Cant believe no one remembered me...and the fact i grew up up there... I grew up in Elizabethton, and if you work in JC, i recomend living in elizabethton its a little cheaper.
Winters are pretty mild compared to MI. get maybe one or two good snows a year max. Some dusting from time to time. Id say only below freezing a few times a years well. Can get hot as any of the south, but mountains help a tad. Its a pretty depressed area economicly speaking but not like people sleeping on the streets. cost of living is low, but your salary will be low. My friend bought a little 1500 sq/ft house built in the 50's brick, with like 1.5a of land. Paid 85k for it. Nice nice place and dirt cheap for sure.
If you have a job lined up its a nice place. ETSU is a decent college if you are looking there. I think enrollment is like 13k or something smallish. The tri-cities total takes max 3 hours to get to all 3 cities so its a big small area. You are about 2 hours from Knoxville so weekend trips for shopping is the usual thing. Not a lot up VA ways, Virginia Tech is about 2 hours up the road as well. You are basicly ont he blue ridge so plenty of nice mountains to drive though. Dont expect a big metropolis. If you like to club or anything is basicly 2 or 3 places and all college kids.
Nashville is 5 hours away so its a weekend trip. Ashville is about 1 hour. Atlanta is near 5 hours. decent size air port at tri cities airport so can get out there pretty easily.
ive not lived up there for a while, but still have friends up there and well my dad. so i go up there couple times a year for a long weekend/week. if you are used to big towns, its not for you. small town living is the name of the game up that way.