I'm with BadgerGirl on this one...

In north america, I've lived in canada, chicago, the SW, and even florida. No comparison - winters in the midwest are, were for me anyway, much rougher than anything I've experienced in the SW. I would take Denver/SLC/ABQ/etc anytime over WI/IL/MN.

Since Corsairmac mentioned a running joke about mile high city (which she is right on ) - I had one going while in chicago.....the sun goes down in, oh, about November, and then reemerges sometime in late April! Cold, windy, short days - can you say gloomy in winter? Loved chicago, great city, but the winters were very harsh on this island girl.