Why did we come HERE... they ask? (low crime, good schools)

[redsynner]

My fiance and I moved here a couple of months ago from NY. We had been vacationing in FL for several months prior to coming to Maine. Everyone asks us why we came HERE. We say the way of life is so much drastic than FL or NY. People are NICE! There is no traffic!

But then they proceed to scare us with the horror stories of the terrible cold and snow. We are almost debating packing up and moving back south (even though we don't like the "feeling" down there as much).

Any ideas how to survive the "horrific winters of Maine" ??

[GypsySoul22]

Why not just see how it goes one winter? I wouldn't get 'horror stories' scare you off. I have been to parts of Maine in winter and it wasn't so horrible. What part of NY are you from? Even here in 'downstate' NY you can get bad snows and ice!

[pinkpalace]

I moved to Maine from Idaho two years ago, and got some of the same questions: why did you move to Maine?? I gave them the same sort of answers: low crime, good schools, cheap housing.

I've only been through two winters in Maine, so my opinion isn't worth too much, but from what I've seen, they aren't nearly as bad as I expected them to be. There was one week two years ago, where the overnight windchill was around -35* F, but that was the worst I've seen. For the most part, the coldest part of the winter had low temps in the single digits. Cold, yes -- but not horrific. Winter does last longer here, though. The trees don't start recovering from the winter until late April / early May. As far as the amount of snow we get, I think it averages around 3 feet per winter. Probably get a handful of "bad" storms that drop 10 inches or more of snow, the rest will all drop around 3-6 inches. From what I've seen, the snowfall is worse in places like Buffalo NY.