Don't move to Des Moines, Iowa unless.. (transplants, apartment)

[Tek_Freek]

I've spent time in northern Florida in July and August.

Everyone was complaining about how hot and humid it was.

It was hotter with higher humidity here. The previous posts are just bragging BS.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I've spent time in northern Florida in July and August.

Everyone was complaining about how hot and humid it was.

It was hotter with higher humidity here. The previous posts are just bragging BS.

I was in Tampa one August, tasked with cleaning out an elderly relative's trashed out trailer.

Honestly, I thought I was going to die! FL heat and humidity wiped me out. I took to napping during the afternoons and working late into the night. That was enough for me.

I love to visit! But I wouldn't want to live south of Ohio year-around.

[smpliving]

I spent a week in Boca Raton/Fort Lauderdale/Miami in June, and thought I would suffocate outside. I thought Iowa humidity was bad after coming from California, but Florida put things into perspective for me. Just my experience. I can take Phoenix heat over Florida, but it's still oppressive IMO.

I say you only live once, go for it .... there's always A/C.

[camille563]

I'm was raised in Miami Florida. I like Des Moines with a few exceptions, yes weather stinks for 4 months and people see me as different because I was raised differently and I have different views. I have met great people but most people don't like you unless you're part of what they call normal! I hope I have the ability to move down south where the weather is better and people are less shady!

[Chelito23]

I do have to say, the humidity in corn-grwoing regions of the Midwest can rival and surpass the South's during the intermittant hot spells on the summer months. Between the evapotranspiration of the corn, all the lush vegetation, moist ground, long days and open/unshaded land, the region bakes at times. The cold fronts do bring relief, but sometimes that makes the inevitable return of the humidity that much more harder to deal with, whereas in the South, it is a constant, one can adapt to it because it never goes away for the duration of the season. But when it literally varies day to day, it can feel worse to some.

[sequoias]

I would much rather go outdoors than being stuck indoors with A/C running. Humid n heat slows you down.

[tamitrail]

Hey, I live in Western NC and the weather ha SUCKED here too. I am hoping for the good luck of getting out of here and maybe coming your way.

Originally Posted by Katerk

1. You have a great job offer that you can't pass up.
2. You can deal with Winter and "Spring" which means that "Spring" is just more cold and little outside activites.
3. You can deal with "Winter" that lasts for months...literally months.

Des Moines has stuff to offer IF the weather is nice (big if) but if you're over 50+ and single: DON'T MOVE HERE. I grew up here, then moved away for 20+years and made the mistake of moving back a few years ago. I would NOT do it again.

If you're young or married with small children, maybe. The people are very nice and the schools are decent, good, or better (maybe not in Des Moines proper). Housing is cheaper, job market is better than a lot of places but you still have to deal with weather and it is not pretty.

But you still have state income taxes, HUGE property taxes, and COLD weather.

Hey, it's May 1st, the year is 1/3 over and the weather has sucked this calendar year to date with only a handful of exceptions.

Good luck!

[tamitrail]

Originally Posted by fezzador

For much of the nation the weather is an anomaly. Down in the Southeast it's been cool and extremely wet so far this year. Only in the past couple of weeks has it been consistently warm. We're usually good for a couple of days near 90 by now, we haven't even come close to that yet.

For me, I'll gladly take a snowy 20 degree winter over a rainy 50 degree winter. That's just depressing. At least snow can be fun.

You are SO right!

[Regular User Name]

In my opinion, the humidity in Iowa is simiply not on the same level as it is in the South. I currently live in Houston, TX, having relocated from Des Moines and, prior to that, Washington DC. All of these place can stake some claim to having occasionally very high humidity, but the summer weather in Houston is - hands down - the most extreme.

In Houston and places of its ilk, the humidity, paired with the heat, is more than an inconvenience or an unpleasant factor present for a few days per summer. It's something that people plan their lives around - they avoid outside activities until night, they exercise only in gyms, etc. In my experience, on even the hottest Iowa days, there was some relief in the evening. Here in Houston, it is basically an oven from the start of summer through the beginning of fall, day or night.

Even now, as we sit in the midst of one of the coolest springs on record, the humidity can jump up and bite you. I took my dog for a five minute walk at 10pm a week or two ago, and by the time I got back, I was spent - sweaty, drained, etc.

Sure, some of that may be due to the fact that I'm an out of shape human wasteland, but still.

In conclusion - all of my previous homes (IA, DC, TX) have horror stories to tell about their steamy summers. But the TX stories win running away - other than a few very isolated incidences, it's not even a contest.

[CasketKitten]

I feel your pain about being older in DSM and single. It was to me a strange place, a cold place. Lived there 10 years. Now, it could be that just now your feelings towards the town are being shaded by the insane weather this year. 6 plus months of winter would be enough to make anyone come down hard on a town. Maybe things will improve for you once it warms up.