California transplants - how's the weather in Nashville? (apartment, rentals)

[loggie1983]

Living my whole life in California I am used to 10-20" of rain a year, lots of sunshine, low humidity, no tornados, and basically a pretty predictable weather life. Looking online the web indicates Nashville gets about 50" of rain. Does that get you down? Get used to it? How's the winter? Sunny? Cloudy? We have considered Vegas as an alternative and they get about 4" of rain and 300 days of sunshine... but of course is hot as hades in the summer. The green of Nashville is very appealing as it looks beautiful so maybe the rain is worth it!? Plus, a new benefit, low fire risk (unlike California).

[N.Cal]

The answers to your questions are going to range all over the place depending on the person. I hated San Francisco’s weather especially in the summer but boy I sure would not mind having it back when it’s over 90° and very high humidity. But then you have a day like this weekend where it’s only going to be in the 70s and very nice.

Personally I hate the winter here because (1) it’s pretty much gray and overcast the whole darn winter and (2) I hate cold weather.

For me personally, to your specific questions:

Yes the rain and clouds get me down.

No I’m not used to it even though I grew up with it (Midwest). The weather was a big part of why I left the Midwest.

The winters are too cold for me. I don’t mind snow when it comes with sunshine like in Denver or Lake Tahoe. I really don’t like ice storms, which are more common here.

Yes, the majority of the winter is overcast and dreary.

We won’t even bring up spring and summer with the allergies. I have suffered from day one here and they have not really been able to do anything to get them under decent control. It tells you something that Vanderbilt has its own ASAP Clinic - Allergy, sinus, asthma, pulmonary.

Other people may have a different opinion or experience.

[Normashirley]

Lollol, oh my goodness,mI am posting because I am the polar opposite of @N.Cal, lollol

I lived five years in SoCal’s Low Desert area with my horses and couldn’t wait to get the buck out of there and back East with my horses, lollol

My roots are on the OH/PA border, where there is a whole season and a half of bone chilling cold. I retired to southern Middle Tennessee to get away from such an extended amount of arthritic weather.

Having horses, I’m outside quite a bit. I can easily handle the few days of below freezing we get but Each passing summer our dew points and humidity seem to get closer and closer to what Louisiana experiences — and I’m not fond of that, lol

I am not the least upset by those days we have cloud cover and rain. When I lived in PA, one of the engineers I worked for did a year long informal study and discovered our area only saw 33% of clear and cloudless days of sunshine.

Middle Tennessee sees a lot more than 33% of clear cloudless days. I do not have the sun deprivation syndrome called SADD but one of my horses does, lol.

I am happy for the cloud cover because another horse has insulin issues; were he human it would be called Type II diabetes. The more the sun cooks the grass, the more sugar is feed from the roots to keep the grass alive. So cloud cover never bothers me as it keeps the sugars down in the grass.

Unless you buy an apartment or live where there is lawn care, all that green you like in Tennessee will mean you will have to buy a lawn mower to keep it cut, lollol —— or you can spend money on a law service

Everything is a trade off. You have to decide if you want to continue to live in a state that looks like it may frightfully burn to the ground while it’s government gets stupider (and more expensive for its residents) by the day, and you do have snow /cold further north, or do you want to move east of the Mississippi where there is always green grass that needs maintenanced, you will have to buy winter clothes and an ice scraper, and there is not state tax.

You could also move to Nevada, as you have alluded to, but that’s also a fire-waiting-to-happen state with its arid climate.

The best thing for you folks would be to come to Middle Tennessee, as reverse snowbirds, and winter here. Look into one of those long term party rentals that are so popular in the Nashville area. They are t really party rentals but they are t B&B’s either — I forget what they’re called

[Transplant99]

I'm from NY/PA/OH region, so obviously completely different than CA. However, here's my impression since arriving in the Spring (post-giant tornado).

The Spring can scare you (only because I've never really experienced anything like it). For the first month or so, I recall experiencing weekly tornado watches. And when it rains, does it rain. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. Fortunately no actual tornadoes since I've been here, but I got caught in something called a "Derecho." I remember driving through it on the highway thinking I was in a tornado. I didn't lose power power during that storm, but some of my coworkers did for a week. So my overall impression of Spring was that it was mild, decent amount of sun, but then once or twice per week, you could get a powerful storm with hard rain and high winds (and possibly hail). It's good to be mindful of the forecast during that time of the year.

The Summer was/is amazing. Most days are sunny and dry. There's been some rain, but typically, it will rain and then the sun comes out. There were a few days of all clouds, but not much. Most summer days seemed to be low 90s and the nights were great (low 70s). I thought it was VERY comfortable, although if you're going to be spending large amounts of time outdoors, plan for some humidity. The humidity will be different for you, but manageable. This isn't exactly Houston.

I'm used to clouds, rain, and snow from October to May, so I can't imagine the gloom and doom will be anything like what I'm used to (and locals have reassured me of that). But a question for the group would be how many sunny days per week do we typically get, on average, between October and May (I'm used to about 1 sunny day every 20 or so days)?

[topfuels]

My wife is a SoCal native and we lived in the West before moving here.
Still not used to humidity. Tho some love it because it keeps you from drying out. :>)
As far as the raining cloudy days, difficult at first to get used to, but now we kinda enjoy the calm of the rain.
As you mentioned, definitely a by-product of the rain is how green and lush everything is here and that is nice.
The Fall is wonderful here with tree colors.
I would just say you may have to give it some time to adjust, but look for the wins and not the bad.

[ima30something]

Wife and I moved here from LA after living there for 15 years. We so far love it. The spring was absolutely amazing. The summer days get hot but I love the warm summer nights. It’s starting to feel like fall and it’s perfect out. In LA, you have to bring a sweater/jacket with you when the sun goes down no matter what time of year it is, not here! The biggest adjustment is the bugs. Mosquitos and flies everywhere. It drives my wife nuts.

[lavender_blue]

I'm from the MidWest (Ohio) and I lived in Bay Area/SF for quite some time in the 90s/early 2000s. So I'm very familiar with California weather.

It's a big change going from dry, somewhat desert climate of the West Coast to the South or East Coast. I remember when I first came back after 20 years of living in CA to Ohio weather. It was a noticeable difference. I got used to it though, just as I got used to CA weather.

The biggest thing you'll notice is the humidity, once it hits. I haven't experienced TN climate yet but from what I have gathered, it's similar to OH in that it has 4 seasons, but milder winter temps and a little bit higher temps and humidity in the summer.

You will have less sunny days but you'll also have 4 distinct seasons. I grew up with that, so I love having the seasons, even if some days are gray/cloudy. I'm a musician, so sometimes those days end up being inspiring to me, but I digress

It's hard to say which one I prefer. Both have their merits. Sometimes I miss the desert-y feel of the West. But I love the weather on this side of the country too.

Unless you're really sensitive to heat/humidity, I think you'll probably adjust. The nice thing about TN is you're not going to get the bitter cold of the NorthEast. Having lived here for 8 years, I can tell you it can be downright unpleasant at times, even if you love a white Christmas, etc. Being from CA, I doubt you'll be missing those.

[dawnreneau]

The humidity is bad in the summer and makes it feel muggy and uncomfortable. The winters are tolerable. They are cold but not much snow ever happens which is a bummer. The upside is there is no fire season and rolling black outs.

[akm4]

Way less snow here than where I lived in CA, and way more humidity. I miss the cool summer nights of CA, too.

[rossn2]

To The OP: If you don't already have one, suggest adding a weather app to your smart phone like Weather Underground and setting it to Nashville, along with alerts. Then you can see current weather and 10 days out for anywhere you're interested. You can also get historical weather data on the app.

Also do a weather google search on Nashville for more historical data..