(chicago burbs btw)

you are so well educated and well written that I just kind of thought you probably were going to school in the Bay Area since higher education is so valued there with plenty of colleges/universities to attend. Something you said made me realize you were on the West Coast, so that's why I assumed the Bay Area.

It's expensive there and rent is going up (it's going up everywhere, though), but you seem like you would like the vibe that higher education is valued, lots of recreational/outdoors opportunities, cooler weather, higher class and progressive people (I'm just comparing it to the stereotypes of Zonis).

Have you taken a motorcycle ride on Pacific Coast Highway yet? You would love it. I'm not a big fan of motorcycles for safety reasons, but if you like to ride, that is the place to be.

It's exciting to think about relocating and how you envision your future!

Actually that is the only place I've been hotter than here and I feel your pain. I've spent 21 out of the last 24 years in Maricopa County so I feel your pain.

I remember the first time I stepped out of the airport doors into the summer heat and wondered what I had gotten myself into.

Also measuring the outside temperature with a thermometer meant for humans... at night... and the weather had a fever....

Or me and a buddy from home driving to see the meteor crater in the August heat (it was my first time in northern Arizona). We had the car hermetically sealed and the AC blasting. At some point there was a sign by the side of the road saying "Turn off the AC and open your windows". We looked at each other were dubious. But when we opened the windows we found that in just a few hours we had crossed over from the sweltering heat of the valley into a more normal climate.

I quickly learned how to navigate ASU's campus by going from building to building.

Ah, memories...

That is what it reminded me of when I flew in here from Sea-Tac in '07.

The cool thing about Arizona is you can find pretty much anything geographically speaking except for glaciers & oceans. Home to many natural wonders including the meteor crater.

The area from Flagstaff - which is among the top 5 in snowiest cities (dominated by cities in Northern NY and Anchorage) in the US w/ population of 50,000+ - to parts of the north (drove through a blizzard one time on US route 160) to the south towards Prescott to the southeast towards the White Mountains which includes cold places like Greer and Lake Hawley (which holds the record for coldest temp recorded in AZ) are very cold and snowy places.

Crazy that a city that gets more snowfall than Buffalo is only 140 miles north of Phoenix.

No heat to worry about here.

And people have been out on their bikes like crazy. Gorgeous day yesterday. We're scheduled for another gorgeous one today. 65, brilliant sunshine. Maybe an occasional fluffy, white cloud to give the blue sky some contrast...

you'll get the heat AND the humidity

But it is about 60%-75% w/ highs of 105 though those parts of the year set records in 2007 which were broke in 2011, including most 110 degree days in a year. Monsoons cool things a bit but it is the day after when you really feel the humidity.

Still doesn't come close to the humidity in Texas or Pierce County, Washington (I lived there, I'll take 77 w/ 98% humidity all day long).

sooner and longer.

I started using the a/c sporadically in late February this year. On days like we are about to have with the upcoming heatwave, my a/c just struggles all day. I have to turn it up at night just to keep it from freezing up.

My health has gotten worse over the years, and I, too, am ready to move. I wish there was a way to do so easily while still being on Medicaid.

Stay cool!

and Phoenix the rest, I am sadly well aware of the urban heat island effect. It has worsened since I first moved here in 1999. It is just brutal and never cools down. When it never drops below 100º day or night that really takes it toll on the human body, sick or well.

August in 2011 broke the record August 2007 as hottest month, setting several record high temperatures - including the hottest day ever in August w/ a 117 on August 26th which was the hottest day since July 2nd of the very same year w/ a 118 which hasn't been recorded since July, 2006. East Mesa reached 121 degrees that day. 2011 also set the record for greatest number of 110+ days w/ 33 which broke the record of 32 in 2007. There were 25 last year, 9 consecutive in August alone in 2012. The average number of 110 days in Phoenix from 1896-2006 was 10.

2012 went down as the 2nd warmest year on record and w/ the 3rd highest average low temperature (hotter sooner and longer). That year saw over a dozen record high daily temperatures(including another record August which during its 9 straight set more daily highs including a 116), not a single low temperature was set that year - Relative to the average - The hottest parts of the year were in the winter. April 22nd was the hottest day w/ a 103 compared to the average high of 86. November was the hottest month w/ an 80 compared to an average high of 75. 83% of its days were higher than average. The longest stretch of the year w/ consecutive higher than average days was 25 days from November 16th to December 10th. 2012 also happened to be the warmest year for the US breaking the 1955 record by a full degree.

2013 was the 8th warmest including the 6th warmest low temperature. An unusual cold spell to begin the year and storms and late in the year is the reason why it isn't much higher because 2013 saw the hottest summer on record which broke the summer record in 2007. The forth highest temperature ever recorded in Phoenix was 119 in July. July also came in 4 degrees higher than average (the hottest relative to average month).

2011-2013 make up 3 of the top 10 hottest summers. 7 of the 10 hottest years came after 2000. To paraphrase what a Salon writer said, "Phoenix is breaking records like a slugger on steroids".

A poster below me is absolutely correct when it comes to the "heat-island" effect(especially when it comes to average high temps which are being set because it doesn't cool down at night like it used to)- when I was a taxi driver and driving on the freeways I got an appreciation of how massive this area is. They are expanding all the way out to Buckeye, I spotted freeway construction. As far north to the Anthem and Happy Valley areas to as far south as Maricopa and San Tan Valley which looks like what Chandler used to like which is what Mesa used to like 50 years ago (urban development which hides the history of once rural farming communities) or even downtown Phoenix 100 years ago (where Pumpkin City was a proposed name - could you imagine if that one was chosen? The Pumpkin City Suns take on the Utah Jazz...)

On edit - funny thing about temps is 79 in January afternoon feels perfect while 79 at 10 am in May feels hot - like you can feel the 90s and 100s due by the afternoon.

I'm not aware of specifics regarding medicaid and availability to specialists but the good news is you don't have to go too far within the state to find much cooler places. At any rate, good luck to you.

I remember coming up to drills off Power Road in Chandler in the 1990's. That area today is now completely urban with very little farmland to see.

Phoenix just keeps growing and growing. I honestly don't quite get the draw! It is getting frightfully hot. There will be water issues soon in this state. It is beautiful, and it is horrific.

Yes, if I moved back to Tucson or even north to Flagstaff, that would keep me on medicaid as well as cool things down a bit.

My parents are old and I would prefer to move near my whole family in the D.C. area if possible.

I was bouncing off of 0°F night after night, with some down to -10°F.

My family in MD & D.C. were in below freezing like you while we were already feeling the need to cool down the house.

I used to remember when February was rainy and wet here. It doesn't seem like it much anymore sadly.

we make a big thing about our winters because we want to keep our fabulous Springs, Summers and Falls to ourselves!

November to March you can work on your bike - April to October ride it in wonderful scenery!

In the same state, you have nice beaches, beautiful coastlines to ride along, lush river valleys that are verdant and green in the spring and like living in a kalidoscope in the fall, Eastern CT is marshy forests, the low mountains of NW CT are dotted with small New England villages, we have four distinct seasons, we have snow in the winter and warm summers, about the only thing we don't have is a 108'F desert; we also have reviving urban centers* and thriving suburbia, pastoral communities, seaside resort towns, and fishing villages. They all make lovely rides...by car, by bicycle or motorcycle.

We have nice restaurants, charming boutiques, liberal governance, some amazing museums, we're a destination for touring entertainment (it's because we're between NYC and Boston...they can schedule one-night in Hartford and/or New Haven as a stopover and get people to travel 2 hours from both/either to see them b/c they couldn't get tix in NYC or Boston.), improving public transportation,

(We're not cool enough for young hip post-collegiates (boutiquing and brunch don't get cool until the verge of 30.) and we have an issue with wealthy retirees fleeing to cheaper southern states. Please, we're begging, come to CT. We're awesome...the only thing missing is awesome people.)

*-This is a problem for us. Everybody's recollection of Hartford and New Haven is these depressed slum cities of the early 1990s. Now we've spent 20 years reviving these downtowns: building liveable communities, cleaning up the crime and drugs, bringing in restaurants, apartments, putting in pedestrian and bikeways, invested in cultural attractions...and we can't get people to give any of it a chance, it's desolate and so all the work is starting to erode.

I prefer the quiet Eastern forests myself.

S.F. Bay Area if you can afford it, further north is a little cheaper. Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino counties, or south towards Monterey.

Not matter how hot it gets in wine country (and that can range from 75° to 95° depending where you are), you can count on an ocean breeze about 5:00 pm and deliciously cool evenings by 7:00. Throw in a day or two of fog til mid-morning and it's like a daily change of season.

massive heat PLUS massive humidity. Lovely in the winter though

Come down South, cut your expenses in half.
It has been cool and rainy for the last year, looks like the coming summer will be the same.
We are actually below our average temps this year.

Only 4 cement cities in the state, the rest is little towns and wide open spaces, with LOTS of trees all over the place.


If you decide to move, holler at any southern Du member, who can give you tips on the best areas to avoid hurricanes and tornadoes.

The southeast states seem to be a spot were numerous random (though you could argue they all are) deadly tornadoes occur. The "LOTS of trees" thing is what makes them seem scarier than the ones in Texas & Oklahoma.

I remember the same storm system that brought snow to the northern parts and winds of 30 mph and rain (worst storm of the year so far in Phoenix) - which even produced a very weak tornado near Dobson & Southern in Mesa that was on the ground for a few minutes - produced at-least a dozen or so tornadoes in the southeast later that week, that destroyed towns in Arkansas and Mississippi(I think). I remember watching the news and saw the area around Hunstville, Alabama receiving reports of tornadoes and the city was smack in the middle of a tornado warning area.

I recently made a friend who spent most of her life in Huntsville as well as her immediate family who I spent Easter with but Huntsville seemed to be very familiar unlike most midsized cities in the Southeast that don't have college teams then I remembered when seeing that report - One of the scariest tornado videos I ever saw was filmed in downtown Huntsville while researching the big tornado outbreak a few years ago. Seems like every tornado outbreak that hits the south you can count on Huntsville to at-least get a scare. I gotta ask her about that if and when I run into her.

Mississippi & Alabama seem like the worst states to be for tornadoes including East Texas but not very being further East in the US of St. Louis (except Atlanta airport) I'm really unfamiliar what are the good spots in the Southeast but would like to know. I think its safe to say stay away from Huntsville.

I have lived in Huntsville, and lived in Mobile, and Dothan, and know the state pretty well.

The storms that bring most of the tornadoes move in a line from SE Mississippi to the NE up to Tenn.
they come from west to east at an angle, to put it another way.
alabama's "tornado alley" is a line from just below Tuscaloosa continuing to N. Ala and up to Tenn.
Birmingham area is smack dab in the zone.

the corner of the state I live in is below the tornado angle and above the normal hurricane range.
Not to say we don't get tornadoes..there have been a couple, but not in town where I live.
Only once in recent years has this town gotten hit by Hurricanes..that was Ivan in 2004, and one weak tornado was spotted.
I am sure that other states have similar areas, due to geography and wind patterns.

Green trees, moderate temperatures (with some rain) and liberal politics.

Phoenix is an absolute hellhole but I would move to Jerome in a blink if circumstances permitted.I love it there.

I have family who moved there from Arizona; they love it (but while liberal, are not actively so nor frustrated that their votes are like spitting in the wind).

Boise it a neat little town, and the climate is really hard to beat. You have some of the dry heat in the summer (though it cools down at night) and a month or so of real cold, but otherwise, it is lovely. And the state is beautiful.

If, however, political life is very important to you, don't go there.

How about Bend, Oregon? Getting pricey, though...

NFL QB Jake Plummer retired somewhat in his prime - turned down $5 million, Tampa, and a real opportunity to start for the Buccaneers to live in Idaho.

Born and raised in Boise seems to love it there.

Once took a bike ride to tour the state a bit. Crossing the Central Valley from Monterrey to Fresno was like that. When I pulled in to Fresno for gas, the guy said it had been above 110 every day that week. I headed for the mountains and spent the night near Yosemite. At least in the mountains I could zip up my leathers.

I hate hot weather. Western Washington for me. I grew up here. It can get into the 90's in summer, but not much higher, and not too cold in winter, usually. You're welcome to join us up here.

Oh, and lots of good mountain roads for bikers.

It's a beautiful state. Sure, in some areas the summers are warm, but there are plenty of areas where the forests and mountains are always comfortable in the summers.

It is green and lush -- plenty o' moisture. Summers are heaven -- dry and low 80s, often. The temperature fluctuations are usually not very extreme, thanks to the ocean. We have amazing forests, beautiful snow-capped Cascade peaks, the aforementioned coast (spectacular scenery but cold water -- not good for swimming), beautiful river valleys, high desert (Central Oregon -- very gorgeous).

On edit: Same goes for Washington state.

it's nice and cold here, but we do occasionally get warm weather, and then it rains all day.

It's just not as hot there--even have snow in the winter.

I've been there and Tucson for months at a time during the summer. Mostly because of Air Force projects.

We loved how when we ran at night, we didn't sweat. We visited family last October and we all fell in love with it again. Especially the landscape. I've always loved the desert. Heck I even enjoyed my 10-11 months in Kuwait.

Anyway, I am tired of taking care of this darn grass and trees. We had 5 inches of rain this week and everything just exploded. I fertilized well a few weeks ago. Grass makes me itch and tree pollen makes me sneeze.

I want the clean looking landscape of the southwest. I'm tired of going outside and feeling like I should be raking something or pulling some weed. We have a HUGE yard. People tell me all the time, "your yard and house is so beautiful", but if only they knew what it took to keep it looking like this.

My cousin has a beautiful house in Litchfield. The back yard has one area with grass and the rest is gravel or whatever it is that they use. I don't like the flowering bed and multi planting look. I ripped out most of them and people still say the yard looks fantastic. I think it is because it has clean lines, just like what I saw in Phoenix.

I've lived in Phoenix since I was 4. I've been dreaming of getting the hell out of the desert since I was in high school.

Phoenix is, from my perspective, a terrible place to live. Because it is a city of transplants and suburban right wingers, it is pretty much culturally dead. There is no sense of community at all. It is also the least sustainable city on Earth. That isn't and exaggeration. Read Bird on Fire to find out more about how arrogant it is to build suburban sprawl in the middle of a desert valley. We are a blight on the ecosystem. We consume resources with almost zero regard for conservation.

I have spent quite a bit of time there because of his medical issues. One time I was there from Christmas until the end of February and it did not reach 70° a single time until the day we flew back to Minnesota. I was walking around in short pants and a t-shirt at 45° and the natives were wearing winter coats.

When I saw a 4,000 head dairy farm and the desert being irrigated to grow alfalfa, I got annoyed. I also could not believe the number of fountains I saw in various parks.

Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, a lot of those midwestern transplants brought their plants (and sometimes their weeds) to the Valley. Quite a few took to the place, so there is a pollen problem now. Noxious weeds are uh... like weeds.

Then there's the local plants. Which do bloom, and desert plants put out a lot of pollen as a survival strategy. But being tough desert plants, they tend to have rather irritating pollen since that's more likely to do its job and fertilize. I'll take ragweed over manzanita any day. The former comes with a headache that Claritin beats back. Nothing takes out manzanita. (The first year, you'll be fine, then you'll be sensitized. Allergies are tricksy that way. By the time you start suffering, it's harder to leave.)

And there's the pollution. The Valley has a gazillion cars because iffy public transit, heat and sprawl. All of which are dumping ozone and particulates into a giant bowl a hundred miles across. Where it doesn't rain, and wind seems to be getting rarer. So it all just sits there and stews.

If you think you want to live there, try to get a "winter" rental in summer. (They're usually pretty cheap then.) Try July or August. Seriously, the place is tough, and while it can look pretty, it comes with a lot of pain. (Then there's the politics, which I believe are caused by low-level chronic dehydration and hyperthermia in the population. Don't get me started on the midwestern emigres who give stink eye to the Nortenos who have been there for at least hundreds of years.)

We would go to work by 5 and leave by 2 or so. It was outside work for the most part. Antennas on the roof of a building. Spent another summer in some small town close to Casa Grande on another project.

Then I spent 3 months in Tucson and a few weeks at Fort Huachuca for a training class. Camped through the freezing nights and then the hot days. This was April through June.

The only time I've never been there is during the winter!

The winters have become even more mild over the years.

I would move there if it wasn't so darn hard to do so.

but I've been to Oregon and I wouldn't want live there.

I dunno, it's climate is similar to CT where I grew up...but Portland felt fake-and-put-on and the rest of the state felt...well...uncultured. If I were going in that direction...I'd go to Vancouver, WA. It's nice, it's America...and it's a short trip to Vancouver, BC which has always felt like the superior city to both Seattle and Portland to me.

But Vancouver, WA -- well, it's really just a Portland suburb. Nothing special, in my opinion. And it's not that much closer to BC than Portland is.

I thought for some reason it was the top of Washington, not the bottom. Gives you an idea of how often/recent I've been to Washington State. (It was a runaway trip for me during college. I ran away to Seattle...thinking was all going to be grunge music and the movie Singles. It was played-out by then...1997) Vancouver, WA was a nice place...my location was wrong but my point remains...I'd move just south of the Canadian border in Washington rather than Seattle or Portland. I guess that's more like Bellingham. (Never been to Bellingham...my trips to BC were from the hiatus in Seattle.)

Oregon was a more recent trip for me, a week a few years ago.

I visited only in the summer because I was a teacher and that was the only time I could go. He had no car, just his bike and he described the heat, but it wasn't until I visited that I realized what real heat is like. On his graduation day his wife and he were traveling to the school in 109 degree heat and she passed out on the back of the bike. I wouldn't live there for free. If you are looking for beautiful summers come to Michigan on the Lake Michigan side. We don't get many tornados and if we get a 90 degree day it is news. The lake gives us constant lower temps. If you don't like snow, do as the snow birds do and go south for December through March.

If you live in central Maryland, you can get to either the mountains or the ocean in just a few hours,
like 3, 3.5. You can choose from private beaches, or carnival-atmosphere boardwalk beaches in Maryland,
Delaware, Virginia. Or take a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay. Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland is beautiful, serene, quiet, and cool in the summer. Winters are usually mild (except for last year); enough snow to enjoy now and then but (except for last year) not a constant barrage, and it doesn't stay for long. There is a real spring time and a real fall, the best parts of all the year that lasts for many weeks. (Up here we rarely get a spring at all...this year we are though). Whatever you are looking for, you can find it in Maryland. Except a desert, ugh. I just can't understand the appeal. When I see a desert, I think 'death'.

Whatever you want to do, you can find it within a maximum of a few hours drive. Museums of all types, indoor or outdoor concerts, boating ... or whatever floats your boat. Philly, Baltimore, Jersey, even NYC isn't that far. Western Maryland mountains or the Shenandoah Valley.

Northern Virginia is nice too, but very expensive. Two years ago, my daughter's roses were in full heavy bloom on Thanksgiving Day. It is amazing the difference just a few hours ride can make.

I'm from Maryland originally, right out side of DC. I moved just a few hours north to south central Pennsyltuckey to marry my hubby, and have been homesick ever since. I can't type anymore or I think I will
start to cry.

It took me 14 years to hatch my cunning escape plan, though. (Which was study hard, get good scholarship, go to college, get out.) I've been out 16 years, been back 4 times. Once for a last visit with step-parent, once for step-parent death, once for funeral (We do those well after the fact, when everyone can get there, enjoy the party and be both happy and sad), once because parent got hurt. 3 of those were in summer. Grrr. Argh. It looks like I might have to go again in either July or August. I'm not anticipating either.

I HATE the hot rain in the monsoons, when the pavement steams. And the damned dust/smog/bowl effect, when it just browns out everything. I really hated Yuma, because it's not funny when you can bake a frozen pizza in your trunk between the time you buy it and the time you get it home, but at least the air was cleanish and the Colorado behind the dams stayed moderately cool until late summer.

Not a big fan of the walled fortresses in the east Valley, either. It's like living in Doom.

I went to Colorado. I like it -- I like the altitude, the dryness without the aridness, the cracking storms that come over the Rockies. It's a good mix of social liberal and practical moderate (ignore Weld County and Colorado Springs -- we all do.) and it's more urbane than it looks. Partner had a bike for several years (knees are getting iffy) and he rode most of the year -- usually only skipped most days in January and February, and because of wind-chill, not ice. We don't salt. If you want wetter, the west side of the Rockies gets more rain, but it's more conservative and the population is smaller.

Northern New Mexico is great, too -- a little smaller than the Front Range, a little warmer, a little dryer, less snow, but not as bloody in the summer. It's hard to readjust to the more humid parts of the country after so long in the desert, and 95 degrees 85% really is more dangerous than 120/20%.

The cost of living is comparable better, the region has what is the "sweet spot" of weather. Yes, we have the gas and oil industry who threaten to frack, but you can come join the fight.

You can find plenty of Democrats, a progressive element, and it's a good bet the heat is not brutal.

Although, I must tell you that we have a California, PA not far from Pittsburgh.

Last winter we had 49 days below zero.

When I was in college I remember a day when it was -41° without any wind.

Two summers ago it was 103° and the humidity was 89% to make the heat index about 130°.

having to use the grandparents' outhouse at 01:00 in the morning in January

We have a northern Minnesota cabin without running water. We don't have snowmobiles, so I have not experienced the outhouse in January.

Wgat I did not mention in my other post is that today the low temp was 55° and the high was 75°. If it were that way everyday, we would have been overpopulated many years ago. That, and the agriculture industry would have collapsed.

I remember choking on the air as I crossed the gap between the plane exit and the walkway. It dropped to 30 below at night. I was kind of intrigued and it felt like I was on an alien planet. It was by far the coldest weather I have ever experienced.

Even given that, the Twin Cities were a wonderful place. I'm still considering applying for grad school at University of Minnesota.

One year, it got so hot that the bark mulch around my shrubs caught on fire.

I used play a round of golf each summer week when it regularly exceeded 110 and often surpassed 115.

I don't even think Texas can compete with that. The only other places I know which are hotter are in the low deserts of Western Arizona and Eastern California. But, for a major metropolitan area, Phoenix and its suburbs are unmatched.

You got me on the temperature 123 degrees??? shnikeys !!!
But when you add 90% humidity in Houston to 110 degrees,
it's like getting punched in the face when you go outside.
All of my golf buddies have 6:00 am tee times. lol

The weather patterns are shifting. Whereas monsoon used to encompass most of June all the way through the beginning of October, it is shrinking in size and more rain is falling during late fall.

I lived here for 10 years and was never really bothered by the heat, but now I'm getting all 10 years worth of bothered all at once. Too hot, too dry. Too much dust in the air. And it's only in the low 100s- we haven't even hit the 120s yet.

I'm starting to think about Seattle. Or possibly Anchorage.