A Google Earth image of a snowbird facility in Mesa, Ariz. (Photo Provided)

After graduating college in the 1980s I worked for a short period in Mesa, Ariz. When I arrived, my co-workers told me I was just in time for the snowbird season to start. In my head I pictured some type of large white bird that would migrate from colder climates, something along the lines of a large egret.

What they were referring to of course was the migration of older Americans from the colder states up north.

Their nests were giant mile-square blocks of large camping trailers. They were like small empty cities, with named streets and recreation centers.

When I arrived in August, the nests were empty.

It wasn’t long before I began seeing cars and trucks with plates from states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota arriving. The migration had begun. Northern states add around 400,000 people a year to the population of the greater Phoenix area each winter.

I now knew exactly what a snowbird looked like.

Ohio and West Virginia are not as far north as those states west of Michigan; we do however have a decent size population of snowbirds. The eastern snowbird, as I like to call them, tends to migrate to Florida.

I moved from Florida to Ohio as a teen, so the younger version of me was a little befuddled by the Ohio to Florida migration.

Ohio has hills – Florida is a large flat sandbar covered with pine trees.

Ohio has seasons – Florida has hot, and less hot.

Ohio has snow – I never saw snow until I was 10 years old, and we had to take a road trip to Georgia to see it. Florida has rain – every day at about 3:20 p.m.

Why would anyone want to leave the Mid-Ohio Valley and fall-winter-spring transitions. I just didn’t get it.

I do now.

The population of Florida increases around 5% in the winter months as northerners take flight to the warmer climate.

I seem to hate winter a little more each year. The bare trees, the cold weather, the slick roads and the darkness are just not for me. I get it now. I understand why people migrate during the colder months while still living “up north” the rest of the months.

Technology of course makes it a lot easier for the modern snowbirds to be part of life back home than those I witnessed migrating to Arizona in 1983.

Facetime and other video calling programs allow people to stay connected with family members left behind in the cold. Free of long-distance phone fees, people can talk to family everyday if they want.

Local sporting events are frequently streamed on the internet, so you can catch a basketball game being played in Marietta even though you happen to be in Miami.

Your newspaper can now be delivered directly to you. If you subscribe to the newspaper, you can use that subscription to access the entire newspaper every day.

The All-Access edition allows you to view a digital copy of the printed newspaper at 5 a.m. each day. You can view it on your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can even access the past four years’ worth of editions.

Snowbirds have been accessing the newspaper online for years. Google analytics, which tracks on a map where a website is getting traffic, shows a defined pattern on both coasts of Florida connected by a solid line that is Interstate 4 running through Orlando.

If you need help setting up your digital access, just let us know. You can email me with your name, address on your subscription and phone number and I will help you out.

Art Smith is online manager of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel and The Marietta Times. He can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com.