Michigander versus Floridian?
 

I also am from Michigan. You just can’t beat Michigan summers and fall! We didn’t want two houses either so we have a house here, which we love (sunshine most every day all the time), and a park model in a resort up in Michigan. We come back here to Florida in September, which is hot, and leave in May. We visit a few times here each summer, and it is hot. But the bonus is you can get in to restaurants, golf, etc very easily because of the decrease in population. I love both places. I do miss my friends from TV when I’m up north but they welcome me back when I get back. So my answer to you is that you have to decide. Maybe come for a visit in July or August and we how you do!

Fellow Michigander
 

You get used to it. You never have to shovel sunshine. It does get HOT somedays but never so hot that I wish I wasn’t here full time. Amazingly enough, the warm helps my aches and pains stay at bay. It’s like living with a heating pad !

Is a Florida summer worse than a New York winter? OMG yes! In August, it often exceeds 90 degrees for days on end! The humidity lingers at 70% for hours and hours until the rain comes and shoots it all the way up to 100%! The wind howls perpetually at 10 mph! Your electric meter spins like a top as your A/C labors against the onslaught! Heck, last year it broke 100 at least twice! And don't even get me started on the hurricanes! Imagine the horror! Even worse, if you could stand to venture out into this hellish landscape, the golf courses are a deserted! You'd have to play alone without the pleasant half-hour party with your friends as you wait for your tee time! Heck, this place is so deserted in August that you won't even find anyone at BJ's to help you figure out the gas pump!

For crying out loud, people! If you have a home elsewhere to escape to, then run for your lives the moment it breaks 80! Seriously, you don't need to stay here more than a couple of pleasant 50 degree months in the winter to deposit the manna we Florida victims need to survive in this hellish place. Save yourselves!

Summer in The Villages
 

Lived in Minnesota almost half my life. Great when I was a kid. Drove in heavy snow, ice, spent long hours stuck in winter traffic. Later in retirement, Hated the snow and ice and double digit below zero temps. Ice in the lakes, grey, dreary landscape, winters lasting into April. Wouldn't trade off for constant green, gardening year round. Hot? Stay in during afternoon, read, watch old movies, go to the pool. Love it here.

Why does it have to be either-or? Both realities have their attractions.

I admit to being nervous about moving here because of the "horrible heat" mantra I heard from so many others. But after nearly four years here now, full-time, I've come to the happy realization that I LOVE the heat of a Florida summer. More than a Florida winter, as a matter of fact. Summers are greener and thus far more attractive to the eye than winter here. I walk 5-6 miles a day and that doesn't stop when summer comes: I just walk a bit more slowly and try to remember my water bottle, but even if I forget I can count on people in golf carts stopping to offer me a ride or even (as has happened many times) a bottle of water! Besides the halfway point of my walk happens to be a Publix store: Spend a couple of bucks more or less on an ice-cold 20-ounce bottle of unsweetened iced tea and I'm all primed and ready for the stretch run. And golf--who doesn't like knowing that you can pretty much go to the course of your choice at any time after 12:00 noon and get on? Sure, it's hot--but fewer people and overall prettier courses are big advantages.

My experience with winter happens to be Minnesota where I lived year-round for 70-odd years, many of those years in or north of Duluth, and as Mark Twain once observed, the worst winter he ever spent was a summer in Duluth. Yeah, it's cold--I remember walking for a mile the morning the cold temp. record of -60 (not windchill, but actual temperature) was recorded. And you can count on snow on the ground usually for six months out of the year in the more northern reaches of the North Star State. (Not this year, but they deserved a break from Mama Nature). But Minnesotans have a pretty unique way of dealing with winter. Snowshoe baseball, for example. XC skiing. Ice fishing. Hockey. Water skips...for those unknowing, water skips are organized events held on frozen lakes where a long rectangular hole about 100 yards or so long is cut in the ice, and people try to ride a snowmobile on the open water from one end to the other. It can be done; the key being enough speed when you hit the water so that the machine planes out and doesn't sink. A fun part of such entertainment is usually at the end, when people try to set the record of "most people on a snowmobile driving over open water" (or some such). At one event I saw eleven people, admittedly pretty well oiled up on peppermint schnapps, try it. Unfortunately they sank about 10 yards short of the goal. But after the eleven plus their machine were fished out, festivities continued on as usual.

Overall I'll take summers here over winters there, mainly because my arthritis slackens dramatically in the heat of a Florida summer. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy both.

Speaking of being "stuck" in the house, do you (gasp) remember the days of Covid? We had just arrived about 2 years before as early retirees.

Everyone in the free state of Florida was outside, enjoying life to the fullest, within 3 months of that lockdown, albeit at 50% capacity for most pools and inside activities. Living the good life. We never felt the summers to be unbearable here.

"It" (the pandemic) broke in January and we never felt the heat as we enjoyed the outdoors. .. all Spring and all Summer long in 2020, while our families stayed indoors... locked down in many states up north.

My point is that there was no place we would've rather been, than Florida, before, during or after the CDC lockup.

It's georgeous here. It's bright, sunny and hot on most summer days, and a newcomers body usually adapts pretty quickly in most cases. A little has to do with learned outlooks and behavior regarding adapting to newer environments.
Granted, some folks never adapt, but no one in our circle of friends stops doing things, they just "adjust" what/ when/ where to ENJOY life during the dog days of summer. Personally, I can't wait!

So agree! Think about that snow and ice and having to drive in it! The cols where you cant get warm. We have our own pool, but there are community pools everywhere. We love the heat of Florida summer for swimming. Yes the car gets really hot when parked somewhere. But everywhere is air conditioned.

To the OP: Are you tired of winter doldrums, snow, cold, bundling up just to get the mail, ice, ice storms and power outages, wondering if your car will start in the morning without an engine block heater? Does it seem like winter lasts 6 months? Our answer was yes, so we bought in TV. For the 2-3 months where summer (typed simmer at first by mistake, but maybe not such a mistake), you can always visit old friends and family, and it seems cheaper to rent a nice place up north in the summer than a nice place in the south during winter. Our A/C seems cheaper to run than the heater, a nice beach is just a daytrip away, and we don't have to shovel snow or pay someone to. We can drive up to Maine, rent cabin on the lake, enjoy the summer, pack up and come home without worrying about winter upkeep. If we want to go out west to see one of our kids, there's no second home dragging us down. In short, with TV as our base, we can spend summer wherever we want without feeling guilty about keeping a second home that won't be fully used.

Cold kills many more people than heat.
This past winter here in The Villages was rather cloudy and rainy. And the summer of 2023 was exceptionally hot confirmed by lifelong Floridians. I will be disappointed if this trend continues. But we are in El Niño and should soon be getting La Niña.
We are full time here and love the summers and as others have said it is not crowded at all.
There are individual tolerances to heat and cold so only you can decide for you.
I often see very old people golfing at 1pm mid-summer. My husband is from Minnesota and loves the heat here even in the summer.

It’s hot
 

It gets to be almost 100 here in the summer. It gets to the negative 20s in the winter up north. You should probably be looking at Hawaii, not Florida. The temps there are pretty consistent year round.

Summer
 

The summers are not nearly as bad as some make them out to be.
Is it hot, yes, that's why you move to Florida. I lived in the Northeast,
same heat and humidity, just instead of 20 or so day's it's 60 or so.
Which is nice...if you like the heat. If you don't do the snowbird thing.
No thank you from me, I prefer being warm.

Be careful what you wish for. The Gulf water temperatures are at record levels and could spawn hurricanes.

Moved here 8 years ago, and wished I moved earlier. I moved from PA to escape the snow and ice and cold/dark winters. Bring your snow shovel, though, because it snowed in Miami in 1977, and will do so again. On January 9, 2010 there was some light snow & sleet in The Villages.

Did TV activate the snow team?!
There's an old Dunkin Donuts commercial where a lone plow driver is waiting on a snowfall. One snowflake falls from the sky and he's chasing it around trying to plow it. Much ado about nothing. Although I'm sure youve seen southern 'snow' events in the past. Lack of proper equipment, panic etc and always paralyzes the region. I think we're all good for now!

Perhaps but winter depression is real. Speaking of which we are getting 7” of snow tomorrow. March is going out like a lion. :(

Oh I’m not unfamiliar. But evaporative cooling does wonders getting out of a pool. Regardless I plan on having a chiller on the pool we will be building.

I hope the chillers work. We are about 3/4 of the way through our pool construction and I'm looking forward to cooler water when the temp hits MELT this summer.

I’ve never heard anyone say,”hey, after I retire I’m moving up north.” Having lived in cold country in both summer and winter, I find north summer worse as at least in this area we have ocean breezes at times.

You’re right....they don’t retire and move up north, they stay in those very homes, go to mountain retreats and lake houses and in the case of New England (which is up north btw), can go to hundreds of miles of beaches...all of which provide North Atlantic ocean breezes. And some very lucky ones, some who play on this forum, own in TV as well!

We've been here 17 years. Love it year round for fdicferent reasons different parts of the year. Could never stand gray skies, ice, snow, cold weather, or heavy winter clothes again. We love being in one home year round. We aren't into stress or hardship. In summertime here we love: less traffic; easier access to restaurants; fresh local in-season produce; relaxing at less crowded pools; lots of indoor rec center activities; frequent trips to the Lake Square Mall for AMC theater viewings in comfy recliners with cutting edge technology - followed by mall walks when it's too hot to walk outside and other recreation activities available there; long golf cart rides especially down to the newer areas; less crowding at the squares; and lots of socializing with old and new friends in what seems like a more relaxed atmosphere.

If you have a dark painted vehicle, you can BURN your hand touching the body in the summer. Also there is this little thing called HURRICANES.

I would gladly take roughly 3+ months of air condition life over 5+ months stuck inside with the endless days of gray gloomy skies of WNY. It's like getting months of your life back IMO lol

Absolutely. Welcome to Spring in Massachusetts (this morning)

https://i.imgur.com/3BhOsAbl.jpg

OP where is your NORTH. It seems to me that none of the Northern States have the same winter. I have property in central NH and our winter is nothing like most of you describe. We rarely are shut in the house all day due to snow, we rarely have days without sun and we welcome snow because it brings MONEY into our State, it brings money into our tolls when people travel up to ski or to spend the weekend in their second homes.

So, does winter bother us, NO. There is nothing I cannot have delivered and I do not have to travel in bad weather. During the summer the weather is superb and we have AC when it gets too humid, so it really is all good.

However, I have neighbors in TV who have left Michigan and Wisconsin and describe miserable winters, so it comes down to which part of the North do you want to leave?

Plus hurricanes have been decreasing globally - thanks to global warming.

For the record does the picture illustrate a day of being trapped inside?

Well, it depends on the rest of the day. Hoping the warmup to ~40 will make the roads passable. Right now the road, while plowed and salted, is not driveable. It's sleeting out and miserable. Could I get out for important work? Yes. Is it the best decision, no. So this is trapped inside.

Thats a dusting for New England standards. Its raining in most of MA and the snow is falling where it is welcomed and contributes to the economy, ski country...as poster previously stated.

This is ice. It is impossible to use the snow blower as it won't pick it up. Shovel won't get through it. Luckily we both have good 4 wheel drive vehicles and can drive over this in the driveway. I've dropped 50 lb of salt on it already. It is just now getting above freezing so hopefully this won't be too bad for too long. But in the argument about northern winter over southern summer: I can go out in both. I can do things in both. I will be uncomfortable in both, perhaps. But in Florida I put on my shorts and go out. Here I snowblow for an hour, shovel, spread 50-100 lb of salt, drive 3 mph and risk lots of accidents to go out. I can't wait to move south for good.

We are on Wachusett Mountain and this isn't helping their skiing. People prefer powder to ice sheets.

Just heard the Mount Washington area is all powder. 18" of white powder for skiing. Ski country has been hurt this year by our warm winter. This really is great for the economy.

Honestly how many days a year does this Armageddon situation occur ? In Florida you can put your shorts on almost every day. However 90+ degrees and high humidity exists every day from mid June to mid Oct.

I know I should not, but I am going to ask .... why are you going out? Can you really not manage for a day to wait for this to melt?, or do you have a death wish :laugh:

I'm not going out. Wife has to go out for work. Hoping the coming heavy rain will wash away enough to salvage Saturday night dinner. But we can stay in. No death wish. Definitely stay home when roads aren't safe.

This year was extremely mild. We were in TV for most of February and hired a plow guy since I wouldn't be home. He didn't have to come out once.

Anyhow, usually total days, good question. I'd guess from, say December to March, 20 days of snowmageddon. For me, personally, being outside in the cold is not a fun experience. I'm not into snow sports. I do miss my kids playing hockey and if they were still young and playing I would not want to move south full time. But other than that I have no desire to be outside in the freezing cold.

Also to consider is the fewer daylight hours during winter up north. It really does get depressing.

I left Michigan with my parents at age 15. 1969.

In a bikini on the beach or pool as a kid, I was ecstatic! We had Thanksgiving around a BBQ grill.

Many people don't believe in climate change, but, I have lived thru it here in FL.

It is horribly hot for about 4 months even reaching 100 many days with heat index at108.
It is muggy, stormy, and tons of mosquitos. In Central Florida, the lightning reminds me of Michigan storms. It's serious. Unlike S.Florida.
Many plan their day very early so they can be done by 1 ish.
The summer storms do keep you indoors.
The Winters are colder in Central Florida than we expected. 50 or60 in the day with many very windy days. Our 60 is colder because of humidity. And, here, we do have 2 or 3 days in a row with gloom.
We are subtropical. South of Lake Okeechobee is tropical.

Many folks are pretty happy in North Carolina as a suggestion.

Also, we have allergies that are quite bad 9 months of the year as everything blooms.

Keep a watch on Pollen.com

The main zip code is 32162 and 32163.

You are going to be in trouble for speaking the truth :eclipsee_gold_cup:

Guarantee the Crowley’s have chalked up the ‘23/‘24 ski season as a dud. Pretty sure they’re planning and preparing for Beer Festivals and the summer ahead at this point

Yeah they do a good job making snow but definitely not a great season for them.

And we just lost power. Luckily I have a whole house generator.

Hopefully it comes back on soon. When I lose power in the northern winter I also lose the heat, even though it is an oil furnace, it needs the electricity to turn on. The generator sounds useful.

Power is back on already. But the generator living on a ski mountain was a great investment. We usually lose power for only a few hours. But it’s nice not worrying about it.