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My family and I will be relocating to in and around beckley...I was reading other posts...are the winters really that bad?? and hurricanes r kind of frightening. I grew up in Pa...live in Louisiana right now so I went from bad winters to minor winters....i really love the weather here in louisiana. Would you compare the winter to Pa? About the same? or worse?? How much does it rain?
I am also wondering about good schools...i have 9 year old and 5 year old.....looking for a good school district and house in that area so if anyone can help me out with the schools and neighborhoods??
We will be travelling back to Pa to visit family too.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated!! Thank you!
Weather isn't quite as bad as PA but it can get dicey at times when there is ice and sleet. I've been in the Raleigh County schools for work and thought they were rather nice schools. There are 13 elementary schools in the district, some are newer than others and some nicer than others just depends on what part of the county you are moving to. Cranberry-Prosperity is nice as well as Crab Orchard ES.
THanks for the info...apparently, I guess it will most likely be in and around princeton that we will live...can u reccommend any good elementary schools there?? and/or subdivisions? I read a lot on here about drugs....I've also read on here about drugs in the area in which we live now in Louisiana and it's nowhere near as bad as where I came from in Pa so I was wondering if it is being exaggerated on here?? what do u think?
Use to live in Princeton & worked out of Bluefield. Been many years ago but I remember liking it very well.
There was usually a lot of snow. One thing thing though, you can probably live without an air conditioner.
Never known of a hurricane there & rarely a tornado.
I do remember a big snow in September that broke down a lot of timber & remember having the furnace going in August.
This winter past was historic for snow fall. That may be what you're hearing about with regards to bad winters. If you grew up in PA, you'll not be too surprised at the winters. Having been in LA though, your blood may have thinned a bit I moved here from Virginia Beach, but made sure I had plenty of Under Armour and Carhartts to keep warm.
Southern WV is very pleasant over all, I think you'll enjoy it.
I can't imagine the weather in West Virginia is any different than in Pennsylvania. The northern tip of WV is above Philly. Of course there are no hurricanes...it's not near the coast. But it is possible, if not probable, to have a tornado. But from where I now live with our 4 inches of annual rainfall, and over 300 days of sunshine, and under 10% humidity most of the time, all weather east of the Rockies is bad weather.
I live in Bluefield WV which is probably about 15 minutes from Princeton. Winters are usually not that bad, I would say more mild than PA, however, this last year it seemed like it snowed everyday and heavily--it was a very long winter. However, summers are great, and spring and fall are true to their seasons as well. I can't tell you much about either school system..since my oldest will be starting K in August, but here is the website for the Mercer county schools where I get a lot of my info...http://boe.merc.k12.wv.us/?q=node/5...it (broken link) provides class size, score testing, etc... Also, we are selling our home...we live in a choice neighborhood in Bluefield WV...3 bedroom 1 full and 2 1/2 baths..total sq foot...2300. let me know if you have any questions about neighborhoods etc...or if you'd like to look at the mls listing for my home...would be glad to message it to ya. (Our reason for moving is we are having our 3rd child and need another bedroom..otherwise we love our home, our neighbors and the area.)
The elevation of Bluefield is over 2800 ft, so that is a reason for the cool temp.
I remember being in Beckley one July morning & it was chilly enough to see your breath.
When I lived it Princeton it was really a nice place, but I am sure there has been a lot of growth since then...the late 60s.
At that time the grocery stores could not open on Sunday.
west virginia isn't really that bad, i would say that WV is a good compairable to PA. I've lived in the norther part of WV 15yrs, i don't really like it and would love to get out of the area but the snow only gets bad every few years and the rain happens from april-Aug about every other week unless we get a dry spell for about three or less weeks in the summer. hope it helped
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I moved here from Virginia Beach, but made sure I had plenty of Under Armour and Carhartts to keep warm. 
