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Old 07-14-2018, 01:37 PM
 
17,276 posts, read 11,126,829 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Melchisedec View Post
Very informative post and I share your views.

Years back I was reading retirement magazines and some readers criticized the magazine for not recommending more cold weather states with lots of snow.

The editor stated, as you did, that despite pre-retirees stating they loved the snow and cold they were more housebound after they actually retired to a cold weather state.
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.
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Old 07-14-2018, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,272 posts, read 61,027,360 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD View Post
That was 12” total for the winter. You can get 12” of snowfall in November some years in much of Maine
One corner of Maine dips down into the snow-belt. Where I live does not.

In much of the snow-belt region they can routinely get a foot of snow over-night in a single storm.

Where I live, we normally see 4 to 6 inches of snow followed by a week of clear sunny days.

My Prius handles fine in up to 8 inches of snow.

I have not seen a foot of snow falling in November since I moved here.

The towns I listed are coastal towns that get much less snow.



Quote:
... I’ve had $500+ plow bills in Portsmouth NH
Yes, at the risk of repeating my self again and again in the same thread.

Way way way down South in the snow-belt they do get huge dumps of snow. It would be very reasonable therefore for someone in NH to get a lot of snow. duh.



Quote:
... I imagine the average snowfall in southern Maine is in the 50” to 75” range somewhere. Sugarloaf is the only place that averages 200”.
Did you have a point?
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Old 07-14-2018, 09:50 PM
 
Location: TN/NC
34,864 posts, read 30,954,560 times
Reputation: 47205
We get a lot of "four season seekers" here.

We do get four seasons, but at the 1700' I live and work at, it's rare that snow sticks more than a couple of days. Summers, while much more bearable than somewhere like Raleigh, are still mid-upper 80s. We have consistently been around 90 for at least a couple of weeks - some days have in the mid 90s with >50% humidity.

When I left the office at 5 yesterday, it was 91 degrees. I drove from Johnson City to Asheville. I didn't see 80 until about 3000'. At 3700' in Sam's Gap on I-26, it was 77 at 5:30. It went from miserable to bearable. I stopped at the welcome center, probably about 3000', and it was around 80, but still about as humid as JC.

Around here, you really need to get around 3000', probably 3500', to really cut the heat out and get more snow during the winter. The high country around Boone and some of the mountain towns north and west of Asheville are the best choices.
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:05 AM
mlb
 
Location: North Monterey County
4,971 posts, read 4,429,250 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SportyandMisty View Post
We spend ski season in Park City UT. It doesn't exactly qualify but comes close; let me describe it.

As a ski resort, Park City gets a lot of snow. That would seem to disqualify it, but it doesn't.

The air is very dry. In fact, it is easy to become dehydrated; tourists are constantly reminded to guzzle water.

The consequence is the dry air is the snow "evaporates" very quickly (OK, OK, for the chemists in the crowd, I know that the snow doesn't evaporate; it sublimates -- goes from solid state to gas vapor without melting - but let's not be technical).

So, you can have a foot of snow Monday night and it is gone by Tuesday mid-day. All the streets are plowed quickly. I've seen YouTube videos of motorists stuck in snow in the NorthEast and MidWest and it looks treacherous, but I've only seen someone stuck once in Park City -- even when we've had 400+ inches of snow (not all at once, of course).

So, unlike snow in Chicago (where I lived for a couple years in grad school), snow in Utah is light & fluffy and really not an impediment to much of anything.

So, it does have 4 fairly balanced seasons with a lot of snow that is not a PIA. And great skiing.
But you're not living there year 'round. Many people cannot afford Park City.

Says someone who lives in the Salt Lake Valley - and HAS been snowed in multiple times. I know Park City well - and yes, you can be snowed in.

Plus you have to deal with tourists and the Sundance Film Festival. NOPE. It's a tourist trap and does not have all the amenities (a decent hospital) nearby. My spouse had same day surgery at the Park City Hospital and his hospital bill - despite insurance was outrageous. NOPE.
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Old 07-15-2018, 04:03 PM
 
5,289 posts, read 5,203,614 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760 View Post
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.
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).
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Old 07-16-2018, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,123 posts, read 56,797,628 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carnivalday View Post
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).

The whole weather/climate thing is not just a north-south dichotomy. Here in Eastern WA, while the mountains wring the water out of the Pacific air before it gets to us, some heat remains, so we don't in general get the extreme winter that is common in the Central US area. Texas Panhandle, I would say, gets a rougher winter than we do. And more heat in summer as well.



Elevation plays a part too. The winter in Idaho or Colorado was snowy, on and off, but a light, fluffy snow, not that grim cement like mess you get in the Midwest or Northeast.
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Old 07-16-2018, 11:05 PM
 
334 posts, read 564,868 times
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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?
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Old 07-17-2018, 05:11 AM
 
8,708 posts, read 4,954,360 times
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We would love to live in Maine, except for the snow and ice . Don`t want to be snowbirds. So far, looks like SC may be it
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Old 07-17-2018, 07:46 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,272 posts, read 61,027,360 times
Reputation: 30164
Quote:
Originally Posted by suaz View Post
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?
Coastal Maine has mostly a tourist economy, so it is expensive. And with over 3,000 miles of coast line there is a lot of coastal Maine.

We settled inland.

We got a tractor with a snow-blower, and have not used a snow shovel since. Light snow is not bad if you are prepared for it. I drive a Prius and it is great in snow. It is very rare for us to see snow so deep that a Prius can not drive in it [maybe once in five years, or so].

I can see the need to avoid living in the snow-belt region. Those fools can get 3 foot or more dumped on them in a single storm.

Overall we have found it to be very low Cost-Of-Living here.
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Old 07-17-2018, 02:55 PM
 
Location: Near San Francisco, CA
199 posts, read 182,824 times
Reputation: 262
Quote:
Originally Posted by suaz View Post
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?

Coastal Maine is pretty humid all summer, isn't it?
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