[mainefiddler89]

Hubby and I have been living in Grand Rapids, MI for over a year and a half and I'm DYING to get back to New England. I was born and bred in Maine (hubby grew up in upstate New York) and the Midwest, while not a bad place to be, has not been our cup of tea. Seriously, there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about New England. We moved out here initially for my husband's work (he is currently an assistant editor for a book publisher). Pre-COVID we were hoping that he could eventually work remotely and started talking about moving back east. FWIW this won't be happening anytime soon, it will probably be a few years before we could pull this off. While we have talked about moving back to Maine, for various reasons, we are strongly considering moving to Vermont. Back in 2014 I spent 9 weeks in Burlington and I really enjoyed my time there. However, I realize that Burlington is likely not the best representative for the whole state. If we do end up moving to Vermont, I don't want to assume everything will be just like Maine and will be automatically welcomed with open arms. On the surface, Maine and Vermont do seem a lot alike: beautiful scenery, love of REAL maple syrup, independent spirit, live-and-let-live mentality, wary of those "from away", tough winters, poor job market, drug problems, high taxes, etc. But what are some of the differences between these two states that would be helpful to know about? If it is at all helpful, we are considering Barre, VT.

[harry chickpea]

Cloud cover. Vermont has more. If you have SADS it is an issue.

[EckyX]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Cloud cover. Vermont has more. If you have SADS it is an issue.

According to most historical data, this isn't true. Montpelier has a hair fewer sunshine hours, while Burlington has more, particularly during winter.

https://weatherspark.com/y/15379/Ave...tes-Year-Round

https://weatherspark.com/y/25716/Ave...tes-Year-Round

https://weatherspark.com/y/24985/Ave...tes-Year-Round

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington,_Vermont

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_...chigan#Climate

2295 sunshine hours (Burlington) with 127 hours in January
vs
2188 sunshine hours (Grand Rapids) with 88 hours in January

~

Overall I'd say Maine and Vermont have places which are pretty similar, but there are a lot of different places and ways to live in both states. I've lived in Franklin and Chittenden counties, and they couldn't be more different.

[harry chickpea]

The question posed by the OP was: "But what are some of the differences between these two states that would be helpful to know about?"

You compared the cities of Grand Rapids and Burlington, not the states of Maine and Vermont.

Having lived in Vermont, you are at least partly aware of the unique weather that Burlington, Shelburne, and Charlotte can have, where the combination of air falling off the Adirondacks and over the lake can create a large hole in the otherwise continuous cloud cover, especially in winter months. The effect even has a specific name, which I forget at the moment.

I grew up in the state, and I stand by my previous post. One factor in my moving south was a Vermont winter in the late 1970s where there was NO open blue sky for almost two months. That most certainly did affect my SADS.