Moving from Michigan

[rnc2mbfl]

Concerning the "bug" issue, it's been my experience that the more urban the location, the less bugs you will encounter. Suffice it to say that large wooded lots, streams and standing water are the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of creepy crawlers and fliers!

My parents are from the Great Lakes area and I have lived in South Texas (Houston). One childhood memory I have is being eaten alive by mosquitos every sunset when we were visiting relatives in the Midwest. It's not nearly as bad here. As for Houston, I found it to have huge cockroaches in addition to mosquitos in low lying and wet areas.

Even in Raleigh, I find the bug issue to be much less where I live (near downtown) than I do at my parents' house in the burbs.

[ntchanga]

[quote=sls76;2308295]I'm going to have to strongly disagree about the summers here. My parents are slightly north of Traverse City (in Petoskey) and we have spent a lot of time there in June, July, August and September. The summers here are significantly hotter and more humid than any part of Michigan and they are very long.

Oops... I guess I wasn't very clear. Of course the summers are longer in NC than in Michigan, but the inland areas of Michigan (not TC, Petoskey, or any area close to one of the lakes) are much more humid due to effect of the surrounding Great Lakes. 80 in Flint or Detroit will feel like 100 in NC. I have horrible memories of sweat running down my back at my brother's outdoor wedding in GR (temp was only 80), weeks on end of sweltering, muggy heat in Mt. Pleasant, suffocating in the humidity at Pine Knob concerts, etc. I could go on and on! In my humble opinion, the summer weather is much nicer in NC unless you are lucky to live on a lake in Michigan.

I've seen a lot of snakes and big spiders here though! Give me mosquitos any day...

[mdp_az]

ntchanga, I guess its all in how one perceives the weather to feel. According to the climate data at www.weatherbase.com , Raleigh has slightly higher humidity than GR and much higher temps in the summer. Also, you said you just moved to Durham last year, so I'm guessing you've only spent one full summer in the area. This past summer, while very hot, was not nearly as humid as most.

[ivyinmichigan]

Snakes & bug spiders?!?! Gross!! In the city? I have some decisions to make - I want the nice weather year round, friendly atmosphere, but I cannot shake my city girl fears.

[PennyH]

ivyinmichigan - I've been here 3 years and never seen a snake, and with the pest control have rarely seen a bug in my house. I garden, and haven't seen anything beyond normal outside - the only problem I had was Japanese beetles, and they don't do anything but eat my plants. I'm in the suburbs (Holly Springs), on .2 acre lot, so not totally city. I think like one of the others said, the bugs are mainly as you get closer to water or woods - there's tons of areas that aren't that close to water.

[ntchanga]

Sorry... didn't mean to scare you with the spiders and snakes. It was just one of the things that surprised me when I came here. I spend a lot of time outdoors though.

I think you'll prefer the mild climate and the nice, friendly atmosphere here.