Maine Winter

Nurses Career Support

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Hello Nurses!

My wife and I are considering to moving our family to Maine (not set on a city yet) and are curious about the winters and work. We find many things about the state attractive (top state for nurses to work in 2018) and would like to live on some property, like 10 acres minimum. It appears to be able to afford such a place on a nurses salary we'd need to live about 20 miles or further away from a hospital (Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, or Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington). I want to know if it is realistic to commute that far in the winter?

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Specializes in psych.

My only question about this is have you lived in a snowy area before? While I'm not in Maine, I'm in the snow belt in NY. My 20 minute commute in summer is about 40 mins to a hour in winter due to road conditions and snow driving. Just wondering if you have experience with this type of climate already.

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I have some experience in winter driving but not the kind of winter in the north east. I currently live in the south west. We do get snow about 20 to 30 inches a year. And it never stays longer than a week. My current commute is 30 mins and 50 mins in the snow. The roads are plowed pretty early. I only have to drive about a mile to get to a main road that is plowed.

Are the roads plowed regularly? The winter driving is what I'm most concerned about living in Maine. As long as it is a realistic to live in the country and work in the city I can make it work. I can learn how to drive in the north east winter as long as it is doable.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Roads are plowed regularly, though back roads can be a mess. I'd suggest living as close to a main road as possible and buying some snow tires. Lots of people live a distance from work and make it. I live 60 miles from work. It might take you some time to adjust to winter driving when one storm can bring in what you are used to seeing over the whole season, but you'll find even those who have lived here their whole lives still have to relearn to drive in the snow each year.

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Thank you for the encouraging response. Gives me hope and excitement for our future in Maine.

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