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Thank you to everyone for the great posts. The winter weather is definitely something we won't take lightly into consideration. I do enjoy the cooler and even cold weather but hearing the full extent from those who know puts it into a different light. Not that we are ruling it out, we will just plan a trip maybe in winter to see how we Floridians can handle the extreme weather. Thank you again for the very helpful insight.
are truly four seasons? I know this is a lot, just hoping to narrow down area to neighborhood that has some of the above. Thanks in advance for your help.
So, floridacanes, have you been properly scared about winter? really, the purpose is just to make sure you understand that it really is *winter* and not an idea of winter. Of course, every year is different: some are mild and some aren't -and there's no real way to tell which way it's going to be on any given year. Many people from the south can't handle it, but some can and do manage to adapt and that's great. winter in NH is not the same as winter in Minnesota or North Dakota!! but it's not to be sneezed at either. But that aside, you've had plenty of warning on that and for most people (Sweetbottoms aside), dressing in layers with proper winter-grade clothes gets you through. some of us put up with winter as a necessary evil that will eventually finish, better adjusted folk find a winter hobby and embrace it (I don't like cold quite that much. )
Now to the pleasant stuff! you asked about four seasons. you've heard a belly full about winter. it is all everyone says it is! but.. sometime around April or May (depending on the year and where in the state you are), it really does give way to spring! spring is gorgeous. My favorite pastime is taking pics of everything as it comes into flower so I can note how it's progressing (and then I post it on my fb page to show my mid-atlantic friends that we really do have spring)! There are forsythia, lilacs, daffodils, tulips, magnolias (yes, even up here!), peaches, apples, mt laurel, phlox, violets.... the list goes on. and they can be gorgeous - not coming out all at once, but as a progression (not in that order). And because NH is so glacial in origin, the springs and rivers and brooks are in full flood and are rushing on past with lots of little whitecaps where they flow over barely submerged rocks. Roads around here more often follow contours & rivers, so they wind around a lot. often beside various rivers that just rush by. yes, you can fish there (with a license. without.. well, it's called poaching if someone catches you. ). And there's little springs and waterfalls that come bursting out of the rocks along the roads. There are tons of rocky 'walls' beside the roads, it is the Granite State you know, and it can be very damp. Lately my area has had around 2 weeks of simply gorgeous weather! it's been in the 60s & 70s nearly every day with sunny skies and a few clouds. unfortunately we haven't had rain for a while and that's causing some fire problems, but some is due in soon. The only thing at this point that marrs spring is that the black flies have come out. and the mosquitos. As I mentioned: NH is very wet with springs & rivers & lakes.. which means a lot of bugs - and we don't particularly spray insecticide like some states. and the bugs do bite.
Summer doesn't get started until a little late so the vegetable growing season is kinda short; and, well, it can get hot. I'm talking like 90+F hot for maybe a week or so at a time. To us, that's swealtering and I fully plan on getting a room a/c at some point. it's swimming weather if you have a little backyard pool! but while it's sweaty and uncomfortable by our standards, it's not nearly as humid as it gets even in the mid-atlantic, and likely nothing like FL. It seldom stays 'ugly' for a long while. In MD it would be int he 90s-100s from May - Sept, with only occasional breaks. It's nothing like that hear. and this is the land of ice cream!! you'll see almost as many ice cream stands as Dunkin' Donuts! But.. don't forget the mosquitos!
Fall, well I'm sure you've heard about the legendary New England autumn. it's what all the magazines are full of! yes, the trees really do turn blazing colors (if the weather has been good for it). and that brings a ton of 'leaf peepers' from away to enjoy them.
Many towns have seasonal festivals like strawberry festival, apple festival, pumpkin festival... yeah: it can be a bit Norman Rockwell. still. It's nice. but they also draw a lot of crowds, so it may be tough just trying to get there (I gave up with the Milford pumpkin festival last year! couldn't find any place to park within my walking range!.)
And then we're back to winter again. So yes indeed there are truly 4 seasons. 5 if you count mud season when winter is still melting into the spring (worse in towns with fewer paved roads).
People are friendly enough. They're not going to beat down your door, so make sure you can amuse yourself. But if you talk to people at the store, they're quite friendly enough to talk back with you - sometimes it's hard to get out! It takes being seen, being involved a bit, willing to travel and not bellyaching that NH isn't like wherever it was you came from (duh, that's why people moved here in the first place!).
As someone else mentioned, taxes vary by towns - some are higher and some are lower, there is a website that lists them all so you can see. Usually if a town has a really good school it will also have high taxes (though the opposite isn't necessarily true) and taxes tend to be higher in southern NH. The view tax, well... it's not a separate tax, it's figured in to your home's assessment & property taxes - if you have a view that's significantly nicer than others in your area, you're likely to have a higher tax because of it. just like if you live in the center of town, or near the schools, you're likely to have higher taxes that people living on the fringes. Oh: there is no land that's not in some town (county land). the state is carved up like a ***-saw puzzle, nearly all towns abutt other towns.
Because of the nature of NH wanting to keep costs as low as possible.. various amenities that some places take for granted aren't very common: trash pickup, city water/sewer, 7-11/High's stores.... you can pay for a service to pick up your trash, but most people just take it to the dump/transfer station themselves at whatever frequency you want to do it. Most towns don't have public water/sewer although a few do. private wells & septic systems are the norm. likewise natural gas heat isn't very common but oil is and sometimes propane. You may have to drive 15-30min to do your shopping. Most towns are 'bedroom' towns - where people live, but not necessarily where people work! so the grocery stores and other general shopping (esp big box stores) are going to big in a town or two next door and 'feed' an area. We can get to a grocery store in about 15 min, but it's closer to 1/2 hour to get to Walmart, Lowes, Target or Home Depot. we try to arrange errands into 1 trip if possible.
And there aren't that many chain convenience stores. DH keeps looking for a 7-11 or a High's or something when he's thirsty - they aren't very common around here, except maybe in the cities. There are a number of mom & pop little markets, though. You just have to get used to what you're looking for.
So... there is more to NH than horrible, crippling winter. and I don't find it as grey and dreary as some people seem to think it is. It is what it is, and there's great beauty. I try to look for that and enjoy it. I can't change the rest.
(btw: the only houses we ever saw when we were house hunting that didn't have washer or dryer were also stripped of refrigerators, stoves... one time the kitchen counter, sink & the toilet!! but we were also looking at a moderately lower end cost. your price range would likely have the W&D in them).
well.. this was certainly lengthy (sorry)! you still there?
Thank you for the insight in to what NH has to offer other than the cold weather. We are still keeping NH in mind as we plan and will continue to research areas there that might fit our needs. Also, do you know of any cities or towns in NH that have public transportation into Boston for employment purposes? Thanks!
There is talk about the commuter rail line being extended to Nashua but it hasn't happened and I wouldn't count on it any time soon: NH Rail > Topics - Nashuatelegraph.com
Thank you to everyone for the great posts. The winter weather is definitely something we won't take lightly into consideration. I do enjoy the cooler and even cold weather but hearing the full extent from those who know puts it into a different light. Not that we are ruling it out, we will just plan a trip maybe in winter to see how we Floridians can handle the extreme weather. Thank you again for the very helpful insight.
While it is a good idea to visit during the "worst" time of year, I honestly don't think that a short visit will tell you how well or how poorly you can handle cold.
As another poster mentioned, it takes a while for your body to adjust to a change in temperature. After several weeks of high 80s low 90s, if it drops to the 70s, I start to shiver. But somehow I can wear a sleeveless top and feel comfortable on that first freak 50 deg day in March. I don't know about anyone else but it takes me about a week to get used to a temperature change.
I think there may also be a longer term time scale for adaptation. I'm sure the only people in the water in FL in the winters are New Englanders and Canadians. It's either too cold for the locals or they can afford to wait for nicer conditions (kind of like how I won't cross country ski unless conditions are really good since I can afford to wait a week or two). But if you are used to cold, a Florida winter can seem like a New England summer.
Finally it may depend on your body type. I am half middle eastern so I am always the last person standing when it comes to taking heat. It can be 95 indoors and that won't bother me, but if it's 60 I am shivering. My mother was a blonde European and she LIKED the cool temps indoors.
What really helps is to get a humidifier for winter months. It makes the air feel warmer and your nose and throat won't dry out so you have less chance of catching cold.
. But if you are used to cold, a Florida winter can seem like a New England summer.
.
Several times in July and aug we had to put our heat on up there. My first week there in early June we had ice gather on our window in the early morning in the mountains. Your summer lows are usually much lower than ours ,that don't normally get lower than 80/90's with very high humidity. If they're not used to it they're probably gonna need heat, even in the summer once in a while. You were correct that the 70's start to feel chilly after very prolonged summers here. People will easily wear a fleece sweater or heavier jacket at 72 degrees at night here in the winter.. Something I don't think people understand when they've not had to ever experience never having 4 seasons.
So, floridacanes, have you been properly scared about winter? really, the purpose is just to make sure you understand that it really is *winter* and not an idea of winter. Of course, every year is different: some are mild and some aren't -and there's no real way to tell which way it's going to be on any given year. Many people from the south can't handle it, but some can and do manage to adapt and that's great. winter in NH is not the same as winter in Minnesota or North Dakota!! but it's not to be sneezed at either. But that aside, you've had plenty of warning on that and for most people (Sweetbottoms aside), dressing in layers with proper winter-grade clothes gets you through. some of us put up with winter as a necessary evil that will eventually finish, better adjusted folk find a winter hobby and embrace it (I don't like cold quite that much. )
Now to the pleasant stuff! you asked about four seasons. you've heard a belly full about winter. it is all everyone says it is! but.. sometime around April or May (depending on the year and where in the state you are), it really does give way to spring! spring is gorgeous. My favorite pastime is taking pics of everything as it comes into flower so I can note how it's progressing (and then I post it on my fb page to show my mid-atlantic friends that we really do have spring)! There are forsythia, lilacs, daffodils, tulips, magnolias (yes, even up here!), peaches, apples, mt laurel, phlox, violets.... the list goes on. and they can be gorgeous - not coming out all at once, but as a progression (not in that order). And because NH is so glacial in origin, the springs and rivers and brooks are in full flood and are rushing on past with lots of little whitecaps where they flow over barely submerged rocks. Roads around here more often follow contours & rivers, so they wind around a lot. often beside various rivers that just rush by. yes, you can fish there (with a license. without.. well, it's called poaching if someone catches you. ). And there's little springs and waterfalls that come bursting out of the rocks along the roads. There are tons of rocky 'walls' beside the roads, it is the Granite State you know, and it can be very damp. Lately my area has had around 2 weeks of simply gorgeous weather! it's been in the 60s & 70s nearly every day with sunny skies and a few clouds. unfortunately we haven't had rain for a while and that's causing some fire problems, but some is due in soon. The only thing at this point that marrs spring is that the black flies have come out. and the mosquitos. As I mentioned: NH is very wet with springs & rivers & lakes.. which means a lot of bugs - and we don't particularly spray insecticide like some states. and the bugs do bite.
Summer doesn't get started until a little late so the vegetable growing season is kinda short; and, well, it can get hot. I'm talking like 90+F hot for maybe a week or so at a time. To us, that's swealtering and I fully plan on getting a room a/c at some point. it's swimming weather if you have a little backyard pool! but while it's sweaty and uncomfortable by our standards, it's not nearly as humid as it gets even in the mid-atlantic, and likely nothing like FL. It seldom stays 'ugly' for a long while. In MD it would be int he 90s-100s from May - Sept, with only occasional breaks. It's nothing like that hear. and this is the land of ice cream!! you'll see almost as many ice cream stands as Dunkin' Donuts! But.. don't forget the mosquitos!
Fall, well I'm sure you've heard about the legendary New England autumn. it's what all the magazines are full of! yes, the trees really do turn blazing colors (if the weather has been good for it). and that brings a ton of 'leaf peepers' from away to enjoy them.
Many towns have seasonal festivals like strawberry festival, apple festival, pumpkin festival... yeah: it can be a bit Norman Rockwell. still. It's nice. but they also draw a lot of crowds, so it may be tough just trying to get there (I gave up with the Milford pumpkin festival last year! couldn't find any place to park within my walking range!.)
And then we're back to winter again. So yes indeed there are truly 4 seasons. 5 if you count mud season when winter is still melting into the spring (worse in towns with fewer paved roads).
People are friendly enough. They're not going to beat down your door, so make sure you can amuse yourself. But if you talk to people at the store, they're quite friendly enough to talk back with you - sometimes it's hard to get out! It takes being seen, being involved a bit, willing to travel and not bellyaching that NH isn't like wherever it was you came from (duh, that's why people moved here in the first place!).
As someone else mentioned, taxes vary by towns - some are higher and some are lower, there is a website that lists them all so you can see. Usually if a town has a really good school it will also have high taxes (though the opposite isn't necessarily true) and taxes tend to be higher in southern NH. The view tax, well... it's not a separate tax, it's figured in to your home's assessment & property taxes - if you have a view that's significantly nicer than others in your area, you're likely to have a higher tax because of it. just like if you live in the center of town, or near the schools, you're likely to have higher taxes that people living on the fringes. Oh: there is no land that's not in some town (county land). the state is carved up like a ***-saw puzzle, nearly all towns abutt other towns.
Because of the nature of NH wanting to keep costs as low as possible.. various amenities that some places take for granted aren't very common: trash pickup, city water/sewer, 7-11/High's stores.... you can pay for a service to pick up your trash, but most people just take it to the dump/transfer station themselves at whatever frequency you want to do it. Most towns don't have public water/sewer although a few do. private wells & septic systems are the norm. likewise natural gas heat isn't very common but oil is and sometimes propane. You may have to drive 15-30min to do your shopping. Most towns are 'bedroom' towns - where people live, but not necessarily where people work! so the grocery stores and other general shopping (esp big box stores) are going to big in a town or two next door and 'feed' an area. We can get to a grocery store in about 15 min, but it's closer to 1/2 hour to get to Walmart, Lowes, Target or Home Depot. we try to arrange errands into 1 trip if possible.
And there aren't that many chain convenience stores. DH keeps looking for a 7-11 or a High's or something when he's thirsty - they aren't very common around here, except maybe in the cities. There are a number of mom & pop little markets, though. You just have to get used to what you're looking for.
So... there is more to NH than horrible, crippling winter. and I don't find it as grey and dreary as some people seem to think it is. It is what it is, and there's great beauty. I try to look for that and enjoy it. I can't change the rest.
(btw: the only houses we ever saw when we were house hunting that didn't have washer or dryer were also stripped of refrigerators, stoves... one time the kitchen counter, sink & the toilet!! but we were also looking at a moderately lower end cost. your price range would likely have the W&D in them).
well.. this was certainly lengthy (sorry)! you still there?
Yes discount my experience about winter. Particularly because I came from the same exact situation they are in regards to not experiencing it prior ..
Several times in July and aug we had to put our heat on up there. My first week there in early June we had ice gather on our window in the early morning in the mountains. Your summer lows are usually much lower than ours ,that don't normally get lower than 80/90's with very high humidity. If they're not used to it they're probably gonna need heat, even in the summer once in a while. You were correct that the 70's start to feel chilly after very prolonged summers here. People will easily wear a fleece sweater or heavier jacket at 72 degrees at night here in the winter.. Something I don't think people understand when they've not had to ever experience never having 4 seasons.
Elevation has a lot to do with it but if in most towns and cities in NH that are at about 500 ft above sea level you are NOT going to have to heat your home in summer. Up in the mountains yes, it is always colder up there, even in summer.
Yes discount my experience about winter. Particularly because I came from the same exact situation they are in regards to not experiencing it prior ..
excuse me??? I did NOT discount your experience about winter, I have said in both of my posts that winter can be crippling. it is cold. it can be long. you came in a bad winter. You also refuse to consider that your one bad winter may not be every bad winter, it was ONE bad winter. yes, it was bad - no one is arguing that part. but please stop whining about it as if ALL winters are like that - every year is different, you wouldn't know since you bailed. No one has been telling her that winter is imaginary - least of all me. and because they are coming from the same weather you grew up in is exactly why my very first post to her was mostly about winter. I simply figured that after quite enough posts on how cold and long winter can be, it would be nice to go back to some of the other questions she had. why yes! we do have other seasons than winter and they are beautiful.
but I did not discount your experience. It was yours, hers might be similar. but if you'd bother to read the various messages, you'd see no one was soft peddling winter. stop being so defensive!
Sweetbottoms can't figure out what she wants. For as bad as she is saying the winter is in NH, she was looking to move back as recently as this past October.
Posted 10/17/2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms
Hi previously lived in NH now in Fla wanna go back up is the short version. We would like NH because we are familiar with it and we've heard it's cheaper but don't totally want to rule out Ma. Both late 20's. Hubby is a 911 dispatcher/ previous officer and I'm run pastry department for a high end luxury hotel. Current income around 90k, no debt . We have a 3 year old so safety is a must. We would rent the first year then look to buy. Budget for renting would be around $1000-1,200 prefer utilities included. First time home budget absolute max we'd like to stay at is $230,000 and below. Our goal is to move back up by May when our lease is up here but will stay till Oct if we have to. Right now finding jobs is priority. That all being said here are a few towns I'd love opinions on ..
Newburyport
North Attleboro
Bedford
Danvers
We r also looking at Dover , Portsmouth and Pembroke in NH..
So any info ,opinions etc would be great as far as which town would be realistic for our budget
Is FL too hot, or NH too cold? Posted 10/15/2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms
Its hardly 2.5 months. Its been in the 90's since April or may.. Todays heat index was 96.. Currently at 5pm its 93 with 84% humidity.. summers heat index will be triple digits, by summer I mean June till sometimes Sept. By beautiful do you mean 85 on Christmas? You usually don't turn off the A/C till about Jan here SOMETIMES we get an odd winter where its cooler a little ealier but I wore a tank top the last 2 X-mas
We do have pretty bad traffic in season. Don't be surprised to sit through 3 or more red lights on a rush hour day. Its become harder to tell when season is vs. when season isn't with the traffic.
We had 3 murders in a week here about 3 weeks ago or so then the ice cream shop was robbed with a sub machine gun.. Our crime rate is up, especially violent crimes. Ft. Myers just had their 20th murder of the year Naples is NOTHING like it was in years past. Its becoming over crowded and over rated. My husband works for the sheriffs here. LOTS of break-ins drive bys as of late. We also have a lot of sexual predators, lots of registers sex offenders.
I suppose as long as you don't have kids you'll have an easier time justifying it, myself though wouldn't dream of raising my kid here. We're out by May.
With an annual average high temperature 75.7 °F and low temperature 45.8 °F I suggest Sedona Arizona for the perfect place to live.
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)
). And there's little springs and waterfalls that come bursting out of the rocks along the roads. There are tons of rocky 'walls' beside the roads, it is the Granite State you know, and it can be very damp. Lately my area has had around 2 weeks of simply gorgeous weather! it's been in the 60s & 70s nearly every day with sunny skies and a few clouds. unfortunately we haven't had rain for a while and that's causing some fire problems, but some is due in soon. The only thing at this point that marrs spring is that the black flies have come out. and the mosquitos. As I mentioned: NH is very wet with springs & rivers & lakes.. which means a lot of bugs - and we don't particularly spray insecticide like some states. and the bugs do bite.
