Ask Lemmy

Plan a winter trip up here and decide how you REALLY feel about snow before you commit to anything.

I have friends with a farm in upstate NY that don't get enough days of sun during the summer to grow tomatoes. That seasonal affective disorder is real. When your whole life has been getting 250-350 days of sun a year, your first winter north of Chicago gets weird. You wonder how people live in the dark, like outdoor mole people.

And Lord have mercy, some of them think salt is spicy. You'll one day have Mexican food so bland you might think you're eating a Play-doh model of an enchilada. The restaurants play to the market. But the beer is good, the seafood is good.

Otherwise, find a town or city that matches your personality and enjoy.

Well something I have experience in! Nothing prepared me for my first winter. Yes there is snow and it’s cold. The dark is what got me. I would leave for work before the sun came up and it was already setting as I was coming home. It was so deeply unsettling that first winter, like there was no warmth left in the world.

It is a lovely area. It feels so much older because they tend to preserve the historic homes and just driving around through the small rural towns is super cute. Fall is the best season in the NE. The colors are gorgeous! Apple cider donuts are the best donuts, most local orchards make them fresh too.

It’s pretty rural outside of NYC, Maine is especially so. You’ll most likely need a car, even if you’re in a town. The towns are walkable, but they’re small towns so the selection is limited. Getting hooked up with local events can be a challenge as word of mouth is the most common form of promotion. Get in good with your local coworkers or other local groups and they’ll help you find the cool ski deals and niche concerts.

On the whole car thing. Snow ands salt are really hard on cars. The inspection in NE is much more intensive than the SW which only checks emissions. Good tires are worth the investment, but the best method is just don’t drive while it’s snowing. Keep an eye out for black ice, the melting and refreezing is no joke. The people are nice though, had a kind man help pull me out of a snow bank when I made that mistake. If you’re ever unsure just go slow.

I can tell you from experience that you’re not going to escape the heat in upstate NY. The summer temperatures may look cooler than Arizona on paper but the humidity makes things feel so much worse

Boston is very expensive. However, there are areas in MA that could/should be affordable.

Of course I'm biased because I've been in this area forever.

We get 4 seasons. I love the colors of Autumn. I enjoy snow, although, we may not get snow at all in the near future.

You've got great beaches on the Atlantic and then some nice skiing up in NH & ME that are only 2 hours away.

Boston area has the best medical care pretty much anywhere on the planet. I've personally transported numerous people from Logan airport to the area hospitals.

Sports? Big history of lots of champions.

Very diverse cultures all around Eastern MA. Very LGBT+ friendly.

People complain about cost of living and tax rates. Yet, the quality is worth it. I don't know the particular tax rates, but, we are definitely not "Taxachusetts" anymore in comparison to all the N.E. states.

I'm somewhat familiar with the rest of N.E., so, feel free to ask.

At the moment, if you account for humidity

done via use of a heat index

it's more-comfortable in Arizona than in the Northeast:

https://www.weathercentral.com/weather/us/maps/heat-index

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EDIT: For the Europeans, Celsius:

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EDIT2: Oooh, here's an interactive world map with a heat index:

https://zoom.earth/maps/temperature-feel/

EDIT3: Oh, wait...nah, those are apparently live temperature maps, not daily high maps. Still toasty in the Northeast, but some of that was just time-of-day.

Honestly? I'd recommend the other lateral direction, instead. Northern Oregon & Washington are far better in many (most?) ways and don't seem nearly as risky a bet re: future livability politics-wise. 🤌🏼

I've lived in New England most of my life, and most other posters have covered the major points. One I would add is that the weather IS getting more extreme here, and we are now getting things like tornados and worse hurricanes. It's not anything like as bad as other places in the US but climate change is definitely effecting this area too. I would watch out for where you end up being a decent elevation, and give any bodies of water a good amount of space, no houses or apartments right on the edge of a river. There was an unprecedented flood that hit Leominster and Fitchburgh MA not long ago that shocked a lot of people because the region had never experienced something like it. That will probably be happening more often in the coming years.

Never lived there but I've visited CT. Went to a movie with my wife. The first Narnia film, so it was like 3 hours long? It was nice when we went in. It was nice when we left. However, during the film there was a blizzard, seemed like it dropped snow a foot deep! That being said, the city had cleared all the roads. They know how to deal with the snow. Of course when you get to side streets it's a bit dicey, but the main roads? Like to our hotel? Clear as you like. The roads are twisty and windy up there, and people drive crazy — well, they drive appropriate to the state of the roads, to be fair — and I never felt unsafe despite being unaccustomed to driving in snow.

Beautiful area. Summers get hot, winters get cold. You gotta plan for each. But it's nice and not too humid.

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

NE is kinda expensive... Is the change worth economic hit?

Do you have a network at the place you are going.

I found Nashua NH to be crazy-polite, and me a Canadian. if you end up there, go with my envy.

And if you have to come over the line - legally, please! - then we'd love to have ya. Our national capitol is a crazy melting pot of newcomers, but the flatlander regions have the best opportunities.

...if you can avoid Flatlander Dementia. That's how our Peter Polyestre gets his votes -- the lack of mountains and oceans makes ya crazy!

Grew up in NM, moved to Mass about a decade ago and recently to Vermont. I love it. It gets hot though. And cold. And everywhere in between. People claim that folks out here aren’t nice. Never had an issue and frankly never met meaner folk than northern New Mexicans. Be prepared for a preposterously high cost of living though. (Especially Mass).

Oof

People are meaner on the East Coast, but they're also more capable.