Kind of wild to think that we have all these cities next to the Great Lakes and we're just sort of letting them decay.
Cleveland's average lows are below the freezing point 5 months out of the year. It's basically a constant state of either snowing, or melted/compacted snow freezing into ice.
Then spring comes around and it gets horribly hot. 3 months have average highs in the high 70s to low 80s. They also average 71% humidity; you will be sticky if you walk outside.
It doesn't surprise me we're letting that area decay. I've moved around a few times, and I've never experienced a worse climate. I'd take Texas or Arizona heat over the Great Lakes without thinking twice.
Though the beaches and islands are nice, and changing seasons are refreshing.
Every place has its pros and cons. I try to focus on the positive and do what I can about the negatives.
In early to mid November the temperature will be in single digits with wind chills down below zero. For most of Winter the temperatures will be in the mid-teens to mid-twenties. The reason people stay is for Spring and Fall - but those seasons are disappearing, I believe due to climate change. Spring and Fall have now been reduced to a couple of weeks each. You essentially go from Winter into Summer and Summer into Fall. This year alone there were several days in "Spring" where the temperature varied by 40-50 degrees on a daily basis! That's simply insane! Not to mention making it difficult to manage your wardrobe! Okay, I need heavy winter coat and bulky knit sweaters and heavy jeans today, tomorrow I need shorts and a t-shirt.
I can tell you I'm done with it. As I'm approaching retirement I've been thinking where I can move to that isn't quite so extreme. The Southwest is appealing, but the looming water crises is keeping me away. I'm also not interested in riding out hurricanes. I want to stay on the Eastern half of the U.S. since that's where most of my family is. The only option I've come up with is Tennessee, specifically the Chattanooga area. Why? The city is nestled along the Tennessee River and it's only 1.5 hours from Atlanta which has one of the busiest airports in the world - meaning I can get direct flights to just about everywhere in the country (can't do that very easily in the Midwest, almost all flights are connecting flights and so the airline ticket costs are quite expensive since you pay a tax on each landing and takeoff - and those taxes aren't cheap in the Midwest either since there's comparatively fewer flights).