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I’ve read this thread with great interest. I’m in a quandary on where to retire. After living in southern CA for most of my life and then Phoenix, I’m sick of heat. I want four seasons. I don’t want humid. Here’s where I’m thinking (in no particular order):
Coastal Maine
Prescott, AZ
Santa Fe, NM
Spokane, WA (mainly for the low housing cost)
I’m afraid of ice, though. I do want snow. I don’t want to plow it though. Also, I’m single. I don’t want to be afraid of weather to drive to the store! Any advice for me?
Wherever you pick, do some research about how well or how poorly the town does with snow removal. I am in VT now and the snow is plowed immediately. When I lived in MD, they were not so great with the plowing. If you pick a home with a long driveway, you will have to pay someone to come plow that for you. If you pick a home on a remote country road, you may not get plowed out right away. I live in a community with an HOA that takes care of the plowing, including driveways.
And remember, when you are retired you do not have to go out if there is an unusually bad storm.
Its generally just as hot, if not more so, in much of the rest of the country as it is in Florida. So they suffer the heat the same as Floridians, and then have to suffer the winters too. Personally the heat is entirely more bearable than ice/winter/snow. Jumping in a pool or sitting in air conditioning is so much easier than bundling up in clothes, cranking up the heat, not wanting to go out because of ice and snow and cold. I just cant get warm once I get cold. Cooling down from heat is easy. And fun (pool time).
...not buying that...I'm in central IL and the heat index isn't getting above 85 for the next 10 days - where it is 95-100 degree heat index in Orlando. Dewpoints in Orlando will rarely be less than 75 but are 60 to 70 in Illinois and with lower actual temps.
I've been to Orlando in July...talk about absolutely melting when you get into your car that's been out in the sun! No wonder style is so casual there - you can't wear anything you're not willing to sweat through - and that's from April-October. You really can't live in your pool and it is actually not refreshing unless it is cooled.
...not buying that...I'm in central IL and the heat index isn't getting above 85 for the next 10 days - where it is 95-100 degree heat index in Orlando. Dewpoints in Orlando will rarely be less than 75 but are 60 to 70 in Illinois and with lower actual temps.
I've been to Orlando in July...talk about absolutely melting when you get into your car that's been out in the sun! No wonder style is so casual there - you can't wear anything you're not willing to sweat through - and that's from April-October. You really can't live in your pool and it is actually not refreshing unless it is cooled.
Where I am on the Massachusetts coast next to Rhode Island, it rarely gets to 90F. The snowbirds here tend to flee the oppressive heat and humidity of their Florida winter places before Memorial Day. They usually head back around Halloween.
My father was on Longboat Key off Sarasota. With the Gulf, that wasn't bad in May or October. Unlike inland, the summer was fine as long as you got your exercise early morning or at dusk.
True but I've seen the same thing in warm weather states like Florida. The only time my mother would leave the house about 8 months of the year is to go from her air conditioned house, to her air conditioned car to the air conditioned store. Yet if you ask her, she LOVED Florida, LOL.
That's the way I feel about extreme heat. Our stretch of triple-digit heat index days a couple of weeks ago had me more housebound than any snow storm ever has here in New Hampshire.
Wherever you pick, do some research about how well or how poorly the town does with snow removal. I am in VT now and the snow is plowed immediately. When I lived in MD, they were not so great with the plowing. If you pick a home with a long driveway, you will have to pay someone to come plow that for you. If you pick a home on a remote country road, you may not get plowed out right away. I live in a community with an HOA that takes care of the plowing, including driveways.
And remember, when you are retired you do not have to go out if there is an unusually bad storm.
Also, if you live in a remote community, you may end up having to deal with multiple-day power outages. Some years even a week or more. You can have a generator, but that is going to be some additional cost and maintenance. If you have a gasoline-power type, you will need to be feeding it fuel (not to mention, going out and getting the fuel to feed it). Just something to consider when you are choosing your town.
...not buying that...I'm in central IL and the heat index isn't getting above 85 for the next 10 days - where it is 95-100 degree heat index in Orlando. Dewpoints in Orlando will rarely be less than 75 but are 60 to 70 in Illinois and with lower actual temps.
I've been to Orlando in July...talk about absolutely melting when you get into your car that's been out in the sun! No wonder style is so casual there - you can't wear anything you're not willing to sweat through - and that's from April-October. You really can't live in your pool and it is actually not refreshing unless it is cooled.
Agree. You (and we) might get some triple digit days, but it will break and there will be wonderful and comfortable Summer days. Our last heat streak was unusually long (I think it was about 10 days?), it seemed endless. It is gorgeous right now, though. So, we typically get a couple of H&H days, then it will break and be beautiful. Then a couple more H&H, break and it's wonderful again. With a few rain or storm days thrown in there. I don't think I could handle a place that was just high H&H endlessly for months. But I am heat sensitive. I do much better in cooler temps.
...not buying that...I'm in central IL and the heat index isn't getting above 85 for the next 10 days - where it is 95-100 degree heat index in Orlando. Dewpoints in Orlando will rarely be less than 75 but are 60 to 70 in Illinois and with lower actual temps.
I've been to Orlando in July...talk about absolutely melting when you get into your car that's been out in the sun! No wonder style is so casual there - you can't wear anything you're not willing to sweat through - and that's from April-October. You really can't live in your pool and it is actually not refreshing unless it is cooled.
Yep, I lived in the Orlando area for 23 years and don't miss the weather there at all. Seems like the hot weather kept getting longer and longer. We loaded the vehicles for the last trip up here on a March 31 evening, and I was as soaked with sweat as if I had been hosed off.
I also lived on the East Coast of Florida for many years, and it wasn't quite so bad as you got a bit of a breeze. But living in Orlando for the rest of our lives was not what we wanted.
That's the way I feel about extreme heat. Our stretch of triple-digit heat index days a couple of weeks ago had me more housebound than any snow storm ever has here in New Hampshire.
This is so true. That heat wave was terrible. Ill take a snowstorm anyday. I dont understand how people can live in the south or florida.
Also, if you live in a remote community, you may end up having to deal with multiple-day power outages. Some years even a week or more. You can have a generator, but that is going to be some additional cost and maintenance. If you have a gasoline-power type, you will need to be feeding it fuel (not to mention, going out and getting the fuel to feed it). Just something to consider when you are choosing your town.
IMHO the fuel of choice for a backup generator is propane - you can get a large tank that won't run dry in your longest reasonable outage, and unlike gasoline (and particularly the ethanol blends you usually get if you don't seek out E-0 fuel) it won't go bad. In any case I would suggest you want to have an adequate supply of fuel on-site, not plan to go get more - remember if the outage is wide enough, the gas stations won't have power to their pumps, so you can't get more gas anyway.
But, realize if you get a backup generator, you are in the power engineering business, at least part time. You need to run the generator something like once a month, you need to be able to load it with whatever you want to power in the house, not just let it idle. And you need to change the oil, probably at least annually.
Literature that will come with the generator will tell you what's recommended of course.
You can go small and just power say your fridge, or you can go big, and power most anything in the house, if you want to pay for that.
But it's not like you can just install it and forget about it till you need it.
Santa Fe, NM
Spokane, WA (mainly for the low housing cost)
Santa Fe, NM is interesting... We visited - and ruled it out because I want to live closer to family... plus it lacks green vegetation and is pretty dry and dusty - but if you want mountains and 4 seasons and snow - it's pretty OK. NM is not a rich state by any means, tho. Services for elderly are slim.
I know many people who have made their way to Spokane. I visited it in my late 20's and was intrigued. Great basketball town there (John Stockton and family are from there - home of Gonzaga University).... Back in the 80's it really was a lovely little town. I am certain it's grown. I don't know about the weather tho - I'm certain they probably have snow - but intermountain west snow is not like that of the Midwest.
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