Take Me Down to the Hurricane City

Every once in a while, Upstate New Yorkers can look at their weather and compare it favorably with other parts of the country. This week, some people have expressed a kind of schadenfreude regarding Hurricane Katrina. They're not happy that it hit, but are glad they live here and not down south where the weather is crazy.

While I would also not want to live eight feet underwater in New Orleans this week, living near the Gulf Coast seems pretty damn good to me. You could buy another house with the next decade's worth of winter fuel prices. I bet in Georgia there are no snow shoveling heart attacks. The summers in Florida are not any hotter than in Central New York the last few years.

This is not Rome hatred for the sake of hatred. The fact is that New York is the most expensive state to live in. It doesn't help to have the highest natural gas prices as well. The snow is just icing on the cake. New Orleans may have hit rock bottom, but we're still on the way down.