Reflections on Altoona...
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9/21/2020
Sun rises and sets over 2000+ ft. mountains, which does seem to shorten your summer days. It gets hot and humid in the summer, with not a lot of wind or airflow, sometimes absolutely still or stagnant. On the plus side of this, you won't have to worry about tornadoes. Weather fronts all year long often stall in the mountains, and either have a lot of hang time or produce nothing that was expected. In the last ten years I've been here, a few years produced one or two winter storms that dumped enough snow to shovel/plow/or blow. That's it, one or two storms for the year. We had quite a few winters with only rain. One year we had a bitter cold snap that lasted for weeks, but no snow. Occasionally the valley and hillsides get ice. Nor'easters occasionally bring snow but lake effect does not amount to much here. Middle income housing is hard to find. There are mini-mansions and fixer-uppers if you have the cash. Attitudes here are more influenced by the East coast -- Jersey, and are fairly aggressive. Midwest fake nice is very rare. Drivers are also aggressive, tho the traffic is never terribly congested. The surrounding area is good for nature-loving activities such as hiking, camping, biking and fishing. The scenery of the mountains is quite beautiful. There is not much risk of civil unrest, but inside the city there are ghetto-like areas where you will have to deal with bad neighbors and a variety of minor crimes, so this is worth further research. It's a two-hour drive to Pittsburgh over mountains, a three hour drive to Washington DC, and 4.5 to five hours to Erie. PSU/ State College is a 40 to 45 minute drive over mountains.
Phyllis | Altoona, PA