[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hall

Everything is relative. Mt. everest is higher than pike's peak which is higher than the ozarks. Omaha isn't a two dimensional featureless plain, but very tellingly from the comments here it is very defensive and insecure. Southeast Nebraska does have some low rolling hills, even if they are mostly covered in corn and soybeans. Accept who and what you are, I say. A realistic self-image is a valuable thing. Pretense of any kind, even "midwestern nice" doesn't really do you or anyone else any good. Honesty truly is the best policy.

I love how people make misleading statements about someone/something, and then when they get called out for being misleading they pull out the "defensive" and "insecure" cards. Seriously, how many times have we seen trolls poll out that same exact schtick on this forum? If there was a universal internet trolling playbook, that act would have to be in the first chapter.

At least it's entertaining.

[Matthew Hall]

Stlouisian, Here are a few videos to give you a flavor of the local environment. You have been warned. . .


6/20/11 Storm rolls in over South Omaha - YouTube

Omaha Strom March 23rd, 2009 - YouTube

Driving through Omaha Blizzard Snow Storm, Time Lapse - YouTube

Aftermath 1 week after Omaha's Christmas Blizzard - YouTube

Blizzard in Omaha December 2009.avi - YouTube

High Wind Storm - Omaha Nebraska - July 14th - 70-80 MPH WINDS - Part 1 - YouTube

[McBain II]

LMFAO! You really gotta love it, if for no other reason than the entertainment value. It's like "OMG!! OMAHA GETS SNOW AND THUNDERSTORMS!11!!" is some kind of revelation or something.

I really hope Matt keeps posting. I need more comedy in my daily routine.

[Matthew Hall]

The 'gang up on the critic' dynamic is also common in Omaha, stlouisian. Reasonable minds cannot disagree and legitimate differences of opinion are not acceptable to most locals. You really should know this before you come. Collective agreement and social order are more important than life itself to most Omahans. If you attempt to question anyone's views of anything, you will have a tough and lonely time in Omaha. If you are a loner this may not matter to you, but it was a shock to me after 5 years in Cincinnati and 3 in St. Louis.

[yman97]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hall

The 'gang up on the critic' dynamic is also common in Omaha, stlouisian. Reasonable minds cannot disagree and legitimate differences of opinion are not acceptable to most locals. You really should know this before you come. Collective agreement and social order are more important than life itself to most Omahans. If you attempt to question anyone's views of anything, you will have a tough and lonely time in Omaha. If you are a loner this may not matter to you, but it was a shock to me after 5 years in Cincinnati and 3 in St. Louis.

Is this based entirely on your experience on this message board? While I've lived in Omaha most of my life, I can tell you that I am an outsider in some respects and my experiences are completely different than yours.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hall

The 'gang up on the critic' dynamic is also common in Omaha, stlouisian. Reasonable minds cannot disagree and legitimate differences of opinion are not acceptable to most locals.

Don't try lumping yourself in with the reasonable minds.

(P.S - The victim mentality is strong in this troll)

[Matthew Hall]

You see what I mean about disagreement, stlouisian? Notice the landscape in those videos as well in answer to your original question. Omahans are also oblivious to the extremeness of their climate. They simply do not realize how much more severe the climate in Omaha is as compared to that experienced by most other americans. Locals express shock that Omaha is the second coldest, and the windiest city in the u.s. over 500,000 population(Minneapolis is the coldest). The weather will test you, but the locals will have no sympathy or even understand why you are having a hard time with 0 degree temperatures with 30 mph winds and walls of snow lining the roads. It is best to make an informed decision. I didn't.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hall

You see what I mean about disagreement, stlouisian?

Disagreement implies opinion. You're posting misleading statements about the city of Omaha, so you don't get to play that victim card.

Notice the landscape in those videos as well in answer to your original question.

Almost all of those videos are shot in the generally flatter western part of the city. Even then, the first video (and the flickr set linked by the author) show the surrounding hills if you actually pay attention. The third video also shows a good amount of the rolling hills in West Omaha.

Even then, Stlouisian has apparently looked into this him/herself and sees that Omaha is not the flat city you wish to portray it as. You've already lost that one.

Omahans are also oblivious to the extremeness of their climate. They simply do not realize how much more severe the climate in Omaha is as compared to that experienced by most other americans.

Wrong.

Locals express shock that Omaha is the second coldest, and the windiest city in the u.s. over 500,000 population(Minneapolis is the coldest).

First off, Omaha is not over 500,000 in population. I wish it was, but it's actually just over 400,000.

Second, show us your data.

The weather will test you, but the locals will have no sympathy or even understand why you are having a hard time with 0 degree temperatures with 30 mph winds and walls of snow lining the roads. It is best to make an informed decision. I didn't.

You're arguing extremes as if they were the norm. They are not.

Omahahonors had a great post on this subject not too long ago.

Originally Posted by Omahahonors

All I am doing is trying to give him the entire scope of the winter weather instead of the rare extremes. I love winter and sometimes I wish it were a bit longer and other times (like in 2009-2010) I think it can drag on too much. Either way, I am happy with our climate.

It can get to ten below zero in the middle of the night a few nights a year, yes.. However we are not telling him what the entire winter is like though.

The winter's highs in the dead part of winter range from about 5 degrees to about 55. These are the extremes. Normally you see the high temperature range from about 20 to 45 degrees in the coldest part of the winter with both of the extremes (5-20 and 45-60) thrown in there which gives us our 31 degree average during this stretch.

The average high NEVER drops below 31 degrees.
The average high drops below 40 degrees for 2 months and 12 days a year.
The average high ranges from 40 to 50 degrees for approximately 1 month and 14 days a year
The average high is 50 or more degrees for 8 months and 5 days a year.

CONCLUSION:
Yes it can get bitter cold and usually does for two to three weeks a year. There is usually one winter for every ten where the bitter cold lasts for a month or more, but one out of ten is extraordinarily mild also. For the most part the winter isn't too bad. There are numerous cities throughout the world that have a colder winter. Here, the worst part of our winter averages about 30 degrees lower than the global average while some cities vary as much as 90-100 or more degrees from the global average. Jeans and a sweat shirt and a jacket make most of the winter very easy to handle.

We also average a modest 28 inches of snow a year which usually come down from 3-5 snowfalls. Most winters do not experience snow-covered ground for more than a month total, but there are years were we have experienced snow cover for a full three months (see winter of 2009-2010). There are many locations that see more snow than we do.

Here are a list of US cities that get more than 40 inches a year:
Rochester, New York 100.3 255
Buffalo, New York 97.0 246
Cleveland, Ohio 63.1 160
Salt Lake City, Utah 62.7 159
Denver, Colorado 61.0 155
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55.9 142
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 52.4 133
Hartford, Connecticut 46.0 117
Detroit, Michigan 44.0 112
Boston, Massachusetts 41.8 106
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 40.6 103

[Matthew Hall]

The Omaha metro has about 830,000 people. Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It is the second coldest on AVERAGE and the windiest on AVERAGE according to the NOAA data. Nothing to do with extremes. NCDC GIS Map Services Index. The videos speak for themselves, but the desire of some to control the image of Omaha is the real issue here. People told me of the wonders of omaha before I came and refused to acknowledge imperfections of any kind. They weren't being dishonest, they believed every word they said. They just share a sort of collective delusion that blinds them to the truth. This is true to some degree in every place I've lived, it is just much, much more so in Omaha. It is my fault that i didn't investigate more, but their unrealistic image of omaha is their fault no matter how subconscious it is.

[Busguy2010]

Happiness and satisfaction are most molded by the people and the situations most immediate to you. Your dissatisfaction with Omaha can almost certainly not be because of "Omaha" in general. A city (one that has everything the general public could need to live and be entertained, such as Omaha) alone cannot cause such dissatisfaction.