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Similarities between the weather in the two places? Only the cold winters. Boston gets nothing like the snow of Buffalo.

My parents were also academics who lived in the Boston area and felt that it was a wonderful place to live (and possibly the center of civilized life in the world). When my father came to Tufts in the early 1960s, SUNY/Buffalo offered to double his salary if he would come there. He did not give it a second thought (other than to use the offer to jack more $$ out of Tufts). I hope to G-d you never have to go settle in Buffalo.

I lived in the Buffalo area for about 12 years, from when I was 3 until when I was 16, with a sabbatical to Chapel Hill NC. That time included the infamous Blizzard of '77, during which the area was declared a National Disaster Area by President Carter.

So I already have spent some time "settled" there--and I'm sure that experience played a big role in why I went to Stanford and Caltech for grad school and postdoc. I wanted some sun and warmth! And I still miss that . . .

I really haven't noticed a big difference in the weather between Buffalo and Boston. Boston had the equally infamous blizzard of '78 a year later. And these days usually when I call my parents on the phone from Boston they tell me about the weather we're going to get a few days later. The lake effect snow off Lake Erie hits the "southtowns," south of Buffalo, especially hard. But my parents live to the north of the city, and the University is also to the north.

I've considered leaving Boston because of the weather, but decided a few years ago to try to embrace it instead. Bought skis and ice skates for the family, stopped driving to work.

But I think I'm really a California girl at heart.