TiHabanero

What is going on here? Late April and getting winter storm warnings! I hate Michigan weather, have always hated it, and wish I had not come back so long ago. My wife won't leave, ever. Her family is here whereas my family is spread out across the US so I have no roots to hold me here other than the Mrs., and I am not going to leave her just because Michigan weather sucks! Even my kids got the heck out of the state as soon as they got a degree and a job.They promise they will never go back. How did they get so darn smart?

FYI: Michigan weather sucks.

Rant over.

big chainring 

Chicagoan here. When I rode my bike 40 years ago it was a perpetual west/southwest wind in the Spring. Warm air blowing in from the southwest. Aided many a home run out of Wrigley Field too, where 20 run games were almost common in April and May. Now it seems like a perpetual northeast wind blowing in off Lake Michigan until mid June. The other day we had a southeast wind! Air temp close to 60 degrees and going into the SE wind got you darn cold. Thats just weird.
.

GrainBrain

Gross! We're actually having a good spring here, but not so good further west.

bobwysiwyg

You have to love four distinct seasons. That's what keeps me here. It will melt in no time.

Count your blessings..

https://w2.weather.gov/dtx/talesmay

Mountain Mitch

Kwityer*****in, get a fat bike to ride in the snow!

Doctor Morbius

I used the trainer tonight because of 20 mph winds in Indy today. Not worth getting out on the bike in those conditions, IMO.

Sometimes you just have to make lemonade.

mcours2006

30 km/h headwinds on my 20 km ride to work this morning in the driving rain, then 40 km/h headwind on the way home. So, two hours of riding into a headwind today. I guess I still wouldn't trade it for snow.

Kedosto

Four years ago when my daughter was moving to Madison WI from the SF Bay Area, she was so enthusiastic about it. She was excited with the real estate market in Madison and took every opportunity to point out “great deals” on properties. I tried to explain to her that there’s a reason the houses are so much cheaper there. I tried to explain how the snow that we visit and play around in is a regular part of daily life in Madison during the winter, and how it’s just not the same. Fast forward four winters and now she’s “done with it.” Needless to say, this late snowstorm isn’t helping.


-Kedosto
*upper 70’s and sunny*

steve0257

Better than the 10 inches we got in May a few years back. Fun part of that is I go from home to customer site, and it didn't snow where my manager lived. He couldn't get it through his head that 70 miles south of him there was wet heavy snow and trees down on the roads. Yelled at me for not getting to service calls that day at customers who were closed because of the weather.

rnothog

Someone from someplace sunny always has to chime in. So permit me...

Triple digit day here in Phoenix. One of the first of many. Got in 20 miles before noon. It was about 90 by the time I started, and 93 when I finished. My old bones and fake hips like the heat. I don’t mind it too much until it gets north of 105...and it always seems there’s about 3 to 4 months of that...

Weather gets you one way, or another, but I prefer not shoveling it.

Gresp15C

I've lived in Madison for just over 20 years. I grew up in Michigan, and lived in Texas for a few years. Some people love it, others hate it. I commute to work by bike, every day, year-round. I only drive to work if I need the car for some extraordinary reason.

The Bay Area is kind of an epicenter for some technologies that I'm interested in, so I read a lot of chat about housing in and around SF. I'm pretty sure climate is not the reason why housing in SF is expensive. There are some pretty bizarre economics and demographics that are unique to that area. And hearing it from the people who live there, it's practically dystopian.

I visited the Oyster Point area, and during my stay, I took some long walks. It was indeed dystopian. I saw no stores or restaurants, save for the hotels that were in the area. I saw practically no signs of human life except for cars driving around. There was a long paved path along the waterfront, and it was virtually deserted, even during the evening. Even in the depth of winter in Madison, you will see people outdoors, engaging with their surroundings.

Madison doesn't have a flood of venture capital money, and foreign money laundering, driving up the price of real estate. What I've observed is that it's pretty stable. For instance, in my neighborhood, housing prices didn't skyrocket during the 2000's bubble, but they also didn't crash in 2008.

And it gets weirder. The Twin Cities are considered to be even more bike-friendly, despite having an even more severe winter.

By the way, I'm not bashing SF, but just trying to offer a perspective to support the fact that people like different places for different reasons.

Mountain Mitch

I live where cold is the way of life and I’ve adapted.


Cycling track near Abu Dhabi

But I was recently cycling in the UAE which has a climate much like Phoenix- with beaches. While I was there it seldom got above 40C and I found it reasonably comfortable to ride up to about the high 30s. I was amazed by their developing cycling infrastructure. They had numerous paved cycling tracks, some 30 - 40 km long, that wound through the desert and were lit their entire length by solar powered lighting. Dubai itself (one of the 7 Emirates) has plans for 800km of such trails, although I doubt they’ll be lit the whole way. Seems to me the ideal way for people is very hot climates to be able to enjoy cycling. Anything like that in AZ?

Kedosto

Absolutely no offense taken. Bash away if you wish. I would say that Oyster Bay isn’t the best place to get a sense of the area but then neither is Berkeley or Atherton. There are plenty of extremes around here and it’s not easy to describe.

The truth is the climate is about the only thing keeping us in the area any more. Well, that and the fact that we’re anchored in with our jobs and a few properties. But as we’re nearing retirement our plan is to cash out and retreat to someplace “normal.”

Madison is a great city. My daughter and her husband really REALLY like it, but they’re both Bay Area natives and the winters there are a little more than they bargained for. This last winter was (and apparently it’s still going) particularly hard hitting for them.

We’ve spent some time in and around Madison and honestly if it wasn’t for the winters, the area would be on our short-list. There’s plenty to love. But, the kids have made it clear they’re not staying and we’d like to be near, so, we’ll see how it goes.

Anybody know where we can find a Midwestern lifestyle with a Bay Area climate? Oh, and the kids will need jobs too.


-Kedosto

bogydave

Some years , even snow birding don’t work.
Left SoCal to come home (AK) to snow.
...
lots of daylight, better weather coming
...
patience, don’t know of any perfect 24/7/365
riding climate.

Gresp15C

It's snowing!

Well, the Midwest extends pretty far south, so you can kind of choose your climate. I've heard things about Nashville. Fort Worth TX was effectively Midwestern in my experience. And I think the lifestyle varies more by the size of your city than its region. The things my family can do in Madison, wouldn't be possible if we lived in a Chicago suburb. I can ride my bike home from work, have supper, and head downtown to play music, attend the symphony, etc., while holding down regular work hours.

Jobs are always a toss-up. Smaller towns have less efficient labor markets. There's nothing like SF if you're a computer programmer and win the FAANG lottery. You can live with 5 other guys in a hovel for a few years, then pay cash for a house in the Midwest on what you can save, or retire at 30. If you're a schoolteacher, then it's a different equation. Occupations like health care and general management are probably somewhere in between.

dedhed

Didn't know if I should cut the grass before the storm arrives. Plow is still on the truck though. I'll have to climb over some bikes to get the snow shovel.

bogydave

Hiro11

Oh good, a chance to whine about this winter in the Midwest.

Let's see. Here in Chicago this winter we:
1. Set a record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. This is Chicago, it's cold here. Setting a record for cold is a big deal.
2. Set a record for the most consecutive days with precipitation at 34 days. The previous record? 19 days. We didn't just set the record, we destroyed it. It f^&*ing rained or snowed measurably EVERY DAY FOR 34 DAYS STRAIGHT. Commuting was a mess. Every. GD. Day. Cycling was completely out. Everything was dirty and gritty for months. The dog didn't want to go outside. This is the first winter in maybe 20 where I haven't done any winter mountain biking of any sort. It simply wasn't possible... ever. The trails were either Zamboni-smooth ice or unridable mud pits. Which leads me to #3 :
3. It never snowed enough for good fatbiking conditions. It would snow/rain/sleet/crap half an inch (every day) and then refreeze overnight. Eventually everything was a ice skating rink. Cold temperatures don't dissuade me from riding. I'm more than fine with real amounts of snow, 6" of fresh snow is great for fatbiking. The one thing that prevents any type of cycling or running outside is the one thing we had for three months straight: epic amounts of glass smooth glare ice.
4. It seemed like the weather all winter was hell bent on the worst possible timing for weather, always. It would start snowing at 2:30 on a Friday... just so that the commute home was truly screwed up. It would rain lightly at 33 degrees to get all of the trees wet at dusk... and then just slightly dip below freezing as the sun set to coat everything in heavy ice and crack limbs. It would be relatively OK and sunny Mon-Thurs while I was work. Friday afternoon, like clockwork, the clouds would roll in, it would start snow and the weekend would be complete crap. Monday? Oh Monday the sun would come back! Of f&*(ing course!
5. This spring has been no better. Constant 28 mph soul crushing headwinds are a given here in the spring. I can live with that, it gets you in shape for the summer. But... we've had not one but TWO giant snow storms in April. Sure, it snows here in April, but not SEVEN INCHES like we had two weeks ago or EIGHT INCHES like we're supposed to have today. This is not normal.

This combined with the taxes makes me seriously question my life choices.

wipekitty

Yep! Fun snow here in western Wisconsin, as well. I really can't complain, as I already got in 90 miles of road cycling and farmer-tan progress this week, with the longer daylight this time of year.

Every place has a trade off. I'll take this over the Deep South and what I call "bonus summer". Snow melts; heat and humidity melts you.

wipekitty

OK, you're right.

I'm about 300 miles to the west and north of Chicago, and we had similar issues (though even a bit colder). Cold, ice, snow, melting, very cold, very icy, very snowy, *melting*, more cold, more ice, more snow. I have no idea how people were even driving anywhere - my town just gave up maintaining side streets. Commuting was the only riding I did, and it was gnarly. I purchased a trainer.

Fatbiking was kind of a sad mess, because every time they finally got the trails groomed, something would happen to mess it up. The snowmobiles had an OK season, though it was a bit too cold, and there were a few weeks of decent ice fishing from what I can tell.

I work in higher ed, and for the first time in five years, my university closed. For three days straight: first for snow, then for cold. Public schools had a few weeks where the kids barely went. The students and staff at my university are still all kinds of messed up; people missed time from work when everything shut down, and students are behind on everything from trying to deal with the challenges of getting through the winter (not just schoolwork, but missed days of work, broken vehicles, and trying to get to campus on days when it should have been shut down, but was not.)

Sure, it's the north, but this was a bit excessive. Relocation seems like a viable option (though I'll still take this over excessive heat.)

tkamd73 

Original forecast, 2-8 inches here, we got less then 1/2 inch, typical media hype for ratings, gets old after awhile.
Any prediction past 4 to 5 hrs is just a WAG.
Tim

bobwysiwyg

We ended up getting zilch. So much for forecast accuracy.

dedhed

Got about an inch, enough to not let me cut the grass.

rnothog

We have some nice bike trails, many paved and marked, but nothing like that super highway.

rumrunn6

A quarter century ago early April was often warm and sunny but not any more now we have to wait for may