Northern Virginia is not worth it as far as a place to live. (Alexandria: chapel, subdivision)

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by dc_woman

To the original poster: you are right on the money about everyone hating everyone else in NoVA. The high cost of living, traffic, road rage, overcrowding, soul-less suburban sprawl, trees being cut down to build, build, and build some more buildings workaholic culture, and miserable weather adds fuel to the fire.

Miserable weather? Now that’s a new one to me. 4 mild seasons? Not my definition of miserable but to each their own!

[robbobobbo]

It seems to me that the main gripe by OP and some who agreed with the extremely negative impression of the area boil down to one or more of:

- You've lived in the area for a while and you hate the changes you've seen over time, and you wish for the way things used to be. This kind of nostalgia can affect anyone living anywhere.
- You moved here from a non-metropolitan area and aren't accustomed to the pace, the number of people, and traffic.
- You're feeling stressed by the cost of living and feel priced out by everything, and feel resentful seeing the amount of wealth that over the years had spread throughout the area.

Bottom line, though, I noticed that the people who call this place miserable seem miserable themselves in their post(s). There are lots of people here who enjoy the area, who today might be taking their kids to the park or playground, or visiting a museum, or hiking/canoeing/biking/whatever, going to church... you know, living their lives and not feeling miserable. People here come from everywhere - do you think this area got a concentration of the world's misanthropes or something? I can understand not liking the place (maybe you came here for a job or your partner's job, and you wish you were elsewhere). Traffic can be aggravating. Large crowds can be aggravating. But the level of venom against the place by OP is outlandish.

I know many wonderful people in NoVA; we don't hate each other. What could lead someone to think that? And the people I know aren't all consultants, or analysts, or lawyers, or driving Teslas or Maseratis. Sure, there are a lot of high-powered folks and climbers here, but same with NYC, Los Angeles, Seoul, Tokyo, London, etc.

I moved to Fairfax County in 1975 and have seen the changes. I prefer more urban and now live in the city of Alexandria, and have lived in Arlington and DC. I'm not looking for bucolic, I'm not looking for low population density, so I feel I'm in my element.

This place offers a lot and generally doesn't have too-terrible of weather. But if you wish you could live in a one-stoplight town and commute to a job inside the Beltway, that's not happening. Or if you want to have acres of land and you're of average means - again, other parts of the country offer that, this place does not - at least, not near in.

Obviously, this place isn't ideal for everyone, but what place is?

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

Miserable weather? Now that’s a new one to me. 4 mild seasons? Not my definition of miserable but to each their own!

Really? New one? I'd say 9 out of 10 people I come across complain about the weather here. Also by what definition are the humid-hot summers in this area 'mild'? Or the winters with arctic blasts that can take temps below freezing at any time from early November through mid March and drop half a foot of snow while they're at it? Sure, there's occasional milder days in the warm season and warmer days in the cold season..but of course they're accompanied by powerful fronts with heavy winds.



Nothing like that 'mild' Wednesday a couple weeks ago - still in the 1st half of November - with temps in the high 20s in the morning with a nice little 10-15 mph breeze accompanying it to make it feel even colder.


This area's climate is extremely similar to that of Philadelphia (which after all isn't far away at all), and I don't see people praising Philly for its mild weather. Is it as cold in the winter here as say Minnesota or Wyoming? No, of course not. Is it as hot and humid in the summer as the Gulf Coast? No, of course not.


But just because it doesn't have the worst seasonal features of any part of the country, it's not mild. Mild is the West Coast.

[ACWhite]

VV, I suggest you spend some time in any of the midwestern states—Great Lakes to Plains states. Not only are the temperatures and humidity less pleasant than here, winters tend to be overcast, day after day. Most of coastal California and Hawaii do have better weather than here, but huge swaths of this country do not.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

Really? New one? I'd say 9 out of 10 people I come across complain about the weather here. Also by what definition are the humid-hot summers in this area 'mild'? Or the winters with arctic blasts that can take temps below freezing at any time from early November through mid March and drop half a foot of snow while they're at it? Sure, there's occasional milder days in the warm season and warmer days in the cold season..but of course they're accompanied by powerful fronts with heavy winds.



Nothing like that 'mild' Wednesday a couple weeks ago - still in the 1st half of November - with temps in the high 20s in the morning with a nice little 10-15 mph breeze accompanying it to make it feel even colder.


This area's climate is extremely similar to that of Philadelphia (which after all isn't far away at all), and I don't see people praising Philly for its mild weather. Is it as cold in the winter here as say Minnesota or Wyoming? No, of course not. Is it as hot and humid in the summer as the Gulf Coast? No, of course not.


But just because it doesn't have the worst seasonal features of any part of the country, it's not mild. Mild is the West Coast.

People complain about the weather everywhere. I lived in Detroit. I’ve lived in Houston. So yeah, I see these seasons as mild. I don’t know of a place where they have seasons but are quite this mild. Atlanta has less snow but way worse summers. Boston has cooler summers but way worse winters. Nashville has hotter summers and is drearier and rainier in fall and winter.

Yeah, of course, LA has mild weather. They also have they have practically no seasons at all. I wore the same thing on my February trip out there as my May and August trips.

Like I said, to each their own.

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

Really? New one?

I agree with you, this is the only place people talk about the weather. I like that it is so special in this area that we have our own unique saying about the weather in this area: "If you don't like the weather in Northern Virginia just wait a few minutes". I laugh every time I hear that and it makes me feel special that no other area has a saying like that.

[Veritas Vincit]

I'm not saying this is the only place people talk about the weather. But it's pretty disingenuous to claim that someone saying the area has miserable weather is somehow a weird 'new one' if as you say people talk about the weather being crap everywhere including here.



And yes most of the Eastern U.S. is humid-hot in the summer and cold-dreary in the winter. I have no doubt that winter in Michigan is darker and colder, I've been there, I have no doubt that summers in Houston are hotter and more humid either. That doesn't make the seasons here 'mild'. It's a very strongly seasonal climate with short shoulder seasons where we've had days with a high around 20 and days with a high above 95 in 2019 and most years really.



If you want like a slightly warmer version of the climate out in Cleveland or something, sure, D.C. can give you that, but if you don't like the climate in most of the Eastern U.S. then D.C. won't be like some major relief from that.

[dkf747]

I grew up in the Detroit area. The weather here is more wild than it was there. Here a single snow storm can bring 3 feet of snow. I've lived through it quite a few times over 22 years here. We got more snow there, but it came in smaller amounts, nice and spread out. Here, the summers are super hot and muggy. There it was only July and part of August that was like that. I experienced my first Tropical storm here (Isabel). We didn't ever see one of those there. I had never heard of derechoes until I lived here. The tornadoes in Michigan are more powerful, but the watches and warnings seem more frequent here. My favorite time of year is the fall, but here we seem to go from summer temps to winter temps so fast, it seems like no fall season, or an extremely short one. Same with Spring, except it goes from winter to summer too quickly. The Fall season in Michigan is awesome.

All that said, I'm not really complaining, but I obviously prefer Michigan. The weather is not a reason to hate here for me. The only thing I hate here is the traffic. it's far worse than in the other large Metro areas that I have lived in.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I grew up in the Detroit area. The weather here is more wild than it was there. Here a single snow storm can bring 3 feet of snow. I've lived through it quite a few times over 22 years here.

I've lived in NoVA since 1998 and experienced 3 feet of snow only once; and that was out here in Middleburg during the blizzard a few years ago, where most everyone else got 18 to 24 inches. Please tell me where you live where you've had quite a few storms which have dropped 3 feet of snow?

[Tarheelhombre]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

Miserable weather? Now that’s a new one to me. 4 mild seasons? Not my definition of miserable but to each their own!

Summers are horrid to brutal here