Chiming in on the weather in my corner of the Great Lakes (SE MI). Winters are indeed getting milder, seemingly. I love having 4 seasons, and there is nothing better than summer and fall imo in this type of weather leading into Thanksgiving and the Holidays. It just feels right. I don't mind winter, even. January. it's fun sometimes. February starts to suck because there's not a whole lot going on. But what really sucks imo is March and April. The weather doesn't turn the corner here until May consistently. It is really annoying to have 60 and 70 degree days in early-mid March and some sun, thinking Spring is here and then you get another 6 weeks of gloom and days in the low 40s. Politically I would like to hope we are in the clear and should remain solidly blue but we shall see come November. All of that said, having spent quite a bit of time there, I would take this weather 100% of the time over Phoenix/Scottsdale. My 15 year old on the other hand is already angling to try to attend ASU. To each their own, I suppose.