looking at Virginia (Virginia Beach, Richmond: crime, house, college)

[njf61]

Hello! We're from Southern Illinois, and are starting to think about what we'll do when our kids are gone (4 or 5 more years). We'd love to get out of the midwest, be near the coast, somewhere not too cold in winter (it's 20's and sometimes single digits here) and NO 95 degree high humidity. We'd like a smaller town (10,000 or less) but close to larger. We'll still be working, I'm an RN, my husband is a QA tech in automotive (which is going belly up here). The housing prices are very high compared to ours (125,000 is a decent house here), but hopefully pay is better there. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[richmondpics]

Virginia can get really cold in the winter and it's not unusual to have several consecutive days in the 90's with high humidity in the summer. High humidity is almost a fact of life in the south.

How far would you like to be from the coast?

[lammius]

If you don't like the hot OR the cold you're not going to like most parts of the East Coast, because most areas between the Carolinas and Boston have BOTH cold winters and hot, humid summers. The west coast has a more moderate climate. If that's your number one issue, I'd recommend checking out places out there.

[EricD]

Yeah, usually there are several days during the summer where temperatures reach over 100 degrees, and it's humid almost all summer long. The only place on the east coast I found with the kind of weather you're looking for is Miami/South Florida. I went to college down there, and in the winter every day was clear and in the lower 70's with lows in the 60's (sometimes 50's if it's a cold spell) and in the summer, temperatures actually hardly ever went above 90 degrees. (Miami has never had a 100 degree day) There is humidity down there too, but that's usually just after the afternoon showers... the mornings are perfect, even in the summer. And the steady breazes always help to cool you down.

But anyways, back to Virginia... I think Virginia is great (heck, I'm living there now), but I wouldn't say the weather is perfect... you'll get snow storms int he winter, and heat waves int he summer... it's just how things are.

[njf61]

thanks for replying! I had looked at some websites and it didn't look like it got quite as cold in the coastal areas of Virginia (around Virginia Beach maybe) as it does back here in winter. And, maybe not as hot, either. We have about 2-3 weeks each winter of single digits, or teens then in 20's and 30's, and ice, although our actual snow is decreasing. And in summer, we stay in the upper 90's throughout July and August and even into Sept. Our temps seem to be one extreme or the other, we have 2 good months in spring and another 2 in fall, then it stinks! We've also considered the San Francisco area, but I like the idea of the East Coast.

[richmondpics]

San Franciso seems to be much more costlier than many areas in Virginia. You'll definitely get four distinct seasons in Virginia. In the winter, highs are typically in the 30s-50s, with lows in the 20s to 40s, though sometimes we get spells of colder weather. Richmond and the Virginia Beach area might get 1 or 2 decent snowfalls a year. Snow usually doesn't stick around long though. In the summer, highs are usually in the 80s, but there are definitely spells of 90s+. Might not seem too bad, and it wouldn't if there wasn't so much humidity. Springs and falls are for the most part very nice though. ^^^It's not a scientific weather analysis, but it should broadly be on point.

The way it works out for me is usually by the time I'm sick of the summer heat, Fall is arriving and by the time I'm sick of the cold of winter, Spring is here.

Good luck!

[EricD]

Just check www.weather.com

On there you can enter a city or zip code, and then check the calender for the average temperatures and such... should help put all this to an end when you compare where you are now to VA beach.

[njf61]

Originally Posted by EricD

Just check www.weather.com

On there you can enter a city or zip code, and then check the calender for the average temperatures and such... should help put all this to an end when you compare where you are now to VA beach.

Thank you! I did this, and our area IS colder (not alot) and a little hotter, and I did it for San Francisco, too. It's a great tool!

[jcbennett]

I live in the New River Valley but I will tell you if you are looking for a place that is safe and people are friendly, jobs, low cost of living. I would look at Ft. Payne, Alabama. It doesn't get extremely cold nor hot. Cost of living there is unbelievable. Crime is very low. We are trying to relocate there. Virginia is great to live but can be expensive.

[irisheyes13]

I don't know where in Southern IL you live but we lived in Southern IL (Edwardsville and Fairview Heights) for over 7 years and I would say that the weather here in southeastern VA is much better. We loved our time there but, Southern IL has all of the extremes weatherwise in my opinion. There are lots of small towns in VA and I would say the folks are just as friendly as we found in the small town in IL. As much as we enjoyed our time there, we prefer VA for sure.