 that year so I am positive it was then.

[Roger Bushell]

I can offer my advice here ! I am native English and lived 2 x years in Minneapolis. My kids were 12 and 13 at the time. I lived on Lake Minnetonka in a small town called Excelsior and commuted about 10 x miles each day. I also worked with a number of other English and also Australians for an International IT company. We now live in Melbourne Australia.

We arrived in May and Lake Minnetonka was a boating lake with beaches ! In Winter it was 3 feet thick in ice. The extreme Summer to Winter temperature difference is massive. In Winter it can get to -40 (which is the same in Celsius and Fagrenheit). I remember the temperature because McDonalds gave 1 cent off each burger for each degree below zero ! The weather is extreme compared to England - though my kids loved it as it snowed at Halloween and stayed till April.

Schools were great. My son went to Junior High and my daughter elementary. They adapted pretty well. My daughter was often asked to bring pictures from England and sweets (candies etc). My son had a harder time as he did not get the sporting stuff and had never touched a baseball bat etc. But they soon adapted.

Summer break is huge and they get the whole summer. You need to look at a summer camp (which can vary in price a lot) or you will go nuts.

Academically - schools were great. Teachers would call in the evening to say how kids were tracking and how they were settling in. Leaving USA they were well advanced. And remember the experience fondly.

Religion - mmmmm. Everyone is religious and God seems to be involved in everyones life. Coming from UK we found it unusual but nobody was critical of us - but it made it hard to meet neighbours as the church was the meetup point. Have to say that after 2 x yers we did not have a ton of close friends and the Aussie people (who were in same situation as us) became closer friends.

Housing. Compared to UK (not Australia) housing was BRILLIANT. We had an acre of woodland with a house the size of Buckingham Palace. Deer would stroll through as well as racoons (which our UK dog was bemused by !). Kids had more space than they knew what to do with.

Culture. Different. Humour is totally different. (BORAT is not quite as well received !).

All in all. A great experience. Go and try living that. It will be different but well worth the experience.