Northerns moving to Huntsville area (Birmingham, Auburn: homes, neighborhood, high school)

[harry chickpea]

"New York yankees are not that bad." Having lived in both worlds, there are SOME (mostly from "The City") that very much are bad. Many of them ended up retiring to South Florida, where I again had to deal with them. *sigh* To be fair, for some of them being pushy and aggressive was how they managed to survive.

On snow, Huntsville has a little heat island thing going on. There might be none in the city, but go up 300' on Monte Sano and there will be some. Or go out in the country, like where I live, and temps for much of the year can be 5 to 10 degrees cooler. Only at late summer do they even out into uniformly hot.

What Alabama DOES have from timt to time is impressive ice storms. With some roads going straight up the little mountains, those can be completely impassable, as can the elevated parts of major roads.

[drinkthekoolaid]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Well, actually ... the average snowfall is something under 3" per year. It used to be 5 or 6. Some years get virtually nothing, some get quite a bit. A few years ago we had about 15", and in the early 60s we had a single storm of 17" and a seasonal total of almost 25". It'll usually sneak up on us here without being predicted.

The temperatures have gone up noticeably in recent winters. There's something to "cliimate change". Our winters now are not much colder than what I grew up with in Central Mississippi. January average temp has gone up about 3 degrees F since the 70s, and that's quite a bit for an average. Regardless, temps here are all over the place in the winter just like they are anywhere else in the central part of the country.

Thanks. Sounds good.

I don't mind snow and winter. I kinda enjoy it just not to the extent of western NY lake effect snow winter's where feet of snow and no sun for 4 months is normal. I still want 4 seasons which is why I'm not looking at Florida. So this all sounds great.


And the earlier post about ice.... Yes ice is no joke. I'll drive through deep snow all day long and not care but ice is another thing all together. Don't mess with ice.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by writerwife

When I moved here from Ct in the 70s it was a very different thing. Nowadays, if you're going to Huntsville, there's no prob at all. I think most of the population in Huntsville is from elsewhere these days. Most of the smaller towns outside of Huntsville is where you'll find more Southern bred and cornbread fed natives and they have always been friendly in my experience.
And, I never picked a team, lol... Roll Eagle!!

This is true. Someone's experience living 25 miles outside of Huntsville in Athens or Jackson County, AL (where there are few transplants) will be entirely different from that of those who chose to live in a subdivision in Madison or Hampton Cove where over half of the neighborhood has moved in from out of state. Even in Madison County, there are still small communities in the outlying areas like New Hope, New Market, Gurley and Hazel Green where there is more of the small town Southern culture.


I say this because one can find less expensive housing in the outlying areas, but the people and the public schools will be different from that of living in closer in areas like the City of Madison , Southeast Huntsville, or Hampton Cove.


There was an article this morning which ranked the 30 best elementary schools in Alabama and four of the top ten were in the City of Madison. https://www.al.com/expo/news/g66l-20...-for-2019.html


The same organization ranked Madison's two high schools in the top ten in the state. https://www.al.com/expo/news/g66l-20...-for-2019.html

Last thought: There is one of each of the national chains that most folks are used to coming from bigger cities: Apple, Best Buy, Chipotle, Costco, Whole Foods. They are not all concentrated in one area(like what is found in many suburbs of metropolitan areas), either, so some driving is required to get to them.

[drinkthekoolaid]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

"New York yankees are not that bad." Having lived in both worlds, there are SOME (mostly from "The City") that very much are bad. Many of them ended up retiring to South Florida, where I again had to deal with them. *sigh* To be fair, for some of them being pushy and aggressive was how they managed to survive.

On snow, Huntsville has a little heat island thing going on. There might be none in the city, but go up 300' on Monte Sano and there will be some. Or go out in the country, like where I live, and temps for much of the year can be 5 to 10 degrees cooler. Only at late summer do they even out into uniformly hot.

What Alabama DOES have from timt to time is impressive ice storms. With some roads going straight up the little mountains, those can be completely impassable, as can the elevated parts of major roads.

Hi Harry, what area of the country do you live in? What would a typical commute to the city be like?

How are schools once you get out of the first ring suburbs?

Are there are major differences in terms of living in actual Huntsville proper, the suburbs or country? As far as taxes, public services, utilities, schooling etc..?

[turf3]

Here's the main thing. (I am not an Alabaman, but we Texans had to deal with the Michigan invasion back in the 80s and 90s and it left a bad taste.)


Do not come to our place, and then spend all your time complaining about things that are different, and telling everyone how much better you did it up north.


Just don't.


If you will be polite and not do that, you will get along just fine.


In Texas we had a saying "they never stop complaining but you can't get them to leave". Don't be that person.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

"New York yankees are not that bad." Having lived in both worlds, there are SOME (mostly from "The City") that very much are bad. Many of them ended up retiring to South Florida, where I again had to deal with them. *sigh* To be fair, for some of them being pushy and aggressive was how they managed to survive.

On snow, Huntsville has a little heat island thing going on. There might be none in the city, but go up 300' on Monte Sano and there will be some. Or go out in the country, like where I live, and temps for much of the year can be 5 to 10 degrees cooler. Only at late summer do they even out into uniformly hot.

What Alabama DOES have from timt to time is impressive ice storms. With some roads going straight up the little mountains, those can be completely impassable, as can the elevated parts of major roads.

That is absolutely true. Compare the Huntsville NWS readings (from Huntsville International) to those of Decatur, probably no more than 15 miles away, and there's a significant difference for such a short distance. For one, you have the heat island effect of all the concrete at the airport. Then, compare to the Meridianville readings, taken at the Madison County Executive Airport, and there may be 10 degrees colder there in the winter. Differences are substantial over short distances. The record low at the airport is -11, while the record for Madison County is -27. That's also the record low for the entire state.

There are definitely 4 seasons here. Winters can be quite cold and miserable in spite of not much snowfall, spring and fall are great except for spring storms, and summers are hot and humid.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by drinkthekoolaid

Hi Harry, what area of the country do you live in? What would a typical commute to the city be like?

How are schools once you get out of the first ring suburbs?

Are there are major differences in terms of living in actual Huntsville proper, the suburbs or country? As far as taxes, public services, utilities, schooling etc..?

I don't know where Harry lives, but Madison County schools are pretty good. Madison Schools are generally "excellent", and in Huntsville it depends on where you are. There are some really good ones, and there are some "inner city" bad ones.

[tn_native]

Beware that if 1/2" of snow falls ALL overpasses in the Huntsville area will be closed. FYI that some areas are tough to get to without travelling on an overpass.



Not kidding.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by tn_native

Beware that if 1/2" of snow falls ALL overpasses in the Huntsville area will be closed. FYI that some areas are tough to get to without travelling on an overpass.



Not kidding.

I jokingly refer to the orange barrels they use to close the roads as "Huntsville snowplows". When there's snow, ut come the barrels to close major roads and overpasses down. Here, state and federal highways have to be cleared by the State ... they won't let the city salt, plow, or whatever. The city has a decent amount of snow clearing equipment, and can contract more, but the state won't let them use what they have on the major roadways. And of course, the state does very little. The airport has excellent snow clearing/deicing equipment so it stays open pretty much no matter what. It's a primary diversion airport for Atlanta so it has to stay open.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by drinkthekoolaid

Hi Harry, what area of the country do you live in? What would a typical commute to the city be like?

How are schools once you get out of the first ring suburbs?

Are there are major differences in terms of living in actual Huntsville proper, the suburbs or country? As far as taxes, public services, utilities, schooling etc..?

Yes. With the exception of the newest large subdivisions in the Monrovia area, all of the homes in the County are on septic tanks whereas all of the homes in the City of Huntsville and City of Madison are required to be on sewer lines (with a few possible exceptions in older areas).


Homes in the County are served by a volunteer fire department, whereas all properties in Huntsville and the City of Madison are served by a fulltime fire department.


Regarding schools, you can click on the links in my earlier post about the 30 best rated public schools - elementary and then high schools. Both of the City of Madison's high schools are in the top ten in the state and it has four elementary schools in the top ten. Three of Huntsville's high schools are in the top 30 in the state (New Century Technology, Huntsville High and Grissom). The other high schools in the City of Huntsville are not highly rated.


From what I recall, none of the Madison County Schools made either list. Sparkman High School in the Harvest/Monrovia area is considered the best of the County schools.


As far as commutes from locations in the rural parts of Madison County, keep in mind Madison County is quite large land wise - in fact it is larger than Davidson County Tennessee (The municipality of Nashville is basically all of Davidson County) yet has about half the population. Therefore, one can live in the far reaches near the Tennessee state line near New Market and drive about 35 minutes to work at Cummings Research Park or Redstone Arsenal (the two main employment centers). On the other hand, one can live in the eastern portions of Madison (near the Highland Lakes neighborhood) and be five minutes from work. There are new home subdivisions being built in the outer reaches of the County as well as several new neighborhoods in Limestone County to the immediate west. The City of Madison has annexed land in Limestone and these neighborhoods are selling well because they are zoned to Madison City Schools. Huntsville has also annexed a lot of land in Limestone, but the schools for which they are zoned are not highly rated.