About The Snow?

A few warnings I received when we were planning to move north: it's colder, they have more snow, and it's cloudier. Compared to the awful weather, including hurricanes, experienced by my dowstate neighbors in the last six years, I can't say that we have it worse. Being a couple of hours from the ocean has its benefits.

So I'm first going to start by discussing the cloudier weather. It's true. I often look at the sky and wait for the meatballs. We're wedged in between the Catskills, the Berkshires, and the Adirondacks. We feel the aftershock of the lake effects. It may be my least favorite part of the area.

And we do get a good amount of snow. But is a foot of snow here worse than five inches in New York City? No way. And after speaking with relatives downstate after a storm, I don't usually find that there is that much of a discrepancy in the measurements. We usually get closer to the same, a little more so, but our snow doesn't melt as fast. That's okay with me. These people up here know what they're doing. I've found the roads upstate in the populated area quite clean and safe, regardless of the weather.

As for colder temperatures, I don't know that we can complain. This winter of 2014, so far, has held record lows for the whole country. I've never minded wearing a sweater under my coat. As long as I'm not walking around wind whipping skyrises I know I'm not really feeling bitter-painful cold. Coop City, Bronx, I love you, but your tall apartment buildings and open spaces made walking to work in the morning something akin to hell gleefully being frozen over by the devil. Wind like ice daggers, I tell you.

However, if you don't enjoy winter sports (I don't), you may find upstate winters a bit claustrophobic (I do). And you have two choices on that front: take up bowling or get over yourself. I'm going to try the latter. My son, the baby of the family, turns three this spring. I think next winter we should be just about ready for some family snowshoeing, ice skating, and skiing adventures. (Not too often on the skiing: holy money!) Yes, the children will do circles around me. Yes, my balance is as good as a 7 month old's, but my family is worth my giving winter sports a good old try. New places, new faces---though I'd prefer to stick to the bunny trails. Anyway, I'm always willing to try to learn something new, and that's not a bad thing.