We have lived in the cold climates over 30+ years and decided to move to the West Coast when we retire in about 5 years. As mentioned by others, we have to put up with the ice, snow, chilly wind, dryness in the winter and mosquitoes,heat, and humidity in the summer. Fall is pretty but short. The weather right now is 19 degree F, windy with snow on the ground. There are not too many outdoor activities in the winter other than cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and ice-fishing. If you enjoy solitude, you can always walk in many of the empty parks if paths were cleared of snow and ice. Most of the times the roads are plowed and deiced but still be slippery. Thus, driving in the winter could be hazardous. Travel time is least double or triple during a storm. Winter is tough for the roads, bridges, buildings, houses (driveway, windows, heaters) and cars and thus requires additional maintenance and repairs. The bottom line is that the winter in Minneapolis, MN is long and harsh, with six months of temperatures well below freezing and plenty of snow. However, one could still find good things in the winter, i.e., fireplaces, absence of mosquitoes and tornadoes, no yard work, outdoor sports (skiing, ice hockey, ice fishing, snow tubing) and the Winter Carnival. Despite all these "good" things, we prefer to live in a milder climate where you can walk in the parks, ride a bike, watch the flowers, sit outside to eat, play tennis, and so on.
People pretty much limit their exercise to gyms or home gyms during the warmer months, here. There are a few diehards who run in the heat, but they are few and far between because the vast majority just cannot do it. Runners run on the indoor tracks in the gyms, as do walkers who also walk in the malls sometimes.
