Moving to St. louis from Atlanta (Newark: apartment, home, neighborhood)

[Jai]

Hi,

I am planning to move to STL from ATL. I saw that the temperature is much colder when compared to Atlanta, can anybody pls. tell me how bad it would be (in comparison) and what would be snowfall in St. Louis (How many times would it snow and what it would be comparing the snow with NJ).

Also kindly recommend a good neighborhood to move. I am looking for a Double bedroom apartment in the price range of 800$. I would be working in Downtown (Would be traveling in my Car) something which is about 20-30 mts. drive is a good option.

Regards,

[aragx6]

It is much much colder in St. Louis. You'll see snow and ice at least once a month from December through March, often more, but it is usually less than 3 inches. This won't shut the city down the way it would Atlanta though. We're used to it.

What kind of area are you looking to live? Suburban with malls nearby? Urban with walkable shops and bars? Do you have a kid? Tell us more about your needs and we can hook you up with a good neighborhood.

[jojojohnson76]

Once a month is a huge overstatement. The midwest has been hit hard with ice in the last week or so, but there is an actual snowfall WITH accumulation maybe 2-3 times per winter. When it does, its rarely more than a couple of inches.

[aragx6]

Average snowfall for St. Louis according to NWS:

Nov: 1.4
Dec: 4.0
Jan: 5.4
Feb: 4.4
Mar: 3.9

You're suggesting that with an average of 19.6 inches of snow per year that we only get 2-3 storms with accumulation typically less than a couple of inches?? That just doesn't make much sense.

I'm suggesting that a conservative estimate is: 1 5-6 inch storm a winter, 2 or 3 3-4 inch, and 4 or more 2 inch and less.

You'll rarely get accumulating snow in Nov. or April, but it would be a warm winter if there wasn't any snow on the ground in Dec., Jan., Feb., and March.

Last year much of St. Louis got over 10 inches on Dec. 1

[jojojohnson76]

Well, we just made it through November with 0 inches, we haven't had any in December (we had some ice storms, but nothing terrible within 15 miles of St Louis) thus far. So, thus far, more than 3 of those inches predicted are wrong.

Trust me, I love snow, and I hope I get proven right, but in my 22 years I have never known this area to get an average of 20 inches per year.

[jojojohnson76]

by the way, I found the same stats as you on a University's website. According to city-data.com (a much more reliable source, in my opinion), says;

NOV - about 3.5
DEC - barely over 2
JAN - 2
FEB - 3
MAR - 4

I would definitely suggest that a lot of the precipiation in March and November is nothing more than rain.

[aragx6]

You're suggesting to me that city-data is a more reliable source than the National Weather Service? That's insane.

[jojojohnson76]

Oh, did you get those from NWS? Again, living here my entire life, I'm definitely more inclined to believe the lower number.

My bad though, I thought you got those from some university study, which is where I found the same rankings..

[jojojohnson76]

As long as you are using NWS as your source, you should take note that ONE, yes ONE of St Louis' top ten 24-hour snows happened within the last 20 years (11.7 inches in 1993). Our last "snowiest month" was 23 inches in January of 1987.

Our 2006 snowfall was 13.7 inches.

I dunno, maybe my memory serves me wrong, or I don't think about our little 1/2 inch snows, but I still can't be convinced we get 20 inches a year.

[aragx6]

I'm not looking to be argumentative, but my point is that it doesn't matter if you're convinced or not- It's a fact.

Yes it's an average. This means that some years we won't get a lot of snow, such as the 13.7 from last year (which btw will still be a major shock to someone from Atlanta) and others we'll get blasted, but many years will fall around that average.

Regardless of arguments over the exact numbers, Atlanta gets damn near none, so snow will come as a huge shock.

To the OP, I'm not trying to scare you, but it will be quite the change for you coming from Atlanta. My Aunt grew up in St. Louis and lives now in Atlanta. Her daughter didn't see accumulating snow until she was 4. But, compared with New Jersey as you asked, it's pretty comparable- according to our list Newark gets more than Stl.

And let's all be thankful we don't live in Valdez, AK. Apparently their yearly average is 326!!!!! Hell, even 5 hours north of St. Louis is Chicago (where my happy home is now) They get an average of 38.5. We got 6 inches here last week and no one even batted an eyelash!