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ya but... in AZ and probably FL you're pretty much stuck inside late spring to early fall because of the heat about the same amount of time you'd be stuck inside in the midwest or northeast because of the cold.
You're just trading one miserable season for another.
LOTS of seniors maintain two households....one up north and one in AZ, FL, etc.
I've been to Arizona many times. I even thought i would move there.
The last time i went was in April a few years ago. We left in the morning from Texas. It was a nice chilly day.
We get there - it was horribly WARM. No way
I've only been to the panhandle of Florida. It was okay. But too humid. Even more than our south texas beaches.
What I know based upon my parents who moved to NE Florida:
\No personal income tax.
Low property taxes $2,700 in FL vs $16,000 for a small house on Long Island.
Much lower power bills.
No snow and ice.
Actually less humid by their house (walking distance to the ocean) than their Long Island House, a few miles from the ocean.
They enjoy a cooler winter compared with other parts of the state.
They're living like kings in Florida as opposed to paupers on Long Island.
I am looking at Vero Beach, FL, which is about half way down or a little south of halfway. In no moth has it averaged above 90. July and August are the warmest and it averages 90. June and September are the only other two with an average high over 85. Those 4 months are also the only 4 months when the average low is above 70, August being the highest at 73. A lot depends on your heat tolerance, of course, but it's not brutally hot for most of the year. There are nice mornings pretty much year around. January has the coolest average high at 73; that's the big draw. Most days will be 70s and 80s.
Look at the “feel like temp” that takes the dew point in consideration. Vero Beach has 89 degrees and feels like 97 today. I’ve got 92 degrees with a feel like of 104 on the Gulf side. Just putting that out there for you, average temps aren’t the whole picture, especially in summer. Winter weather can’t be beat with low humidity and dew points, but 90 degrees in the summer rarely feels like 90 degrees in FL.
I don't understand it, either. Add to that the fact that FL is a natural disaster state, and I really don't get it. Unless it's the northerners, who, after a lifetime of snowy winters and high heating fuel bills, are ready for a life of sun and sand and no winter. AZ....I really don't get that, except i hear it's good for sinuses. Cost of living? Does it have some higher, less hot areas?
If you look at historical storm data, the south eastern tip of FL and the panhandle get pounded worse than the rest of the state. A lot of the coast line is on par with the rest of the SE US coast up VA. NC actually gets more hurricanes per mile of coastline than FL (or anywhere else). You get insurance and sometimes you might flee for a bit. In most of the state odds are you won't have substantial damage, but you accept the risk that you will as a trade off instead of being statistically safe somewhere you aren't as happy.
It's been my experience that it's more geographical. Westerners tend to move to Arizona and Easterners tend to move to Florida. Very few of the people that I know in Arizona came from the East.
My parents moved here from the Midwest. I moved here from the DC area. I hate humidity. I love the blue skies of Arizona.
Driving conditions are more favorable in Florida/Arizona with less adverse weather to contend with. This is important to many seniors.
Many fellow retirees I know here in New England prefer to leave their homes around 10am for any appointments, shopping, and errands, so they can arrive home by 3pm each day.
I've heard some crazy reasons to dislike a place but that might be the -- pun intended -- nuttiest one yet.
We have many different shade trees, not just pines and not grown closely together.
Pecans are a top 10 crop in AZ. From Casa Grande south, I can think of several pecan farms including a huge one which I believe literally straddles I-10.
Someone else said it was geographically driven. That’s true in my experiences having lived here since 1995. We have a lot of residents who moved from the Midwest including Chicago. If you ever go to a sporting event involving one of the Chicago teams, you almost feel like an underdog here!
Unless of course your car breaks down and you suffer a heat stroke before the tow truck arrives.
We always carry water whenever we travel. And, if we see someone stopped by the road, we are apt to stop and make sure they have water.
Of course, it’s pretty much the opposite of being up north except we don’t have to worry about freezing to death. When I’m cold, I’m never sure I’ll get warm again. When I’m hot, I know I can cool down easily.
Plus, cooling a home is easier than heating a home, all other factors equal.
ya but... in AZ and probably FL you're pretty much stuck inside late spring to early fall because of the heat about the same amount of time you'd be stuck inside in the midwest or northeast because of the cold.
You're just trading one miserable season for another.
Why do people who don't live here always repeat this same idiotic statement? It's July and every time I drive by a park or recreation center in the middle of the day, the tennis courts are full and the basketball courts all have plenty of games going on. There are plenty of people out on the golf courses as well.
It's a myth that it's too hot and humid to participate in outdoor activities in the summer. Not only that, but it's hotter and more humid up north in the summer than it is down here. August in D.C. for example is much worse than Miami. There's a reason that Congress shuts down for the month and that everyone who can leaves town in August. In fact, it's not unusual for the temps to hit triple digits with high humidity in many places up north and in the Midwest, and yet in the entire recorded history of Miami, that has only happened one time over 75 years ago.
So let's stop already with the comparisons with winter up north and the myth that we're all stuck indoors down here all summer as if it was some sort of reverse blizzard of heat.
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