Winter in Pittsburgh vs Alexandria VA (D.C. Metro) (Beaver: school, living in)

[Cville70]

Long time D.C. area resident looking to relocate. Realistically, how different might winter in Pittsburgh be?

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by Cville70

Long time D.C. area resident looking to relocate. Realistically, how different might winter in Pittsburgh be?

Significantly colder. Moderately snowier. Instead of getting random noreasters, we get consistent lake effect snows and alberta clippers which dump an inch or two or 3" to 6". These storms are extremely frequent though.

SNOWFALL
Pittsburgh avg Snowfall - 45"
DC avg snowfall - 15"

Temp

Dec High
Pittsburgh -39
DC - 47

Dec Low
Pittsburgh -24
DC - 33

Jan High
Pittsburgh -34
DC - 44

Jan Low
Pittsburgh -19
DC - 29

Feb High
Pittsburgh -37
DC - 47

Feb Low
Pittsburgh -22
DC - 31

March High
Pittsburgh -48
DC - 56

March Low
Pittsburgh -30
DC - 38


Hope this helps.

[Bobo_Bonobo]

There's definitely more snow in Pittsburgh than the DC Metro area (I lived a while on the MD side) but the good part is that, with the exception of the rarer massive snowstorms that drop more than 6 inches in a night, the road crews are better equipped and will have the main roads pretty well salted and cleared enough to drive on.

It's colder here, but having snow replace the precipitation that would otherwise be cold, dreary rain in the warmer climes of DC/VA always felt better for my mood. Your mileage may vary.

[gg]

Pittsburgh gets 41.9 inches of snow a year.
DC gets 14.5.

To be honest, Pittsburgh is usually a sloppy mess in the winter for the most part. The winters are much better north of Rt. 80 or east in the hills. The people of Pittsburgh act like our winters are so tough and whatever, but they are silly really. Compare snow fall with Buffalo with 94.7 inches a year! Rochester with 99.5! Goodness, the people around here whine and whine about the weather forever. It is so funny. You can't change the weather. All you can do is MOVE out of the area if you don't like it. Get over it already!

[liz-momof2]

Five years in Northern Virginia. Although we had more snow here, roads were 10x better. A 3 inch snowfall would cancel school for the day in NoVa for my kids, here it might be a 2 hour delay. I drive a mini-van notorious for fish-tailing and I might fish-tail once or twice on a side road but all the main roads were clear by 9 a.m.

[Hopes]

We get more icy rain than snow here.

[BarqCider]

the dc area hasn't had a decent snow storm in over 2 years. keep in mind we're talking about an area where potential snow accumulations+ freezing rain= school closures.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Hopes

We get more icy rain than snow here.

The ice is the only thing to be worried about, IMO. They close a few of the steeper roads, and it seems like every year there are a few you tubes of cars slipping and sliding down some hill. It's not really that big if a deal, though, just a PITA. I think you get used to it pretty quickly and learn how to deal with it.

[Cville70]

Thanks everyone for the input. H_curtis has clairvoyantly touched on the issue for us. We're looking at living in the city and neither of us will be having to commute to work, but my partner has visions of the weather in Pittsburgh more closely resembling his upbringing in Rochester NY rather than what we experience in Alexandria VA.

I think from what I'm reading that Pittsburgh is colder and snowier, but we could expect it would more closely mirror D.C. than Rochester. Would that be a fair assessment?

[liz-momof2]

I would say the weather is somewhere in the middle of DC and Rochester but definitely leaning more towards DC. But the road crews in Pittsburgh handle the additional snow much better than the DC crew does. We live on the top of a pretty steep hill in a purely residential area. My van made it up and down the hill fine. My husband drives a Santa Fe, he had absolutely no problems at all. He drives back and forth from Baden (Beaver County) to Oakland at 10 pm and then again at 7 am when the roads would either be not treated or be really slick. He was fine.