Follow5 Ways to Spot a Snowbird and How to Avoid Them
It is that time a year again. Snowbird season. At the end of summer, before winter settles in across the US, the snowbirds come out. They tend to flock down south, specifically to the Southwest. Some fly in, others drive in, but a good majority of snowbirds arrive in their huge motorhomes. Here are five ways to spot a snowbird and how to avoid them.
Motorhomes
When you are driving behind an RV and they have out-of-state plates, especially from a northern state, you can bet you are in the presence of a snowbird. You can especially tell them apart from just a vacationer if they are hauling a small car or truck behind their motorhome. Some of these rigs are well worth over $100,000 as the Snowbirds live in them year round coming to the southwest for the winter.
Clueless Drivers
When the snowbirds come to town, there are more drivers on the road. Since most snowbirds are retired they aren’t in a particular hurry to get anywhere. You might notice a lot of cars going slower than the speed limit or braking for no reason when they spot a saguaro cactus for the first time.
Dinner before 5:00pm
When you are out enjoying happy hour on the wine bar’s patio, it is a good chance the restaurant is filling up with snowbirds for dinner. It is a safe bet it isn’t even 5:00pm yet! Most snowbirds like to beat the rush and eat around 4:00pm, because in their defense, it is already 7:00pm on the East coast. This is true even if they have been in the Southwest for months at this point.
The Heat
In the winter, the average temp is in the 60s in the southwest. Snowbirds often will think this is hot whereas the year-round residents think this is freezing. Snowbirds will be necked out in shorts and a light jacket and Southwest natives will be in full on parkas.
The Accents
People from the Southwestern US tend to elongate their vowels and talk very smoothly and rarely are told they have accents. So when you meet someone and they talk like they are from Boston or New York, it is high chance you are talking with a Snowbird. Residents from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Minnesota make up the majority of the Snowbirds in the Southwest!
