Locals: What is your take on this past winter's weather? (spring break, living)

[zoomzoom3]

I'm looking to relocate somewhere warm mostly due to health issues & Hawaii is out of the question due to the cost of living there. I know of one person in WPB and I've watched the weather channel enough to know that this past winter was severe down there. My friend told me that he had to wear a heavy ski coat, gloves, a hat, scarf, etc. on a good number of days. He's only lived there 4 years and says he's never seen anything like it. Is this a rare thing or what? I have been looking at moving to Costa Rica since it never gets cold there, but it's extremely difficult to get a visa there.

[derekjet]

I think all the people who were wearing ski coats, gloves or hats in South Florida are BIG WUSSES!

I'm not saying it wasn't cold (I know it was), but these guys should experience the weather I did in NY this winter and many who did in DC. Now that's nasty and cold.

I myself, when I move down, will welcome some of these cool days to offset all the stifling summer weather that will surely come my way.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by zoomzoom3

I'm looking to relocate somewhere warm mostly due to health issues & Hawaii is out of the question due to the cost of living there. I know of one person in WPB and I've watched the weather channel enough to know that this past winter was severe down there. My friend told me that he had to wear a heavy ski coat, gloves, a hat, scarf, etc. on a good number of days. He's only lived there 4 years and says he's never seen anything like it. Is this a rare thing or what? I have been looking at moving to Costa Rica since it never gets cold there, but it's extremely difficult to get a visa there.

Every year there are one or two cold snaps, driven by cold air from the north, but the severity this year was unusual.

It has been a particularly cold winter all throughout the northern hemisphere.

Off topic, the easiest way to obtain a visa is to marry a national in the target country, the second easiest way is to have money.
Assuming you speak fluent Spanish, you need to go to Costa Rica, or similar tropical-weather country, and speak directly to an immigration officer inside the country to learn of all the possible types of visa and the latest rules. Short of that, you are receiving second-hand and most likely mistaken information, including any "official" embassy or consulate website or personnel in the US, and you are almost undoubtedly missing out on possible opportunities.

Good Luck!

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by zoomzoom3

I'm looking to relocate somewhere warm mostly due to health issues & Hawaii is out of the question due to the cost of living there. I know of one person in WPB and I've watched the weather channel enough to know that this past winter was severe down there. My friend told me that he had to wear a heavy ski coat, gloves, a hat, scarf, etc. on a good number of days. He's only lived there 4 years and says he's never seen anything like it. Is this a rare thing or what? I have been looking at moving to Costa Rica since it never gets cold there, but it's extremely difficult to get a visa there.

Lol, it was an abnormally cold winter, but SKI coats? That's a bit dramatic!

Cold weather is rare here. Check out the average temps, and it's usually in the 70s during the winter.

[THX 1138]

For a Floridian 40 degrees is cold, especially one from southern part of the state. Most of the fools you see walking around with t-shirts and shorts when it's this cold are tourists same ones you see going swimming when the windchill breaks it down even lower.

Up north your body acclimates to the cold and vice versa down here, if your here long enough you will not be bothered by the warm summer days but the cold will bite you big time at least for most people.

[skylinet]

I'll take 40 as the low over 10 and a foot of snow any day! But yeah this has been really cold...

[DaniellaG]

I agree with sky. Where I am from up north when it hits even 50 after a long winter you will see people driving with their convertibles and light jackets. Here people bring out there boots. I was never one to adjust to the cold but most people THX do. I do feel bad for people who come on spring break here and are looking forward to fun at the beach.

[LovesCatsandDogs]

I am a WPB native and it does get cold here every winter. For at least a week or two every winter, it gets cool. Cool to the point that some people do wear gloves and hats and most every body turns their heat on inside. Cool to the point that you dont want to sit outside for dinner and maybe not even for lunch. This year it has been more than a week or two but in between we've had beautiful days.
THIS IS KEY: if you are going to live here year-round and have never spent the summers here you really need to visit in July or August before moving here. Even as a native, I find the summers absolutely miserable! It is incredibly hot and and humid and the sun is so very strong. I have lived all over the country and the strength of the sun here in the summer is hard to deal with. There maybe some places that are comparable -- perhaps Southern Texas but in other parts of the South the sun is not as strong or it isn't as humid as S. FL during the summer. I am somewhat fair skinnned and even with sunblock, by the end of the day I get red or tan just walking to and from my car while running errands. If we get a hurricane or two in addition to 4 months of intense non-stop heat and humidity, the summer is really awful.

[Delray Patty]

Loved it, it was a nice change from our never ending summer of last year...Coats, gloves? It was cool
at night and yes you probably would need a jacket or heavy sweatshirt but hats, etc? I think not.

[zoomzoom3]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Emigrating won't be much of an option it seems since I'm not willing to marry someone just to get a visa, nor am I wealthy. I was semi-fluent in Spanish in HS, so I could re-learn quickly. I'll try to contact Costa Rica's immigration officials & see what they say.

It does seem to get fairly cold there, but at least the duration of the cold weather is not much of an issue. Where I am now, it can stay below freezing for weeks on end. We drop the tops on the convertibles here when it hits 40 lol.

I'd love the summer there, lots of heat and humidity are just my thing. I like to run outdoors at a local track in the summer & I go right around 1:00 to 3:00pm during the hottest part of the day when my schedule allows. People think I'm crazy or that I'm going to have heatstroke, but it actually feels comfortable to me.