What's The Weather Really Like at TV?
 

Wife and I are spending February in Florida to investigate a home purchase. We're starting at TV and ending up at Bonita Springs. While what I've researched about TV makes it sound very nice, DW is concerned about it being too cold in the winter compared to Bonita. Weather data seems to show highs from December thru February rarely get to 70 and lows generally in the low 40's/upper 30's. We don't want to have to bundle up and prefer wearing shorts.

Would appreciate thoughts and experience from those already residing in TV as to what the weather is really and also any comments on TV versus SW Florida.

My experience with the weather does not show anything like you are quoting for lows in the 30's those months. You might be surprised at how mild it can be. Usually low temps happen only during a severe cold front moving through.

The temperature difference between Bonita Springs and The Villages isn't all that great. If it's chilly here it's chilly there.

I lived in Bonita for 5 years right before moving here. Have you lived in Bonita before? My parents lived in Bonita for 20 years and as I said I lived there for 5 years. The difference in temperature is very little. I remember many mornings seeing my breath in Bonita and frost on the ground.....same as here. What you are getting there is the beautiful beach and 2 fantastic malls with huge anchor stores. You also will find fantastic health care in Bonita and Naples. Health care here is questionable.

In contrast what you are getting here is safety. It's a very secure area with magnificent fire and police protection. You are getting a healthy lifestyle if you choose to become involved. You won't find that in Bonita. You will have great shopping and restaurants here, but not the same quality as Bonita/Naples/Ft Myers.

To me the most important difference is the home value and appreciation. You can't go wrong purchasing a home here in The Villages. The value will always increase........I had a difficult time selling my home in Bonita, and at a loss.

There are so many variables......but to again answer your original question. The weather is pretty much the same for both areas. I know this for a fact as I still have many friends in Bonita and we compare weather year round.

The big difference is night time winter lows. The further south, the warmer with South Florida the warmest. Thus far, this winter has been great however!!

GerryAnn, thanks for your very valid points. If you want questionable health care, try Maui. We just sold our second home there and that's why we're looking in FL, Couple years ago DW had a health scare. Took us over an hour to get to the only hospital on the island on the only road that goes around the island. That and 4 grandkids in MI made us rethink our plans. We have friends who retired to Bonita Springs and my parents were in Bradenton for many years so we have some familiarity with weather vagaries. DW looked at the 15 day forecast on weather. dot com and saw highs in the low 50's and said I'd better get the real story :)

It's one of those cold fronts that is reaching down from those northern storms. We have those off and on. Unfortunately, your DW looked at the forecast during one of those fronts.

I spent six winters in Key West. Can't get much father south in the eastern US than that. While there was never frost, there were a couple of winter seasons when 70 degree temperature was a rarity. And high winds causing cooler wind chill temps. It's variable in FL, but a heckuva lot warmer than Michigan, where we had spent 25 years before moving here.

Plus the cold snaps are very short lived. Any never any snow to shovel.

Yes!:laugh:

Don't overthink it. If you think there are plenty of things to do if it's too cold or too hot than consider the villages.
Why do you think it's popular?

Very good points. And some of us actually enjoy a little change in the weather.

Use this great weather site
 

Here is a site we use all the time to compare weather and temperature patterns. You put in the dates and choose the areas to find out what was going on every day of the year. Hope this helps.
[URL="http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KVVG/2015/10/1/CustomHistory.html?dayend=31&monthend=12&yearend=2 015&req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip= &reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo="]

You know there will be some mighty chilly mornings but they warm up to the low 70's in the daytime.

Personally, if you are planning to move to Florida, come at the hottest time of the year to see if you mind the heat and humidity. We did that one July and found it not as hot and humid as the Wash. DC area.

I would suggest visiting The Villages - Florida's Friendliest Retirement Hometown - New Home Sales, Home Resales, Build Your Dream Home, Brownwood Paddock Square and look at the temperature on the upper right in yellow. I would also recommend clicking on the temperature and accept what is asked to view live cams of all 3 town squares. This should give you a pretty good idea of the climate.

of course it's warmer in south Florida than here. I think it's a great idea to go to several places for at least a week or so, just to get the "feel" of the place.

Weather the thing we talk about the most and can do the least about. We left The Villages yesterday and are now staying in Islamorada on the Atlantic. The ocean is about 80F. Maybe we should visit TV in July. But that is the only month back in Minnesota you can pretty much bank on being real nice. I just wish TV was further south..IMHO...below 40F is no fun ...

Check these two summaries:

The Villages

Bonita Springs

That is a great site.
 

I cleaned up the URL as it was not 'clickable' for me..

Weather Underground

Good info, thanks.

I do. I golfed at 7:47 and it felt good to be in the cool air. The course was pretty empty too, another bonus. I think looking for the silver lining or what's funny in everything is a much healthier way to live.

1. Gulf vacations (our favorites) are not the same as living in a place. What is there to do once you've walked the beach and soaked up some needed rays that have to be limited to avoid skin cancer. Go out for supper? That gets old. Sit in a house or condo watching t.v.? Boring.

2. When you actually live here for more than 5-6 months a year, you look forward to the cooler months, especially if you're golfers. And then it's not that cool and it doesn't last long.

3. There are distinct reasons why Florida is the #1 state from which people move to The Villages.

Two days ago in the Lake Sumter Landing Sales Office, on the "Welcome New Villagers" Board listing the closings on new/used home purchases between 12/28 and 12/31, there were 60 couples/persons listed with their states. Twenty-eight (28) of them were from Florida.

Look at the board in the coming weeks, and daily there will be 30-40 closings listed.

Getting a place in TV is a complete no-brainer.

Last week, I was driving back to Michigan after visiting The Villages for two weeks. I started talking to an older man in the hotel lobby and he told me they were on there way to Naples, FL for the winter. I told him I owned a home in The Villages. He sad he wished their home was in The Villages as there was so much more to do. He said it gets a little boring just looking at the beach.

Mom and I used to own a condo on St. Augustine Beach. I loved the beach but there was so much more to do in TV. We built our TV home and put the condo on the market. It took us over a year to sell our condo and yes we took a loss when we sold it!

What is the basis for the "questionable health care"? Dr. Kelly at Pinellas (for me) and Dr. Zimmerman at Colony (for my wife) have been nothing be great. I've hand left shoulder/hand repair since 6/27 and my wife had knee replacement 12/30 (all 3 with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joe Tutorino at Florida Hospital in Altamonte Springs) and we've zero complaints about anything.

It's usually that people think excellent doctors only want to practice at the biggest research facilities, but most patients don't want to be a lab rat with students, 1st year interns, residents, and sub-specialists in training poking them and "looking for zebras" round the clock.

Most doctors want to work with people, not petri dishes, test tubes, and window-less rooms full of computers. Personally, I've never liked being presented to a group of white coats, as a specimen looking half-dead and not having had my hair washed in a week or more, unless I have something rare that requires the researchers.

Looking at the largest med centers in the U.S. here, Florida is very well represented. There are good doctors here in TV-Leesburg Area, too. Bigger hospital does not mean better doctors actually treating patients.

1. New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York City) – 2,259
2. Florida Hospital Orlando – 2,242
3. Jackson Memorial Hospital (Miami) – 1,732
4. Methodist Hospital (San Antonio) – 1,585
5. UPMC Presbyterian (Pittsburgh) – 1,583
6. Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Hospital– 1,552
7. Orlando (Fla.) Regional Medical Center– 1,510
8. Montefiore Hospital-Moses Campus (Bronx, N.Y.) – 1,438
9. Baptist Medical Center (San Antonio) – 1,422
10. Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital (Indianapolis) – 1,372
11. Methodist University Hospital (Memphis, Tenn.) – 1,367
12. Barnes-Jewish Hospital (St. Louis) – 1,335
13. Norton Hospital (Louisville, Ky.) – 1,295
14. The Cleveland Clinic – 1,277
15. The Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York City) – 1,221
16. Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital (Houston) – 1,176
17. Buffalo (N.Y.) General Hospital – 1,159
18. UAB Hospital (Birmingham, Ala.) – 1,118
19. North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset, N.Y.) – 1,076
20. Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak (Mich.) – 1,070
21. Christiana Hospital (Newark, Del.) – 1,064
22. Memorial Regional Hospital (Hollywood, Fla.) – 1,037
23. Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center (New York City) – 1,011
24. Saint Joseph's Hospital (Tampa, Fla.) – 1,006
25. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) – 999
26. Butterworth Hospital (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – 998
27. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus) - 978
27. The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore) – 978

100 largest hospitals in America

I agree. I was both professor of medicine at a university hospital and chief of staff at a 130 bed community hospital. For most aspects of care, from aides to nurses to your primary care doctor, you get more attention and better care from your friends and neighbors that you will ever see at a tertiary care center. When you have a rare illness, or severe trauma, the university is where you need to be. But for run of the mill hospitalizations, I would stay local, and my family and I have. The only time any of us went to a big center was when I needed urgent cervical spine neurosurgery, something that was not available at our local hospital

Amen!

:agree::agree::agree::agree:

goodtimesintv, do you know how many of the 5 Florida Hospitals listed, other than Jackson Memorial (University of Miami) are teaching hospitals for University Medical Schools? I don't think anyone equated number of hospital beds with exceptional care.

I grew up in St. Petersburg, which is probably 100 miles north of Naples but is on Gulf. I haven't really considered the TV weather all that different than St. Pete's weather. One big difference is St. Pete as with most coastal cities, will get a lot of pop up thunderstorms. When you have water and land creating a lot of different rising temperatures, you get turbulent weather. In TV most of our weather is created by moving fronts and you can see the weather well in advance on radar.

I lived in Pensacola at one time for six years. Now if you were asking about that weather difference with the panhandle of Florida you would have something to really talk about.

Definitely no argument there. I lived in Pensacola prior to moving to Bonita. Pensacola got down right frigid.....even had snow flurries a few times. Same for Palm Coast. Been spending a lot of time there and it gets mighty chilly.

what about when that local hospital refuses to treat you for the simple stuff because you had a heart transplant 11 years ago. i needed simple hydration and was made to go to Shands forcing a 3 hour daily drive on my wife...why would I trust them for any care? that was neither friendly nor neighborly and had no true medical basis, in fact it put me at risk.

I can clarify. I feel that if you are healthy or only have minor ailments, the Village hospital and Drs are fine.

If you have severe health issues......move on down the road to a decent hospital and Drs that care. I've never experienced so many Drs who don't know about a disease and don't care to research or find out about it.

The caring good Drs get their experience here....get their foot in the door, and move on. So many Drs leave here shortly after starting. I've started with three different primary care Drs, and within 3 months they were gone.

Any decent care I have received "here" has been with the Cleveland Clinics.

I am aware that this is off topic, I am only responding.

delete.

The weather here sure beats the weather we dealt with in the Midwest as we did the majority of our life; tornadoes in the spring/summer and snow/ice/bitter cold in the winter. No comparison in any way, shape or form. We owned a golf course lot in Bella Vista, AR for 8 years and looked at hundreds of floor plans for a retirement home; after doing the lifestyle tour, we came to the conclusion that all there was to do in Bella Vista was play golf and then go home and stare at the walls.

An interesting question.
T.V. Is about 3-5 degrees colder then Tampa, which I enjoy.
I am able to wear a sweater or light jacket here, but don't need
anything that heavy.

Of course Bonita Springs would have a warmer winter.
I wouldn't be able to live that far south because it is a few
degrees hotter.
The sun is also much stronger that far south.
Something to consider.

You might also check out the insurance rates for a coastal
place. Usually much more expensive then here in T.V.

We looked in Ft Myers and loved the climate BUT everything was more expensive.....especially golf. I loved the beaches there but our overall quality of life seemed better here. We have Ben here 4 years and never get bored.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but along the same vein since it has to do with the weather this time of year -

We will be coming down in a couple of weeks for the first time for a winter visit and I'm struggling with what to pack. My better half thinks Florida and just wants to pack shorts, but I'm thinking some warmer clothes may be in order as well. Any suggestions?

I golfed at 7:30 this morning. It was cold. But it felt great to me now that I have been down here a couple of years. It was like I was in a different part of the country. My guess is that about 200 days are perfect. Now I like the too coold, too hot and too wet days too.

I changed.

I really appreciate all the input. You've all made me feel that TV is indeed a Community....and left me royally confused about the weather! :D

What I get is, yes it can be a few degrees cooler some days compared to further south, or it can be the same. Mornings can cold ( 40's) in January/February or it could be in the 60's. Highs could be only in the 50's or the 80's. That sum it up? :)