Balls and Walnuts
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Geography question
I’m afraid we’re still very much in open-minded job search mode. With that in mind, Karen just asked me a question I can’t answer.
Perhaps some of you know the answer.
Aside from the Pacific Northwest, are there any other areas of the country which have good weather?
Here are our requirements:
- Summers should have highs averaging no higher than 80F. Occasional spikes are fine.
- We could tolerate snow in the winter, but please, no arctic climates. Much below 20F and I think we’ll be very, very unhappy.
- For Karen’s health, Jake’s education, and my mental well being, we need to be near a major metropolitan center.
We may yet choose one of the standing offers (in case you administrator types are lurking out there). But you see, we’ve rushed into things before, and as we get older and wiser we get more deliberative, too.
That’s all for tonight. My mind is still humming from travel, from the job search, from the vicissitudes of this, that, and the other thing. I’m tired.
D.
Have you ever thought of emigrating to the UK?
#1 rules out Cincinnati. I don’t know what the average summer temperature is, but it hits 90° in more than occasional spikes. 😉 Maybe closer to Dayton might be cooler. Not sure. With the growth of the area in between Dayton and Cincinnati, the whole area will likely end up being one big megapolis.
Lots of new medical facilities popping up all over though.
UK? No. Canada, yes. UK might be a bit too much culture shock for us . . . although I’ll admit the weather might be a good deal.
Dan — Ohio? I suspect it would be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Think temperate!
Well… Vancouver, BC comes to mind.
I thought about using the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones to see what other cities are supposed to be in the same temperature range as Seattle/Portland/No. Cali – and it ain’t pretty.
Basically, based on average temperature alone it looks like you’ll be stuck to the Eastern side of the Rockies, and then (brace yourself) the Gulf Coast & a fair swath inland: Tifton, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Austin, Texas; Gainesville, Florida.
Atlanta, maybe? Charleston? I know, too humid…
You might find some of what you want in Maritime climates right on the water, Atlantic or Pacific. The winters are going to be somewhat milder, the summers somewhat cooler. Major metro areas becomes problematic, though.
No matter how you arrange your circles, I think your Venn Diagram of requirements contains at least one null set.
#2 rules out Madison, WI, which is otherwise an excellent city. Metropolitan area, great culture, university town, mild summers.
I’m thinking that Victoria, BC might be perfect for you. It’s in a rain shadow, so it’s pretty dry, and it is surrounded by ocean, so it is temperate: snows rarely, 90 degree days rare too.
It is separated from the mainland by ferries, so the place is a bit insulated. The metropolitan area is, oh, something like 300-400k now, I think, which is a nice size. Property is less insane than in Seattle/Vancouver, too, although if you want waterfront you’re going to pay through the nose. (hah! Nose!)
i wish i could say my area’s like that, but our winters are EVILLLLL and our summers often are too.
boo.
do NOT move anywhere near here. No, you’d loathe it (even though we’re only 1.5 hours from NYC and Boston so we got that metropolitan thing). Winters and summers = misery = Hate, hate, hate 8 months of the year, hate, hate hate.
Really that’s the entire east coast and the midwest a no thanks from you guys. You get to about Virginia which’ll be okay through May then…ugh.
And not Ohio, Dan. No. I was there in winter and summer and it was as bad as my neck of the woods.
How about Bermuda?
Kate – you’re from the Mid-Atlantic… What about someplace like Annapolis?
I like the Vancouver/Victoria idea. A lot. (But is there a university on Victoria?) At this point, it’s a bird in the hand/two in the bush situation. Take one of the standing offers, or try for a shot in the dark elsewhere?
I don’t need stress like this. I’ve lost five pounds in the last ten days . . . while vacationing.
University of Victoria.
I lived about fifty miles from Annapolis for a lotta years. Winters could be pretty tough for people who hate weather below 20 degrees, but at least the summer heat factor was better there, yay! the ocean.
Oh, I love Victoria. It’s one of those places I wouldn’t mind living.
For myself, things like bugs and snakes make a difference as respects where I’d feel comfortable living (I seem to be the kind of person that attracts every poisonous and/or discomfort-making creature out there) and from that aspect Vancouver and Victoria are pretty close to western Oregon and tilt the scale in their favor.
On another tangent, I *think*, but certainly don’t know for certain, that the northern portion of Arizona might meet your weather criteria. I’m thinking of Flagstaff and Sedona as examples. The winters might be colder than desired, but I believe the over-all climate is generally drier than western Oregon and mostly pretty mild (with exceptions on the wildness factor when it’s monsoon season).
Winters aren’t bad at all. The worse part about winter is that people around here don’t know how to drive in the snow. Even though it snows just about every year, they drive like they’ve never seen the stuff before in their lives.
Bear in mind, of course, that I’m from Michigan (where the summers rarely get too hot, BTW), so what people in southern Ohio think is cold is not so much so.
Summers no hotter than 80? Check
Winters no colder than 20? Check
Near cities that have decent medical and educational facilities? Check and check.
Sounds to me like you want to come to Scotland.
As PS has pointed out, Victoria has a university. It’s a smallish liberal arts focused one (although it does have decent engineering and law schools, I think), while UBC is just across the water.
The thing about Victoria is that the city has pretty much everything you’d want, and if you need a little more, Vancouver is a ferry ride away. That ferry ride prevents Victoria from becoming a bedroom community for any but the wealthy, so the city is, as yet, unspoiled.
I lived in Victoria for a few years before moving to Vancouver, and I love it there.
If I were in your shoes, as in-demand as your profession is, and with Karen’s needs, I’d move to Victoria.