LA to Chicago? (Dakota: live, move to, architecture)

[elleng0523]

Has anyone moved from LA to Chicago? I did in a roundabout way and I am wondering how people like Chicago compared to LA. Is Chicago more liveable? Less exciting? Friendlier? What made you decide to move to Chicago from LA? Thanks.

[chicken.or.the.nugget]

ive never lived in the cities but i've been to both
When I was in LA i never saw those fake people that everyone talks about but maybe it was because i came in the summer and it was all tourists. I think chicago is still friendlier though, most people seem to be pretty nice. The city is way nicer than LA, which is just like a massive suburb. If you're not in the movie industry/tv industry chicago probably offers you the same if not more jobs. The downtown is way nicer. The only things LA has on chicago is the weather and scenery...lake michigan is nice but its no pacific ocean

[chicken.or.the.nugget]

The Location - The Chicago Spire.
look at this and the architecture, business and culture slideshows to see how nice chicago is

[At1WithNature]

chicago will be a lot less warm without the numerous plastic beauties. that's hollywood for you, that's not how it is here in Illinois.

[laysayfair]

It's sooooo cold in Chicago. That artic wind comes sweeping down from Canada, picks up some ice-cubes over Lake Michigan and comes SLAMMING into Chicago!!

[ebuch]

Whats a normal winter like in Chicago?

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by ebuch

Whats a normal winter like in Chicago?

November to Early April or Late October to Late March. about 2-3 storms of 6 plus inches of snow. mostly just a couple to several inches per storm, windy, bitterly cold. grey skies that last months at a time. althouth Old Man Winter and Mother Nature like to play games amongst themselves. for example, let's say it snows 3 inches tonight. By Sunday, it very well could be 45 degrees with the snow melted thus creating a muddy/sloshy experience. and it can go back and forth like that every other week throughout the winter. the thing that makes chicago winters so bad isn't really the big snowstorms. it's the ice (think driving conditions), ridiculously long winter (like half the year), grey skies, and bitterly cold temps to go with extreme winds (again driving conditions). it's the duration that is the problem, plus it will be colder than Boston or NYC in the winter time but not nearly as cold as North Dakota or Minnesota aka the Upper Midwest.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by ebuch

Whats a normal winter like in Chicago?

Average temps for Chicago winters:

Avg high Nov temp: 48 degrees. Avg low: 31 degrees.
Avg high Dec temp: 35. Low: 20.
Avg high Jan temp: 29. Low: 13.
Avg high Feb temp: 34. Low: 18.
Avg high Mar temp: 45. Low: 28.

Averages for Chicago snowfall:

Nov: 1.9"
Dec: 8"
Jan: 10"
Feb: 8"
Mar: 7"

Average for Chicago winter sunshine %:

Nov (our cloudiest month): 39% sunshine
Dec: 44%
Jan: 46%
Feb: 47%
Mar: 50%
Basically, its cloudy about 1/2 the time in winter. Definitely NOT cloudy "for months at a time". It is, however, definitely more cloudy in winter than summer, but its not Seattle with 25% sunshine levels. It should also be noted that our winter weather is punctuated by some nice, mild temps here and there. Its not unusual to have temps in the 50s and 60s in teh dead of winter, but they dont stick around more than a day or two. Last year I believe we hit 65 degrees in the dead of winter.

Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

[RichMonk]

@Steve-o

I think what At1 was getting at is that it will feel like it has been cloudy for months at a time. I certainly feel that way. While the numbers say otherwise you have to understand the reality of how humans perceive. We dwell far more heavily on negative things by nature. So a month where the sun shines only half the time would feel like it was just cloudy the whole time.

[Mister Mappy]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

November to Early April or Late October to Late March. about 2-3 storms of 6 plus inches of snow. mostly just a couple to several inches per storm, windy, bitterly cold. grey skies that last months at a time. althouth Old Man Winter and Mother Nature like to play games amongst themselves. for example, let's say it snows 3 inches tonight. By Sunday, it very well could be 45 degrees with the snow melted thus creating a muddy/sloshy experience. and it can go back and forth like that every other week throughout the winter. the thing that makes chicago winters so bad isn't really the big snowstorms. it's the ice (think driving conditions), ridiculously long winter (like half the year), grey skies, and bitterly cold temps to go with extreme winds (again driving conditions). it's the duration that is the problem, plus it will be colder than Boston or NYC in the winter time but not nearly as cold as North Dakota or Minnesota aka the Upper Midwest.

This is a bit exagerrated. We don't really get ice storms. (Oddly enough we did get one last December though). It isn't gray for 6 months straight, nor do we have snow on the ground from November thru April. Usually we get our first snow that sticks around in December. Yes, we do get snow, and can get bitterly cold, but also we do have stretches where it's sunny and gets into the 40's. (Sometimes even into the 50's and 60's. We do get a few days like that in the winter). The city is very good at plowing the streets after a storm, so the streets are usually clear. Yes, winter isn't the best season in Chicago, but it's not Antarctica, either.