Allergens, Pollen ? (Portland, Eugene, Salem: real estate, buy, school)

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

You may be surprised. Eugene is bad, and if you are moving because of allergies, why move where things are the same?

Because Eugene might be the same for allergies, but it is far far different for climate. Here we have 6-8 months of heavy snow and brutal cold, a month of -20 to -40 temperatures not including wind chill. This past winter we had 10 feet of snow on top of the cold. Winter here (snow, cold) lasted November to May. I can't take all the ice, snow, brutal cold, constant shoveling and salting ice, driving in snow, blizzards.

[Steve Pickering]

Not really. I lived right at the southern most tip of Lake Michigan and the Lake Effect Snow piled up higher than my shovel handle at times and stayed for months, but Oregon can start to drizzle and not end for half the year. Eugene gets cold too. It isn't that much of a change. Mostly mild, but mild is a personal term. People from your part of the country tend to get real tired of the weather here quickly. It just isn't the move they thought they were making.

[tsmw47]

Being on Lake Superior in winter can be brutal, grew up on Lake Michigan, Milwaukee, and no comparison. I survived Eugene area during June by massive doses of allergy meds, closing windows and running air filter, no air conditioning in house. As I said it ended very quickly for me after seed harvest. Yea the 40 inches of mist gets old but you can go over the mountains occasionally to get a sun fix. It is a long way to go to find mild temps. when you are in Minnesota and summers can be so humid, not to mention spring tornados. Oregon is a wonderful place ocean, valley, mountains and high desert always something to do. No where is perfect so you choose what you think has the most positives or...least negatives.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Not really. I lived right at the southern most tip of Lake Michigan and the Lake Effect Snow piled up higher than my shovel handle at times and stayed for months, but Oregon can start to drizzle and not end for half the year. Eugene gets cold too. It isn't that much of a change. Mostly mild, but mild is a personal term. People from your part of the country tend to get real tired of the weather here quickly. It just isn't the move they thought they were making.

Southern tip of Lake Michigan is not northern Minnesota, Duluth MN is a lot farther north than southern lake Michigan, and the winters here are much much longer. My brother lives in Chicago and can sometimes be out mowing his lawn in February. Here in Duluth, we have piles of snow still in parking lots until near the end of May. Do the math. I have done my research on city-data and compared temps as well as sunshine/clouds, rainfall, no comparison at all, no similarity between Duluth winters and winters in Eugene or even Lake Michigan. Looking at Duluth's non-snow season, say May-Oct, rainfall in Duluth is far worse than Eugene, far more rain; so I am sure Eugene has lots of rain Nov-May, but I would take that over snow, because at least I would not have to shovel or snowblow rain, or scrape rain off my car windshield, or slide into the car in front of me, or slip and break my wrist, or waste half the winter with a back thrown out from shoveling. Rain beats snow hands down during the winter season.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by tsmw47

B... Yea the 40 inches of mist gets old but you can go over the mountains occasionally to get a sun fix. It is a long way to go to find mild temps. when you are in Minnesota and summers can be so humid, not to mention spring tornados. Oregon is a wonderful place ocean, valley, mountains and high desert always something to do. No where is perfect so you choose what you think has the most positives or...least negatives.

I looked at cloud cover, comparing Duluth to Eugene, and rainfall. We have just as much dismal gray overcast as Eugene so while I am sure it gets old in Eugene during the winter, it is bad where I am at too. At least Eugene does not have the snow to deal with, nor the brutal -20 to -40 temps (-70 with windchill) during winter where you can use a banana as a hammer, or throw a cup of hot coffee in the air and it falls to the ground as ice crystals, and where your car seat is as stiff as concrete; that is what winters are like here.

[Steve Pickering]

It's your life, do with it what you will, but it isn't the weather mecca you think it is. And I lived around the Chicago area for years. If your brother was mowing his lawn in February, he should consider talking to someone about it. Duluth does not have a lock on bad weather. It's all relative. Do what you will but don't expect nirvana.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

It's your life, do with it what you will, but it isn't the weather mecca you think it is. And I lived around the Chicago area for years. If your brother was mowing his lawn in February, he should consider talking to someone about it. Duluth does not have a lock on bad weather. It's all relative. Do what you will but don't expect nirvana.

I am expecting Eugene to be cloudy, rainy, misty much of the year except for summer, and with barely any ice or snow to shovel/chop/snowblow. If that is how Eugene plays out, I would be happy. I like rain. I hate snow/ice. I also play to get out of Eugene/other for a month in winter, rent a condo in Hawaii/Mexico/other where it would be sunny to provide some relief from a long rainy winter. In other words, I am not expecting Eugene to be a 'weather mecca', only expecting Eugene to have hardly any snow/ice to shovel. As for rain, cloudy dismal days-- I expect Eugene to be pretty much on par with where I am already living. But I would gladly give up a brutally cold icy snowy cloudy winter here for a brutally rainy cloudy winter in Eugene.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by joe_obody999

Because Eugene might be the same for allergies, but it is far far different for climate. Here we have 6-8 months of heavy snow and brutal cold, a month of -20 to -40 temperatures not including wind chill. This past winter we had 10 feet of snow on top of the cold. Winter here (snow, cold) lasted November to May. I can't take all the ice, snow, brutal cold, constant shoveling and salting ice, driving in snow, blizzards.

But there are other places in the US that don't have snow and don't have the allergy problems that Eugene has. Take the PNW allergy panel test before you move. I don't believe it's the same as where you are now. See if mold and other allergens prevalent here are of a concern. Then make your decision. There are plenty of places to which you can move that don't have these things and also don't have freezing temperatures and snow.

I lived in Chicago for over thirty years and thought my allergies were bad until I moved to Portland. Not so bad at first but over the years they became worse and the farther I go into the Willamette Valley, the worse they become.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Minervah

But there are other places in the US that don't have snow and don't have the allergy problems that Eugene has. Take the PNW allergy panel test before you move. I don't believe it's the same as where you are now. See if mold and other allergens prevalent here are of a concern. Then make your decision. There are plenty of places to which you can move that don't have these things and also don't have freezing temperatures and snow.....

Trust me I have been researching other places to live-- but when I look at the geography, median home prices, cost of living, city size, no snow, temps and humidity, poisonous nasties, and other factors, I really have narrowed it down to Oregon and North Carolina. Nowhere else works for me.

[Steve Pickering]

What do you mean no snow? Eugene gets snow. Some years it is so bad traffic stops and they don't have the equipment to remove it. Schools close and you don't need to shovel because snow shovels can't be found in the stores. You just wait for it to melt. There are many days in the summer when it is hotter and more uncomfortable than Phoenix. Humidity is not uncommon. Both North Carolina and Oregon have their share of snakes and spiders like Black Widows are often at infestation levels. In Oregon you just don't see the timber rattlers, but the educated in these things will tell you Oregon has as many pit vipers as Arizona per square mile.

You gotta stop reading the real-estate fostered hype and get the facts.

Other than everything you dislike being here, this is a great place to live and I love it. Of course I don't have a list of things I don't like .