A question for you that live in hurricane country

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

Oh yeah, and don't forget 2nd in STD's...So be careful out there when 'tangoing' with those unusually affectionate 'wimmen folk'.

FL has year-round racing and boating activities. For the summer, throw on a big hat, long sleeve dri-fit and drink plenty of water. Hurricane season is an annual threat, but in 35 years of living here, I've had 2 close calls.  I love it here but can certainly understand why others may want to stay away. I have no intentions to sway them otherwise. 

JG Pasterjak said:

Florida native here...

Snowstorms scare me worse than Hurricanes. They can destroy infrastructure just as effectively, and once that infrastructure is destroyed you can't just put on cargo shorts and hang out until its fixed.

Earthquakes scare me more than snowstorms. At least with snow and hurricanes, you get some warning.

Wildfires scare me worse than Hurricanes, snowstorms and earthquakes. There's not much of a "glancing blow" with a wildfire, and things can get dynamic quickly.

Werewolf infestation scares me worse than hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes and fires. Once werewolves take over your sleepy little seaside town in Maine, and local longshoreman are getting their throats ripped out left and right, let's see what that does to everyone property values.

But if you look around the country at cool places to live, they all seem to offer at least one from that list. The rest of the places just seem to offer boredom. Boredom is scarier than that whole list combined.

Look, I'm not saying Florida is as cool as Vancouver, but it's fairly easy to get to cool places from, and we can wear the aforementioned cargo shorts 365. That's a plus for me, as is the cheap land, on which you can put fortified dwellings to withstand nature. 

As someone who's done both, I'll take a chance with a hurricane. I hate snow. It makes everyone retarded, and it doesn't go away after a day. Yes, the damage is much more severe woth a hurricane. But water generally goes away on its own. Snow can last for weeks, or months. Tornadoes are generally way scarier than both. Sudden, and just as vicious.

I can see how some can complain about the heat in Florida, most of my co-workers get downright surly if it gets about 85 degrees. One of them wears shorts all year. Me, I do not start to complain about heat until it hits triple digits. Now the cold, it was 70 degrees in the house this morning, I had to put socks on, I was NOT happy

mad_machine said:

I can see how some can complain about the heat in Florida, most of my co-workers get downright surly if it gets about 85 degrees. One of them wears shorts all year. Me, I do not start to complain about heat until it hits triple digits. Now the cold, it was 70 degrees in the house this morning, I had to put socks on, I was NOT happy

It's 72 in the house right now and I'm opening windows to cool it off 

Patrick said:

My ideal situation is cleveland from may-October then Florida on one coast or the other from November to april.  I believe i want to be a snowbird.  I'm just not in a position to do that yet.  The cold hurts my knees and the lack of sun is depressing so by January I'm worthless until spring

THIS

Lived in Ohio, western MD, Pittsburgh, and the DC area (currently southern MD). 

Seasonal depression due to lack of light is probably my biggest problem with where I have lived. Rust bothers me more than the snow itself. 

With the infrastructure in place for removal, I have never been snowed in for more than 2-3 days and have never lost power for more than a day or two. Biggest damages from snow? Worrying about 3 foot of snow on top of a carport (get a ladder and shovel). Other than that, you have a snowblower and it usually gets used less than a mower does in the green months.

I have a circumstance that may prevent me from living in the desert - Gingervitis - (red hair, I burn FAST). 

Hurricanes scare me, I had enough with tornado threats in Ohio, I currently manage the rust demon with a sacrificial miata to keep my mustang safe (though I am gearing for for a rocker repair on meotter).  I still get the seasonal depression.

The snowstorm aversion?  It means you do a limited amount of digging and sit tight and wait for the digout. Keep a campstove, canned food, bottled water, and a heatsource (fireplace?) and you could be fine for quite awhile. 

Mom lived really remotely with a well/etc. It made sense for her to have a generator and she did get snowed in for a week once. Wasnt that big of a deal. 

Snow in the city?  Yeah..  other drivers are worrisome.  Horray for public transportation. 

Either way, cheap car with snow tires gets the job done. My open diff miata was fine going up snow covered steep dirt roads in western MD as long as it wasnt deep (read, plow had gotten through). 

It can be kinda nice having non-sceduled days off waiting for the infastructure to dig out without worrying about your property getting blown away/flooded. 

I will say the autocross/track 45 weekends a year is a pretty awesome perk. It's nice being limited by time and money and not opportunity. Also rust free cars. I love rust free cars so very much. 

Living up in snow country, if they'd just mandate snow tires and stop throwing down so much salt, I'd be much happier.  I love hooning around in snow, but I hate dealing with rust...

In reply to mazdeuce :

As a counter point, in places with winter we have a defined Building/modding season as well as a racing/driving season. It's easy to spend time in the shop working on stuff when it's too cold outside for other things and it's dark 15 hours/day. There's a very natural ebb and flow to it. In late fall, everybody puts their toys away, and after a 3 or 4 month gestation period, they emerge in the spring with new mods, ready to be thrashed.

rslifkin said:

Living up in snow country, if they'd just mandate snow tires and stop throwing down so much salt, I'd be much happier.  I love hooning around in snow, but I hate dealing with rust...

I'd honestly rather have the rust than every idiot in a 4x4 doing 100 because "I've got 4wd just for this" and not having any idea about stopping zones or braking on ice. 

That said, I hate Pennsylvania with a passion, although the snowfall has been getting less and less. Air so thick in the summer you need a chainsaw to cut through it, tornadoes, an earthquake once, ground that doesn't dry out over the course of an entire spring summer fall cycle. 

Northern Cali was great, even with the increase in idiot population. Sure we saw 110 in the summer but without humidity it was tolerable. Winters that might be windy but rarely below 50 degrees. I just really missed rain storms when I was there. If I wanted snow, it was 3 hours to Tahoe at any time of year. 

I just don't understand how people would voluntarily live somewhere that spends weeks below zero(first Fahrenheit then centigrade) or with an average humidity of 200%. 

RevRico said:

I'd honestly rather have the rust than every idiot in a 4x4 doing 100 because "I've got 4wd just for this" and not having any idea about stopping zones or braking on ice. 

But they do that anyway...  And then end up stuffed in a ditch while everyone else calmly cruises by.  But that's why, IMO, snow tires should be mandated, even for pickups, etc.  Get pulled over in the winter and don't have them on?  Big ticket.  Get in an accident in the winter and don't have snows on?  Accident should default to 100% your fault unless you can definitively prove that having snow tires would have made absolutely no difference to the outcome.  

I had the chance 4 years ago to live any where I wanted in the US as long as it was reasonably close to a decent sized airport. Have lived in OH, WV, FL, NY, ID, CT, WA, VA, AL, MN and NC over the years. We ended up moving to NC. We ruled out FL not because of hurricanes, but because the summers are just too long and there is not enough of the other seasons. I liked the idea of no state income tax there, but that was about the only plus in my book. As others have said, most working folks live where the work is and make the best of if or just live close to where they were born and family. For those that have been able to choose where to live, we each have our own preferences and priorities. All anyone can hope for is to live in a place that really feels like home.

T.J. said:

 As others have said, most working folks live where the work is and make the best of it

I am waiting for MGM to open a casino in the Bahamas

As a current Florida resident I'll chime in:

I've lived in MA, IL, CO and FL.   They all have their benefits and bummers.

MA was great, but super expensive, natives aren't very friendly unless they know you, and Winters are cold and wet

IL -- weather was the worst, but people the best.  Cold, snow and heat in the Summer didn't drive me out--- the overcast grayness of the Winter did--- so depressing!

CO-- best weather, great place to live, but very little water for fishing /swimming, and very expensive to live

FL--- best "bang for the buck".  Tons of outdoor stuff to do, year-round racing, and extremely inexpensive to live.  Yes, we have an occasional hurricane.  I've lived here for 15 years and been through a bunch.  I've never had any significant damage.  I'll take a couple of days without power here and there, and the (News-generated) panic of an incoming storm to live here.   The news greatly exaggerates these storms.  Yes they do damage, no.....Florida is not in total wreckage currently.  

Joe Gearin said:

...The news greatly exaggerates these storms.  Yes they do damage, no.....Florida is not in total wreckage currently.  

This is a sad truth.

Look at the pictures of Charleston from Irma. Watching the reports, you would think the entire town flooded. The fact is, the places that flooded and were ratings worthy, always flood. A lot of them flood on a good high tide. There aren't any pictures of my street because it wouldn't generate ratings. It's just a boring street in a boring neighborhood, and indicative of 99% of the rest of the area. 

Look at pictures of Charleston from Hurricane Hugo. They are all the same dozen places that had maximum damage. News agencies love big piles of fiberglass from marinas as much as they love flooded cars. That and boats in the street. Nothing says hurricane to a reporter more than a boat in the middle of the street. Again, no pictures of my street, because other than the pile of tree branches and a few broken shingles, things didn't change much. Again, indicative of a large percentage of the rest of the area. 

What it boils down to is the news spends hours looking for the worst and that is all the rest of the world sees. They don't see the vast majority of people, that just picked up the branches and raked the yard and moved on with their lives.