Rural Fringe-Hipster/Gen-X Northerners Moving to a City in the South. Our two year plan (Charlotte: allergies, to live in)

[convextech]

Originally Posted by TheBreeses

I am a HVAC/Energy Engineer (not licensed though)
...
The job availability for me in my field of HVAC Engineering

As an owner of an HVACR company, you will have to be licensed in the state you move to, if you want a decent-paid job.

Also, I don't know any HVAC company who will allow an employee to take off right at the busiest time of the year for us in the south.

[brentwoodgirl]

I agree with everyone else. If she needs less humidity for her health, I would not recommend Nashville.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by TheBreeses

the future transplant she will need

By the way, my husband had cardiomyopathy, he is 52, and he had a pacemaker-defibrillator installed. His heart is no longer enlarged and he is good as new.

[TheBreeses]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

Climate concerns notwithstanding ...

We usually see 60-112 inches of snow per year and half the year is cloudy. I do remember visiting some family in Richmond VA on Easter Sunday and it was 102°F.

Maybe some background on where we've looked and why we're now focused on Tennessee:
Portland, OR: too extreme of weather changes, and 30,000 homeless that are aggressive compared to our 20 or so here in Ithaca.
Charlotte, NC: have an office there that I could relocate to, but then the political climate is too extreme
Durham, NC (Duke): Ok, but maybe slightly longer duration of cold weather than TN.
Houston, Tx: the saying "not from around here, are you" sticks to my conscience
Albuquerque, NM: less humid, but the SW is not where we want to be. No family within a days drive.
Tennessee - weekend drives to family in Daytona, FL and Myrtle Beach, friendly place to meet new people.

Not that we want to come to torture ourselves in the humidity, but when is a good time to visit and experience the heat? Again we come from 80's starting in Mid-May to end of August...and a few weeks of 90+. We do hit 100+ at least once a year, laughable I'm sure. But again, we are humid 60%+ during our summer as well. Now if anyone can say that it is as humid as Hawaii (had a job there so I know what this means) then I will start looking elsewhere.

[TheBreeses]

Originally Posted by convextech

By the way, my husband had cardiomyopathy, he is 52, and he had a pacemaker-defibrillator installed. His heart is no longer enlarged and he is good as new.

Hollycrap convextech, that is great news! My wife had hers installed 9yrs ago, but then they went back 1 year later and put in a bi-vent to continually pace, and the shock therapy there is her heart races too much. She's on tyckosen (sp?) now which seems to help with the arithmeas (sp?). He cousin had his heart replaced 25yrs ago with the same initial diagnosis. The rejection Rx is not fun in his opinion. Anyways, I'm glad they caught it in time for your husband and was able to reverse it. Sometimes I feel that no matter what we do, her's is not improving or reversing back to healthy. Best wishes to you and yours

[convextech]

Originally Posted by TheBreeses

My wife had hers installed 9yrs ago, but then they went back 1 year later and put in a bi-vent to continually pace, and the shock therapy there is her heart races too much. She's on tyckosen (sp?) now which seems to help with the arithmeas (sp?).

My husband had a right bundle block, so his pacemaker is set to steady pace but he does not have arrhythmia.

[TheBreeses]

Originally Posted by brentwoodgirl

I agree with everyone else. If she needs less humidity for her health, I would not recommend Nashville.

I do see online that the air quality is better here than there, so it is under consideration. Ideal temps are between 30°F and 87°F and 30-57%RH, which she would gladly tolerate warmer-humid, than the colder-drier (we've already had a week of below zero). San Louis Obispo, CA being the ideal place climate-wise.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by TheBreeses

Ideal temps are between 30°F and 87°F and 30-57%RH, which she would gladly tolerate warmer-humid, than the colder-drier. San Louis Obispo, CA being the ideal place climate-wise.

Our average humidity is 70%. Year-round.

[Drake744]

I'll admit that the humidity can be bad here, but I wouldn't call it truly disgusting except for a few months in the summer, where the same can be said in many other parts of the country. When it's in the spring or early fall it doesn't matter how humid it is because the temperatures are fine. The poster said their ideal climate is San Luis Obispo. I just went to check the current humidity there and it's 78% right now. Of course it's 59 degrees so no one cares.

That all being said, I think the winters have stretches that are worse than people up north might think (of course it's 30 degrees today and people are bundled up like they're in Winnipeg. So, it's all relative I guess), and we have stretches of summer that are underestimated by people from those same places. Although I do think weather-wise Middle Tennessee is fairly comfortable for a lot of the year.

[BirdieBelle]

I think the difference is subtle.

The quickest example I can think of is with my in-laws, who are from a northern part of the Midwest and always wanted to "open up" their house here on a cooler day, like they did at home growing up. But my MIL couldn't figure out why her nose was always stuffy and she "couldn't breathe very well" when they did open up the windows. It took them years to figure out the correlation.

That's the kind of difference the humidity makes ... when you feel the need to run the A/C a lot more than you might normally just to cut the air a little.