National Home Mover

This is the coldest December in 115 years in Florida. It usually gets up to around 80 degrees, but temperatures have been about 20 degrees colder this year. Older folks are dismayed to say the least. They chose to transport their lives to Florida for good reason, and although they aren’t getting blizzarded, they are still bundling up. (Besides, for old people 60 degrees feels like 40 degrees).

Global warming leads to global cooling. Part of the reason for this is the jet stream. When the jet stream encounters large mountains, it tends to go around them, drifting north and south. With warming temperatures around the world and the ice from the polar ice caps melting, there is more precipitation. So the jet stream is bigger. That means that snowfall is heavier, and that I have to bike in blizzards. New York is still dealing with the results of the snowfall, with many smaller streets around the city still impassable more than two days after snow stopped falling.

Moving to a place with year-round warm weather will likely become more difficult. Even California had an uncharacteristic wet week last week. But it remains our warmest, sunniest state. So winter birds flocking to Florida may have to head west to get their seasonal dose of warm temperature.

Wyoming is the state with the smallest population in the country. But it is a beautiful rugged land, with high mountain peaks, a culture of its own, and a lot of opportunity. Part of the reason so few people live there is that expensive minerals were never found, as they were in Colorado. After the Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone Indians called it home, cattle ranchers moved in. A range war, which is a territorial battle over water or grazing rights, broke out in the latter part of the 19th century, after the Homestead Act resulted in a small influx of migrants.

Wyoming is home to Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Teton National Park, as well as the Sierra Madres (not to be confused with the Mexican or Californian Sierra Madre)  and the Eastern Rockies. Explorers were believed to be fictionalizing the west when they returned with stories about geysers and sulfur pools.  The western part of the state is full of mountains and rugged grasslands, while the eastern third of it is the High Plains. Land is very reasonably priced and is ready to be bought by the acre.

So if you want to do some moving, and are thinking about transport out west, Wyoming may be the place for you.

A frozen Georgian fountain.

Southern folk don’t know much about cold weather. Typically Christmas time in the South means daytime temps of around 60 degrees. At night, it is closer to 40. This winter, predicted to be particularly cold, is showing temperatures 20 degrees lower than normal. And when talk of snow comes, people run to the store to stock up on bread, milk and eggs.

On top of a cold snap, Southerners are experiencing drought and farmers are eligible for emergency loans, since having lost almost 30% of their summer crop due to excessive heat.

What’s with all the extreme weather? If even the south is feeling winter’s bite, where do we have else to transport ourselves to for the sake of consistently warm weather? In New York, it feels like it’s 25 degrees and it’s only going to get colder. It hasn’t started snowing yet, but these winters are the kind that make me think of moving to sunny California, when I can wear shorts on Christmas and be comfortable.

I think the summer may be worse, though. The mugginess makes everyone irritable. But the winter wind is pretty gruesome. Okay, okay, this is my last winter in New York if it’s really, really cold. But didn’t I say that last year?