I’m sitting in my living room in JP wearing a green tank top and springy green skirt. I know there’s a wind advisory, and it’s grey as hell outside, but it’s a relatively warm day for Boston (52 degrees) and I’ve been thinking about how weather affects me.
I spent the early part of the morning researching the climates in US Cities. While I’m not researching specific places or jobs, I am working on a list of what I want in a living environment, and climate plays a large role in that. One thing I know I can’t do is another 6-month "Abby Winter." What is an Abby winter? Well, I thought about this a lot, and I thought about the places I’ve actually lived. During my years in Oberlin, Bloomington, and Boston, I have tended to get very mopey around February until I start seeing blue skies and greenery again. I also have had to contend with significant eczema, which seems like no big deal, but it’s this chronic irritation that never abates. Chronic irritants that never abate aren’t the best choice when trying to craft a life of less stress.
And so back to the "Abby Winter" thing. I grew up in Atlanta, and from my perspective, Atlanta has 3 clear months of winter: December, January, and February. I looked up the average temps there during those months, and that ended up being the months with average temperatures below 50 degrees. Not that 50 degrees feels like winter, but in months with that average, there are at least enough cold days to give the gestalt feel of winter… at least to me.
So I picked a few cities that are supposed to be good place to live and seem right for me, as well as a few places I’ve actually lived and plotted months of "Abby Winter." Here’s what I came up with:
Asheville, NC – 5 months
Atlanta, GA – 3 months
Boston, MA – 6 months
Cleveland, OH – 6 months
Denver, CO – 6 months
Indianapolis, IN – 5 months
Memphis, TN – 3 months
Raleigh, NC – 3 months
San Diego, CA – 0 months
San Francisco, CA – 0 months
Seattle, WA – 6 months
Having lived in the 6 months places, I know that’s too much winter for lil ole Princess and the Pea me. Having lived in the 3 months places, I know that’s OK, but it can mean too much sweltering weather in the summer (when the eczema problem becomes the heat rash problem – and no, I’m not kidding).
What is a total mystery to me is the concept of no freezing winters and no sweltering summers. A whole year of mild temperatures. It sounds really good conceptually, but it’s so unfamiliar to me, such a big UNKNOWN that I have no idea of how it would be for me.
No depression in February? No eczema? No heat rash? That all sounds awesome. But the grass always seems greener on the other side, then it ends up not being the case at all.
Memphis is too hot, and Atlanta borders on being too hot, too. Raleigh and Ashville are a little bit better, but then there’s that whole precipitation thing. Did you know that it rains more in Atlanta than in Seattle? And from my experience, Bloomington (1.25 hours south of Indianapolis) has a LOT of rain, but it’s because it rains consistently all year long.
I’m not even sure this is all relevant information, but sometimes it is soothing and comforting to collect it all and see what my REAL preferences are, as opposed to the ones I’ve always thought were true.
And to my Boston friends, people say this is an emotionally cold place, and while that is sometimes true, I’ve met a lot of wonderfully warm people who are the exception to the rule. Me wanting to live somewhere milder is no reflection on the ties I’ve made here.
