Excellent topic for a thread, Quadman2. In response to your question, my 44 years thus far have been just about evenly divided between residing in my native state of Michigan and eventually moving to Illinois at 20. The older I get, the less tolerant I've become of the sometimes seemingly never-ending stretches of winter weather in the Upper Midwest. I can withstand being baked in the summer, at times drowned via rain during spring showers, and wearing out my lower back while raking and bagging leaves in the fall. I'm right up against the outer limit of of tolerance in regard to anywhere from six to 20 inches of snow, "black ice" on sidewalks/streets, deadly icicles hanging from residential gutters, small businesses, and skyscrapers; impatient drivers sliding all over the road, into each other, or onto the curb; layering clothes, risking cardiovascular trauma while shoveling, and a host of other delights that come with the one season I can barely stand unless I'm indoors observing it through a window: winter. My wife and I have only a few years left on the mortgage and as soon as this bad boy is paid off, we're getting the hell out of dodge en route to points due south. Preliminary discussions have centered on South Carolina, New Mexico, or even Mississippi. Both of us have resided at some locale along the shores of Lake Michigan the duration of our lives and are
sick of residing here. We visited Seattle for the first time in 1996 and immediately fell in love with the climate. It was mentioned in the aforementioned discussion, but my wife has a problem with the liberal-leaning politics and elevated cost of living. With an average temperature of 41 degrees fahrenheit during the winter and a ceiling of around 76 in the summer (stats per wikipedia), I'll gladly overlook both and the excessive amount of rain. I just don't want to see/deal with any more snow
You pretty well covered what a lot of us think/feel within your detailed introspection of living in an area of climate extremes. Some are lucky enough to be able to relocate to a milder climate region, but even these regions have their inherent problems. One has to take
all aspects into account, and there are many. There really is no perfect area of weather...but some may be a lot better as you have described. Guess you have to prioritize as what is more important.
Without out the severe low temps, there probably would be infestations of flying critters that we are happy to see gone in the Fall. In the temperate areas, they have to deal with them year round, and some are not really nice bugs to deal with. The goes for the ones on the ground as well. So here, there's a trade off. I've noticed than some unwelcomed types are migrating north as well.
Then there is water and the lack of it in the more arid regions of North America. We have more than we need in the Northern Hemisphere, yet much of it is rapidly becoming polluted in our lakes/rivers and streams. Most want to be living beside a body of water, but what good is it if you can't drink it or swim in it. Again, to a degree weather plays a large part in this and can accelerate the degree of human damage done to our water ways. Several come to mind, even up here.
I would move to the west coast in a minute if it were not for the gloomy skies and constant drizzle/rain that occurs during the cold hinterland times, but they have a temperate climate. Again another trade off.
I wish you well on your intended quest in finding your Shangri-La and it is better suited to your needs. Just remember...the trade offs.
Q
