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That's awesome. I can't remember the last time I experienced thundersnow. Might have been the Feb 1983 "megapolitan" storm when I was at Rutgers.

Love the outer banks. I think I mentioned in another post that we used to vacation in Buxton/Cape Hatteras most summers when we lived in Virginia. I'm not sure I'd ever want to actually purchase property there since it is so susceptible to hurricanes. But would definitely like to spend more time there.

Agreed. In grad school a group of us drove out to Seattle to spend a couple of months at U of Washington. Utah was stunning. We didn't even have time to stop at any of the parks, but the views from the highway were gorgeous. On the way back went through Montana and hit Yellowstone. Have to get out there again. Have also spent quite a bit of time in the Boulder area, but that was 30 years ago. Beautiful country but I hear the front range has become quite over-populated now, housing costs skyrocketing, traffic. We'd love to move to a warm beach area at some point. Used to vacation on Cape Hatteras when we were living down your way. Lake Ontario beaches just ain't the same! I know people living around Charleston SC and also Tybee Island GA and they love it down there. We'll see. Snow removal is definitely wearing on me, especially clearing the roof which is prone to serious ice dams when conditions are right. Old house, poorly insulated attic and lots of snow is not a great combination for an aging body!

Western NY ain't a bad place to be if you can find a decent job (or if you're retired). My wife and I have been up here since 2003. We live in western Monroe county (near Brockport). Pretty nice, still lots of farmland and open space. We average about 100" of snow but are not in one of the prime lake effect belts where bands set up and dump 60" in a day. It comes in frequent smaller amounts, lots of days with 1-3". An occasional synoptic storm as well, I'd say most winters there is one big event in the 12-24" range. This year we're well below average but still have had nearly 50" with a solid 8" or so on the ground right now. We lived in Maryland and Virginia for 10 years and I actually preferred the climate down there. I'm more of a summer person and frankly am getting tired of the long, dark, cold winters. The biggest problems are the lack of sun from November - March, sometimes you can go weeks without any sun. And the springs often tend to be delayed, cold, wet. That's partly due to the cold lakes being nearby. On the other hand, summer and fall are glorious. We'll probably retire in Virginia or NC though we're also toying with the idea of shaking things up and spending some time out west. Time will tell...

Yeah, I have very mixed feelings about ice storms. They can be stunningly beautiful but also incredibly destructive. Experienced a big one on Long Island in 1978 or 1979, it completely destroyed the power grid and we had no power for a week. No wood stove, no backup generator, no fun! But it was spectacularly beautiful. People up here (Rochester area) STILL talk about the big one that hit in 1991. Wasn't living here then, and we moved up here just after the latest destructive one in 2003. That one was nowhere near as bad and we are now past due. If you can thread the needle and get enough ice to coat all the trees but not enough to bring them all down, that's ideal. 1.5" of ice is too much and I hope you all don't get hit with that. The set up does look concerning but plenty of time for things to sort out.

Just wanted to pop in as a former mid-Atlantic person (PG county MD and Powhatan VA for a total of 10 years) and say I'm pulling for one of these to be a big hitter for you guys. So many chances, I feel like one of them is going to break your way. This is still the sub-forum I come to for long range discussions - best info on all the boards right here IMO. Good luck!