So I grew up in Arizona as well as Bay Area, CA (my parents were divorced). Moved to Austin, Texas in 2000 and NM a couple years ago. I’ve never lived in the Northeast, never even been further than NYC in that direction, though I loved Brooklyn.
I’ve been thinking lately, partly because I’ve always hated the heat and partly because I’m sure global warming won’t be kind to the area, that I’d like to check out the Northeast, maybe upstate NY or around there. Maybe Maine. Maybe even Canada if things get particularly a way here. In any case, besides taking time to actually visit the area which I plan to do next fall for about a month, hopefully, I’d love to get any opinions about living in that region. Likes? Dislikes? Favorite areas to consider? Suggestions? Anyone make the kind of geographic change I’ve described? Thanks!
If you’ve never dealt with snow then northwest NY, NE in general will be interesting come winter that’s for sure. It’s not terribly uncommon for northwestern NY to see 12" of snow. Closer to the shore there are hurricanes to be concerned about for a month or two around now actually, but over my almost 40 years there have only been maybe 2 or 3 that were really troubling. It’s usually just a lot of rain and really high winds.
I’m not sure how Austin gets, but the heat is disgusting for about 3ish months out here (NY) so you wouldn’t really be escaping much except maybe the hot season is shorter. It’s almost never dry heat though so we can have 90° days that are like 109° heat index because of humidity.
The only thing I can say with absolutely certainty is avoid Long Island like the plague unless you really love overpopulated areas full of assholes and disgustingly, almost comically, overpriced housing. The bagels are amazing though lol
FWIW, I grew up in a similar area and have countless memories of insane “unusually high” snowfall —including, but not limited to: sledding from the garage roof edge down to the street, and rocketing between neighbors’ homes across the way; building 2-3 story snow forts (buckets, etc. for igloo-style brick molds) on the cul-de-sac from the plow’s traditional one-and-done efficiency; leaving the bus stop because I couldn’t feel my toes, fingers, nose; competing with schoolmates on who could make the coolest icicles from wet hair in the open air; etc.
Whatever the area in question is “known” for being challenging on, just keep in mind that 2nd-5th* place entries are very very close behind. 😅
That’s definitely great to know! I hadn’t thought about the humidity up there. It should absolutely be a consideration!