Bostonian here. The lady and I have been convinced that this winter was significantly worse than usual, and wondered why no one else seemed to think it was so weirdly awful. Glad we're not alone, and that we weren't wrong. Wow, did it suck. Excellent article and research by Mr. Dobres.
I knew moving to Boston that I could expect lots of snow, but the way it can affect your lifestyle for four months (especially if you walk everywhere) was something I didn't think too much about.
The harshness of this winter is not an insignificant part of my decision to skip town and move to San Francisco :)
As an expat Swede, I was disappointed with last years' snowfall. I had high hopes for cross country skiing, but that didn't work well at all. This winter was better, but still pretty weak. Maybe I should move to New Hampshire... ;-)
If you're in Boston, Maine is pretty close. If you want a good winter hike, the top of the Appalachian Trail is Mt Katahdin, about 100 miles north of Bangor ME.
My building's snow removal costs alone were sufficient to demonstrate that this was a particularly bad winter. They were more than twice last year's (last year being pretty typical).
As a fellow Bostonian, I completely agree. I mostly came to the same conclusions (three straight weeks of snow with no melt days), but it's good to see it written out in numbers.
