The other side of the snowbird equation?

General General Discussion
1

I have often wondered what happens up north during snowbird season. Living down here in Florida every November through March the state gets hard-core overwhelmed with northern license plates that are both vacationing for a week and avoiding the harsh winters all winter long.

The city I used to live in was a small beach community, and there was at least a 50% population increase during the winter. It was kind of crazy how busy and active things were compared to the summer when it’s nice and relaxed.

My question is do these tourists and snowbirds make any impact due to their absence up north? Are there a lot of vacant homes and slower business activities during the winter? Some of our businesses, I would venture to say the majority of our tourism businesses rely on winter visitors to keep their profits in the black. Does the reverse happen up north?

Do every day things like rush-hour become different during the winter because there are fewer people living there? Obviously I am not referring to Dave’s with snow and ice but in peak snowbird season living where I used to live these tourists and assholes from up north Would add a solid 10 minutes to my every day commute. Along those same lines do snowbirds drive just as terribly up north as they do here?

2

I live outside a small “resort” town that tourists flock to in the summer so I do see a seasonal surge of visitors but it’s for a different reason that what you’re experiencing. The snow & cold does slow things down to an extent though.

You’re seeing a concentration of tourists and “snowbirds” from the rest of the country. To think that “northerners” will see the same (or opposite, in this case) surge in visitors is silly. There might be a very small percent of people from each northern state that travels south for the winter. Your problem is that they’re ALL headed to FL, or maybe AZ. Point being, there’s far less winter destination states.

Don’t be confused by out of state license plates either. Many people that I know that have two residents (one north & one south) actually spend more time south. Depending on vehicle registration costs/laws, they’ll register their vehicle in whichever state is cheaper/easier. Don’t be fooled to think that they’re automatically northern “assholes”. They may be born and raised Floridians or at least live there the majority of the year. Then there’s property taxes that may dictate their “primary” residence, even though they only spend 3 months out of the year there.

As far as the driving goes, most everyone feels that out-of-state drivers are terrible drivers. It’s not exclusive to FL. Also, most twenty-something’s think that everyone else is a bad driver. Since this is a reoccurring frustration of yours, maybe you should move to an area where there are more like-minded individuals.

3

Yep, my wife has family in Florida and there are some that go north to escape the horrific heat and humidity of south Florida in the summer, same as northerners run south for winter. No place is perfect.

Also, having spent a lifetime traveling, there definitely are locations with a higher density of “bad drivers” than others, but, as a whole, I think what you’re seeing is an influx of people who don’t know the area as well as you. Top that off with most of them likely being older/retirement age and either, not comfortable with the geography, or just not in any hurry and you’re seeing what you consider “bad drivers”.

4

Tourist/resort area here too. Don’t really notice them being gone, in fact historically January and February tend to be some of our busiest months. We do see a huge increase in visits in October/November as they get their last-minute medical stuff done before heading south where the medical care isn’t…uh… the same, and again in April/May when they come back.

The view of exactly who are the assholes and bad drivers…residents or snowbirds…depends on which group you’re talking too. I’ve driven in Florida. I accept both views as potentially valid but tend to side with the snowbirds. Same for their view of the medical care.

5

Rush hours are actually lighter during the summer here in MPLS. Thats when working people take most vacations. Many live here because they like winter activities like snowmobiling. Most of the extended stay snowbirds in Florida are retired folks who don’t drive in rush hours anyway.

One of the advantages to the bitter cold season is that it persuades much of the riff-raff to live in sunny climes. Street scum are noticeably sparser here.

6

South Texas is also a prime location for snowbirds.

That said, so what?

If you live long enough, have resources and like to live where the season/climate is more to your liking, good for you!

As for medical care, the quality is just as good as the best to be found.

Ever heard of M.D. Anderson or Michael Debakey MD or, ok. I’ll quit, you get my point.

7

45MI S of Detroit.
Utterly imperceptible number. Could be couple factors. Demographics aren’t financially capable, could be that group of people aren’t missed from not being an out and about visible group up here.

8

Actually the reverse is true where I live… The Worst Drivers are the drivers with Southern Plates in their early late 20 to early 30 demographic age group or in rental suv’s.

Location > The Best Ski Town in the Lower 48 (insert ego bashing here :D) For some reason people equate 4 wheel/all wheel drive with better stopping ability… Watching drivers zoom up to an intersection on a icy snowy road hit the brakes at the last minute, slide through hit something car, tree, or into a ditch…

Same lost look upon leaving vehicle, walk around dumb founded, scratch their heads, Kick the front tires while mouthing BUT IT’ S 4 Wheel Drive!

9

As someone that grew up in a Northern rural area,
and spent about half my life in the South, and half in the North,
and about of quarter of my life in big cities like DC, a quarter in the sticks, a quarter in the burbs, and a quarter in smaller cities-

I have a few driving opinions.
Lots of quarter mile strip runs and dirt circle blood in my veins-
I can drive.

In general, younger drivers have great reflexes and vision, but little experience, impulse control, etc.
At 25-30 to about 50 they are at their peak.
Then poorer vision, night vision, slowing of reflexes kicks in.
Senior citizen and octagenerian drivers have lots of experience driving, but lousy reflexes, vision, concentration, etc.
Sure, some great, sharp, spry old drivers and some great young drivers are better than some “peak age” drivers, but in general young new drivers and old drivers are worse.

Northern drivers in general are better drivers when it comes to rain, snow, etc.

Rural drivers are more skilled drivers when it comes to corners, poor night lighting, hills, etc.

City drivers are better at not being thrown off by one way streets, traffic circles, multi-lanes, lights, etc.

Some great drivers look like idiots when driving in an unfamiliar area. Some bad drivers do fine in familiar areas they drive in all the time.

There also seems to be politically incorrect trends in race and gender when it comes to overall driving skill.

Growing up in an area with rain, snow, paved AND dirt roads, and in an era with manual transmissions common, 4WD uncommon, etc. made for a lot more intrinsic driving skill being more common than it is now.

Constant use of the cell phone and even more so for texting makes for some people driving horribly. I see more and worse swerving, crossing lanes, hitting the shoulder, etc. stuff going on now than before texting and stuff was so common. People texting are literally driving like very drunk people.

Most drivers have no performance paved driving skills and experience, and no serious off road driving skills or experience, but most drivers think they are above average and awesome drivers.

There are way more horrible, old drivers with large dangerous vehicles like RVs on the road than there used to be.

There are way more big trucks on the road than there used to be, and the average CDL guy does not seem to have the same skill and experience as the average CDL guy used to.

There seem to be way more people with medical conditions that should not be driving that say F it and drive.
There seem to be way more people legally and illegally messed up on pain killers and muscle relaxants and stuff that should not be driving and say F it and drive.

The percentage of drivers that have no clue what to do with an overheated car, busted fan belt or even a flat tire seems to be a lot higher than it used to be.

It seems like maybe only one or two out of ten people could even do their own oil change or put on new brake calipers, etc. now.

Common sense stuff,
like not flying through a parking lot full of cars backing out, little kids darting around, etc.
or driving 25mph down at street with kids in every yard and the speed limit is 25mph seems a lot less common.

And it is not just teenagers,
I mean old people that drive down the road at 45mph with a 55mph speed limit also drive down those 25mph streets at 45mph and so do soccer moms that should know better.

10

That’s not the kind of medical care most of these snowbirds need, but no question, there are some good tertiary care medical centers in Texas.

11

My question is do these tourists and snowbirds make any impact due to their absence up north? Are there a lot of vacant homes and slower business activities during the winter? Some of our businesses, I would venture to say the majority of our tourism businesses rely on winter visitors to keep their profits in the black. Does the reverse happen up north?

I see a dramatic effect from this. Working on high end cars for a living where a lot of folks can afford a second “winter home” down south directly has an impact on my paycheck. Business does slow down in winter months for me and this is a big reason for it. I see a ton of vehicle history services that are done by Florida and other southern Dealerships during winter months. It’s a cycle to prepare for every year in my line of work.

Hey, you got your name back :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Although, some or most of that may be due to fact that those high end luxury cars tend not to be driven when there is snow, salt, or even rain on the ground, nor in cold weather. I live here year round. My little sports car sits bundled up in the garage from November to April.

13

Very true, (some) but I see a lot of Fla,Ga,Al, etc… license plates though. I’ve been there 15 years now and know a lot of clients. Their car also may be just sitting garage kept while they are escaping the winter. But ML, GL, C, E, S Class are daily drivers for them though, they are not all as you see in my Avatar as a sunny day toy.

14

ramairthree nailed it and I’m something of a geezer…

So, I drive carefully, a tad (really) over the speed limit most of the time and keep my eyes moving. I don’t drive slowly in the fast lane or vice versa…

In all my time of driving, I was in one crash. My fault due to poor driving skill.

I was 15 in a borrowed car with a girl I was trying to impress. I did too. She was terrified. Not what I was hoping for…

15

Around here, there are some vacant homes in winter. Although around Big Sky and Paradise Valley there are homes that are always vacant: The people who own them bought them as investments and are so rich and have so many homes that they hardly ever visit them.

That being said, around the same time the snow birds are headed south, their grandkids are headed to college. So the housing market around here usually sees a bit of a spike in Fall and a drop off in Spring. And then during Fall, we also have out of state hunters coming in… who give way to ski bums from around the world… and then the snow melts and the national parks open and in come the tourists.

Most of the geriatric RV drivers I notice during late summer and fall. But then they’re also joined by the swarms of motorcyclists - of varying skill and differing road manners - headed to Sturgis.