Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop63
For any of you who have lived through a few Florida summers, and northern winters (e.g. Michigan), how does it compare? Is it as grueling, do you get use to it, or make every attempt to escape north during the summer month?
This is my biggest concern moving to the TV. I have owned 2 properties in the past and not something I really want to do at this point in my life. I don't mind the snow, just the gray and lack of sun.
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I prefer Florida Summer to northern winter. It was a major reason for my relocation south. I have several staircases in my northern house & one of them is outdoors, from the back parking to the kitchen door. Due to icing & snow, it becomes almost unusable during the winter. Some winters are longer & snowier than others, I've been a northerner all of my life so I have seen many variants. Due to my location, my driveway must be cleared after each snowfall, & or salted when icy, or I would not be able to get out of my driveway. Additionally, it becomes harder to walk on sidewalks, or store parking lots either due to icing or wet leaves in the fall. Florida presents no such slipping hazards.
As to Florida summers, it is warm & humid. I like it. I was out each & every day last summer & it was mostly pleasant. I did keep an eye on my 'out in the heat' time & did try to return to the AC before I over did it, but I suspect that wariness will lessen. I did try to grocery shop in the mornings before it got hot, so that I could get my groceries home with out melting. But also, the stores are less crowded in the mornings so I could get in & get it done quickly. Which has nothing to do with the heat.
If you haven't bought yet, maybe try to spend some time here this coming summer & see how you react to it. For me, it was fine. More than fine, good. But everyone is different. I do disagree strongly with some posters who are always going on about the HEAT & how HOT it is. I liked it, & in my specific case, it was way better in Florida than it was up north last summer due to the smoke from the Canadian wildfires which made many people miserable.
My garage gets hot & I am wondering if insulating the door would help, on the other hand, I don't spend a lot of time there. At one point I was waiting for a delivery & parked the car on the street & whoo hoo, that car got hot. What I learned from that was that even though the garage gets toasty it is way cooler than parking out in the sun.
I cannot compare to Michigan, but the New York City area gets hot & humid & pretty uncomfortable for some period of time every summer. Florida had nothing on an NYC heatwave. Probably due to the ubiquity of central AC.
Good luck. For me, concerns about the heat were overblown.