I'd like to add that I come from Wisconsin. I spent 30 winters in Wisconsin and Illinois before I threw in the towel and made my way to Northern CA (we're all full now though, don't come, lol).
Sure there is a certain charm to the winters in the midwest, but they last too damn long. In Chicago, where I lived for 14 years--once you get through the holiday season, you're still looking at 4 more months of snow and cold and wintry mix, etc. Everything turns gray and dead. It seems like you never see the sun, except for those days when it's -13 degrees outside. You wake up in the dark, scrape your windshields, shovel your car out, work all day, come home in the dark, shovel out a spot for your car. It gets old. Especially if you're an outdoor person.