Winds of change are blowin...
Well after several years i finally landed a job in NC. Everything is lining up and it looks like i will only be up here a few more weeks. Unfortunately i will have to take the weather gig with me but i know there are some very competent replacements on here. I will miss all the chats on here and of course everyone, especially those i've met. I will miss our fall and winter seasons but the reality is it will be nice to live in a milder climate. The mountains of NC get there fair share of snow, plus i look forward to some trips out west instead. Not to mention all the money we will save especially on RE taxes! So take care everyone and thanks for all the kind words over the years!
Bryan Oh no! So bittersweet. I am very happy for you and your family and wish you all the best always. However, we will miss you here. Try to stop in every now and again to say hello. Thanks so much for all of your forecasts over the years.
Calico696 
Babs NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where will we get all of our RELIABLE weather forecasts?!?!?!??!!
Good luck and Godspeed, Bryan
JeffersonRepub Congratulations on the new job, and all the best in your move, Bryan. Your weather forecasts will be missed by me. I ignore all the wannabe's! Maybe we'll be neighbors someday. I have my 2 babies living down there and a grandson on the way!
Parting gift; stay off of the roads if even a single snow flake falls. You know what you are doing, but the natives are frightful drivers when the white stuff falls!
maja Best wishes to you and your family, Bryan. Many thanks for all of your help over the years.
Mom of 1&1 I am very happy for you also. I hope it's everything you wish, for you and your family.
Old Gent Can I go with you? lol!! I would love to live in a milder climate!! Best of luck to you:)
JRT Exactly what JR, said.
Good luck with your new venture, Bryan!
As for the rest of us... pretty sure we're doomed.
Rebecka 
JrzyGirl88 
Rich So sad to see you leave us, but when the opportunity is there, you can't pass it up. You will certainly be missed, but I hope you can pop in when a blizzard (or flurry) is coming, just to remind yourself of the craziness here. Good luck to you and the family and I hope you love your new home.
Bessie Hackettstown's loss.........NC's gain !! Good luck to you and your family in your new home.
You will be missed !
Mariann Thank you, Thank you and Thank you for always keeping us up to date. Best of Luck
Summernic We are not accepting applications for a new HL weather person. Please post your resume and three references here.
Obliviously I'm kidding, Bryan could never be replaced.
Jag
denise Best wishes to you. You have always stayed out of the nonsense here and have always provided a terrific service. Thank you!
Weatherworks - Hackettstown meteorology pros - are the ones I will follow on Facebook. Like Bryan, they tell it like it is, not what they wish for ( unlike two other groups comprised of overly emotional amateurs).
Like others here I've always enjoyed your posts Bryan. Best of luck to you and your family.
Justintime 
3wbdwnj Bryan, best of luck and enjoy your adventure. Drop us a note every once in a while -maybe on the snow haters thread :-)
Bonv 
GC All of us HLers will miss you, Bryan and your weather reports but wishing you and your family the very best in your new home.
joyful Good luck Bryan! Thanks for always providing us with accurate information. Enjoy your new job :)
Weebiekins 
Denis Be happy..be safe..we will miss you..bryan posts are always the first post I open.I know there will be something I need to know about the weather
skippy Will miss your posts here. Best of luck to you Bryan and your family in the beautiful state of North Carolina!
Vic I join the masses saying nooooooooooooooooo!!
Congratulations Bryan, best of luck to you, but you will be missed!!
Njchia 
jjmonth4 I agree wholeheartedly with the Nooooooooo! You were always the first and most reliable one to go to! Best of luck to you and yours and enjoy the warmer weather. I have family down there. Be warned, at the first snowflake they all forget how to drive.
Dansker Best of luck Bryan. Thanks for the RE statement, it should echo in the eardrums of some of the zombies (not from Halloween) we have on this site. Your kids are already attending a public school in NC and you find it to be good?
iJay Did you say taxes......... :>) This one's for you Auntiel.
NC is a mixed tax picture definitely better than unfriendly NJ. Big picture includes 4.75% sales tax vs. 7%, 5.8% income flat tax versus 2%-9% graduated for NJ, unlike NJ, no special tax exemptions for other income (pensions have a 15,000 standard deduction, joint filling status) but yipppppeee, no inheritance or retirement tax!!!!
Smaller picture: While a 4.75% sales tax, local municipalities can add 2.75% and food can have a county added 2%.
For a median priced home of $156K, $1,200 in property taxes versus NJ at $348K/$6,600. Wow, that's a HUGE savings. Senior rebate with crazy formula available.
Enjoy the savings; I looked at the weather down there and, sure, it's warmer but the mountains look pretty darn temperate with lots of seasonal change.
Personally I am betting you log in and keep those reports coming; no one can forecast like you. I can't imagine you will have the same loving fan base in NC.
Good luck and congrats.
mistergoogle 
ianimal Mr G - I've got family down there, and I know a number of people on HL do as well. There is certainly a big difference in taxes, but the $1200 is probably just a bit too rosy. In NJ most of the experience here is more uniform because of the density of the state. In NC there's a huge difference between rural counties and the urban/suburban areas of Charlotte and the triangle. That makes a big difference because the comparison of mean vs mean isn't so good when that $156k buys you a two bed townhouse in one area and a full 4 bed detached house in another. In NJ that $348 buys a lot more than a town house. From my brother's case people I've seen down there, the suburbs tends to get you more like a $225k house to compare with what people have in NJ and that gets you more like a $2000-$2500 real estate bill.
One of the things you also forgot was the personal property tax which we don't really get around here. That depends a lot on how many cars you've got and whether you have a boat or not. With two cars that could add another $400 in taxes.
Still quite a difference.
lsricc GC,
It was median, exactly in the middle, which even strengthens your point. But it's the best reckoning they have and trying to use the exact math formulas would make our ears bleed. And with a property tax well over $10K; I'll take any of these numbers, double em, and come up smelling like roses.
Personal property tax ------ darn ----- just when I thought I had a great comparison guide that covered all ------you drag me back........ Yet another tax to compare.
Think I have to agree with others, heck with it, I'm just gonna move where I like the scenery...........
Thanks so much everyone! Yeah i do know about the personal prop tax. I actually spent 2 years in NC in school and my in-laws also moved down there for a few years before they moved back up, temporarily. But yeh my taxes now are almost 11k which i can't even afford but we knew this wouldn't be permanent. Down there we are looking at maybe the high 2ks plus a pretty new house and a mortgage cut in half. The developments down there and almost like resorts, it's insane. It's really a no-brainer.
Thank you, Bryan, for your time and expertise - I have always appreciated your forecasts. Congratulations on what sounds like a very exciting and welcome change!
pmnsk No mention of the public school system. Are areas like the metro Charlotte area good?
ldiva Bryan, So sad to hear you will be blowin' into NC; but so Happy for You and Your Family. I will miss your spot-on Weather reports as will many H'lifers. I depended on Your report more than any other weather report no matter who was doing the forecast via TV/Radio/Internet, etc. Congratulations, and check back via HL every once-in-awhile!
Mrs. Pipes ldiva - My brother is in that area. They range from outstanding to really pitiful. The good news is there is a system of choice so you can apply for others if the one in your neighborhood isn't good. The bad news is there is a system of choice that could put you in the lottery that gives you a worse school than you started. It seems like it generally works out but a lot of that seems to depend on how competitive your kids scores are.
Bryan Well your on the move but NC at one time would have been as far away as the moon but that is no longer true . may the spirits of the changing world watch over you and all those who sirround your life the seasons change in NC but they are more suttle changes be well my friend for the wolf spirit is with you blessed be
Caged Animal I got some friends/relatives in Asheville and 30 miles surrounding. Charlotte is good because of the airport hub. Skiing is ok, beach is over a mile high but it is quite South. Snowshoe in West Virginia would be the closest "real" ski area. I know some coworkers then went down to Charlotte or Raleigh. Some areas are pretty hot and they are building McMansions for 400k and up...
Awwww Bryan, I thought this was a post about this weekend's stormy weather only to read now that you will no longer be the HL go-to best-ever weather person. We will miss you!!!!! Best of luck and warm regards.
Chickadee 
I didn't see where exactly you're moving to, but good luck! My parents live in lillington, which is 45 mins south of Raleigh and my girlfriend lives in greensboro right now finishing her internship in dietetics at unc. It's great down there.
Penningslandscaping 
kb2755 Expanding on what KB said above. Nothing like an all out Nov 1st snowstorm! LOL
Winter Storm Warnings are currently up for that area for up to a foot of heavy wet snow in the highest of elevations along with wind gusts to 50MPH!
http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=NCZ018&warncounty=NCC189&firewxzone=NCZ018&local_place1=Boone%20NC&product1=Winter+Storm+Warning&lat=36.20950&lon=-81.66990#.VFRwTPnF-So
Above 3500 feet... all the major cities are lower than this including Asheville, but a nice drive up gets you to the white stuff.
Wow, I didn't realize NC has the highest elevation East of the Mississippi., over 6,600 feet.
Count me in!!!! See you soon Bryan.
LngVly22 
Mr Negative I'm moving to Charlotte, actually about 15 miles south. Originally we thought we would be in the suburbs north of the city but things have changed. Schools are a little odd down there in that they can rezone at any time. We don't really want to get roped into the city schools so we have to be careful about that. But really the schools aren't really much different than up here. Some are better than others. Some are very good.
Best of luck to you Bryan and to your family. Great place to live and bring up a family!
Coralie Only wishes for happiness to you Bryan and your family! Truly one of the gems here on HL.
Firefly Hi Bryan,
Our good friends live on Lake Norman, which is just north of Charlotte, and we are hoping to move down there one day as well. Best of luck to you, and thanks for your informative forecasts over the years.
Best Regards,
Rob
Robert Durana Bryan I was down there last summer in Mint Hill and Mathews NC. I would move there is a heartbeat!
When Charlotte became the Baking Center all the yankees moved down to Nascar country. I hope they don't screw it up.
People come and people go. Change everywhere is just a matter of time. Nascar is pretty bogus though just going in a circle, I only follow Formula One and Moto GP.
My parents came from the Midwest but I have a lot of distant relatives in the mountains around there. It is not 100% better down there but at least the real estate taxes are much more affordable...
Bryan
My sister has her Real Estate License after living there (also about 15 miles South of Charlotte in SC) for three years (and a number of years living in the South, as well) so if you're in need of a Realtor I can pass on her info.
Phil D. 
MB Phil, I believe Bryan said he is going to buy new; probably a good idea when you leave the city center to get neighbors who don't put cars on concrete blocks...
Too far to commute and the professional jobs are few, but Hendersonville and Asheville are pretty good landing spots for the northern retiree...
For the motorcyclist, it is a dream:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deals_Gap,_North_Carolina
Been there many times and will go many more. I even sold a BMW motorcycle to a guy from Spartanburg (SC but relatively close). He had a free ticket so he flew to Newark, I picked him up. he test rode, he paid, he left. He spent the night in Maryland or West Virginia on the way home.
The real issue is jobs. This that relocated in the late 1990s bought housing real cheap but also risked having to come home if their job was lost. Today, more companies are moving down there. Even my company has an office in the Raleigh tech corridor.
Good luck, Bryan. Your weather posts were awaited by many here on the life. Thanks for all your info. :)
Wild Angel iJay
My Sister & her DH, my Parents and my Brother all bought new. Some of their places are right around the corner from places like you mention but they all live in some of the very nice developments that have been springing up south of Charlotte and over the state line in SC, where gas is cheaper, but cable TV & internet isn't as good.
Many of the existing developments and towns are quite lovely as well since I went down to visit for a week last year. Maybe I don't notice some of the cars on blocks as much since when I went to school in NC the bus left some of my schoolmates off in houses like that and/or "shotgun shacks". I try not to judge people by where they live and what conditions they've grown up in however, probably from that experience.
My son lives in the exact same area! I find the houses cookie cutters and too close together. Jobs are in abundance loads of companys moving and building there. You don't want to go out on weekends too much traffic so def stay away from Charlotte center.
Christine 
BrotherDog Oh, I am SOOO selfishly bummed!! This is the first place I come to when snow is in the forecast; it's such an informative and fun thread, with Bryan's forecasts leading the way...then everyone else throws in their two cents. It's fun to read everyone's predictions, opinions, cheers, and jeers. It won't be the same anymore.
Unselfishly, though, NC is a great place to raise a family. We have relatives in Harrisburg and Lake Norman. There is tons of stuff for kids!
Best of luck! Thanks for the great forecasts!
ilovethisthread! just a heads up. Models show a coastal storm this weds/weds night. Since it's a big travel day i wanted to point it out. I have not tracked it closely. It could wind up too far east and give us little if anything but it definitely bears watching because there is decent snow potential if it's close enough to the coast.
Charlotte definitely does have some sketchy areas, especially closer to the airport, but overall it is nothing compared to areas of NJ ex: Trenton, Camden, Newark, etc.
My family lives in Harrisburg, right outside of Charlotte, in Cabarrus County, relocated from Great Meadows, and the schools and communities are wonderful.
Great neighborhood for families and top schools in the area, also taxes less than 2000/year. You cannot beat it. There are also many families from NJ and NY in the area. So you will feel at home.
As for Charlotte, anything in Huntersville, Highland Creek, and uptown Meyers Park and Ballantyne are beautiful. Avoid Sugar Creek and south charlotte if possible.
I don't know you personally, but good luck and warm wishes.
Also beware of some hidden fees on food, cars, etc...but overall a great place to relocate to. :)
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