User Panel
Posted: 4/20/2017 1:02:19 AM EDT
Never been to any of them, just curious if one of them has worse winters than the others.
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Over the whole course of the winter, 723 inches registered at my location in NW, Montana, as far as who has the worse, they are all bright and beautiful, this one just started earlier than it has for a long time now, last one I remember was 96-97.
That said, things are clearing up nicely right now. |
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Well, I'm always hearing about Montana and Wyoming weather, but the Idaho guys don't seem to do a lot of bitching...that might be a Clue.
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This winter has had the most snow of the three years I've been here, temps were early morning minus digits, days average freezing or slightly below.
I'm in the panhandle about 40 miles from the Canadian border. I moved here from Alaska, so my ideas of severe winters might be a little different. |
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Quoted:
Well, I'm always hearing about Montana and Wyoming weather, but the Idaho guys don't seem to do a lot of bitching...that might be a Clue. View Quote When you talk about Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, you are talking about a lot of size and there are very distinctive climates included in each state. |
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Winters are miserable and depressing in any of the three. Coldest recorded temperatures are Montana -70, Wyoming -66, Idaho -60.
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Believe me, if it is the right winter, we all bitch equally, including ID! When you talk about Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, you are talking about a lot of size and there are very distinctive climates included in each state. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, I'm always hearing about Montana and Wyoming weather, but the Idaho guys don't seem to do a lot of bitching...that might be a Clue. When you talk about Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, you are talking about a lot of size and there are very distinctive climates included in each state. |
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I think Montana holds the record for the lowest winter temperature in the lower 48. I believe it was around -60 below. Does that make you warm and fuzzy.
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There are huge elevation changes in all of those states, and that is the biggest factor. 10,000 feet in Idaho is generally going to be colder than 3,000 feet in WY, and vice versa.
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Quoted:
There are huge elevation changes in all of those states, and that is the biggest factor. 10,000 feet in Idaho is generally going to be colder than 3,000 feet in WY, and vice versa. View Quote |
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I can drive an hour during the winter and go from 40 above with the windows open to -20 below where the heater won't keep the truck warm!
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Idaho is less bad, but if you have to ask, you still can't handle it.
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This, the joke around here is "if you don't like the weather drive 50 miles in any direction" I work/live in Great Falls, it was raining cats and dogs at my house and when I got to work one mile away not a drop fell all day View Quote |
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Would Reynaud's Disease be a deal breaker if you were planning on living in one of these states?
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Wyoming gets just as much snow as the other two, but the day after it lands it gets carried off to SD, NE and CO.
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I have fond memories of the winters I spent in Missoula back in the 90's. Cold as fuck at times, but fun. Hardly what I would call miserable and depressing.
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I grew up in MN, winter fuckness is no mystery to me, and even I know better than to be caught up there.
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I moved to Boise nine years ago. After growing up in Ohio and Illinois then doing winters in Korea and Kyrgyzstan, I thought the winters here were down right mild. It will get cold and the snow only sticks around for a few weeks and then it's gone. This past winter was brutal. My biggest complaint about winters here isn't the snow but the near constant cloudiness winter brings here. You can tell it really messes with people. Then the inversions suck too.
I'm in the Air Force Security Forces and I was on patrol for much of the coldest periods of this past winter. I started to carry a pencil because the ink would freeze in my pens. Until I started carrying a pencil, I either had to leave my pens in the vents of the truck or clip them to the collar of my t-shirt under my body armor. Sometimes I'd have to warm the tip of the pen with my Zippo to even get the ink to flow. I'm not going to lie, if this past winter becomes the new normal here, I will seriously consider moving somewhere else when I retire in a couple of years. |
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When you talk about Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, you are talking about a lot of size and there are very distinctive climates included in each state. View Quote |
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Same here in California. 610" in the Sierra foothills this winter. You can keep your wind. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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The previous 3 winters, NW WY has been the banana belt, save for a few brief cold snaps and heavy snowfalls that blew away or melted in a week or less. This past winter, around mid December, we got about 3 feet of snow in 4 days, and then the wind started. 6 foot drifts on my driveway and the road. It would blow for a few days at a time, and then we'd get plowed out (a couple of times a tractor with a big rotary would come through because a skid steer wasn't cutting it). Nice path through the snowdrifts for a few days, then some more snow would fall, and the wind would start up again. Rinse and repeat for 2 months before our road was passable without constant intervention. We came within a day of running out of propane because the truck couldn't even make it up our street, let alone our steep driveway, for 2 and a half months.
I did a lot of shoveling and snowshoeing up the street to feed the neighbors' horses, lost some weight, and got back in decent shape. So I guess it was a good winter... |
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Read somewhere that Boise and LA receive almost identical amounts of annual rainfall.
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Quoted:
Would Reynaud's Disease be a deal breaker if you were planning on living in one of these states? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Would Reynaud's Disease be a deal breaker if you were planning on living in one of these states? |
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The previous 3 winters, NW WY has been the banana belt, save for a few brief cold snaps and heavy snowfalls that blew away or melted in a week or less. This past winter, around mid December, we got about 3 feet of snow in 4 days, and then the wind started. 6 foot drifts on my driveway and the road. It would blow for a few days at a time, and then we'd get plowed out (a couple of times a tractor with a big rotary would come through because a skid steer wasn't cutting it). Nice path through the snowdrifts for a few days, then some more snow would fall, and the wind would start up again. Rinse and repeat for 2 months before our road was passable without constant intervention. We came within a day of running out of propane because the truck couldn't even make it up our street, let alone our steep driveway, for 2 and a half months. I did a lot of shoveling and snowshoeing up the street to feed the neighbors' horses, lost some weight, and got back in decent shape. So I guess it was a good winter... View Quote We had another big storm in early January that left a nice, long 5' drift in my driveway between two buildings. It took me 3 hours to dig/plow out enough to get my truck through. They closed the highway to town, but after digging out I went to work anyway due to job responsibilities. Later that week my water heater sprung a leak and my electric heat crapped out the next day. I had no water for a few days until I could replace the water heater (getting it to and inside the house was an adventure) and it took a couple of days to get the heat straightened out. Fortunately I have a decent woodstove so I was able to keep the house from freezing. I flushed the toilet with melted snow and showered at work. The key is to be prepared. Have extra fuel, at least 2 weeks of food on hand and several gallons of drinking water (for those who don't prep), a secondary way to heat your home, be ready for big snow storms, power outages, and so forth. A generator, hurricane candles, and plenty of spare batteries help. I've learned a lot over the years, and I'm better prepared than some folks, but sometimes it can still be a little daunting when the big one hits. |
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OP,
For a general idea read "To Build a Fire" by Jack London Also, it varies widely depending on altitude. Lower elevations are inhabited by people who enjoy milder winters but wave the banner with enthusiasm anyway. Higher elevations are another planet entirely. The higher elevations in those states are what wise matriarchs refer to as "young man's country" with good reason. Those areas are the last bastion of resistance against the flood of weak liberals. |
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MT and ID can enjoy downhill skiing, whereas WY is mostly skiing downwind.
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In 2011, I motorcycled to Glacier Park in MT planning to ride the famous "Going to the Sun" highway. It was July 7 and they still had the road closed due to snow. Didn't open until July 15 when they finally dug a path through.
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Idaho is a perfect blend of MT and WY with cold, wind, and snow. This year was brutal. Everyone is a moody bitch in the winter
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Winters here in north central Idaho have gotten worse the last few years. This winter was the worst in recent history. Several folks from this area, myself included are probably going to start spending winter in Arizona.
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Can't say I would call winter weather "bad". Some things have to be done in the snow; snow mobiling, ice fishing, Nordic skiing, hunting certain game. All of the places listed afford those opportunities, so winter weather is comparable.
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Don't know about ID, but I just get sick of the damned relentless wind. Open garage door, everything inside blows away. Hat not headache-inducing tight, blows away. Looking forward to 15* above zero? Go outside and wind is 35 mph.
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You lying bastards kept telling "Come to Idaho, winter ain't that bad!". I moved in June from south Texas.
I lived in Oklahoma for 15 years. Idaho just had a record setting winter, I will take that over Oklahoma. Their weather is straightup bullshit. 4 seasons of bullshit. |
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This winter has had the most snow of the three years I've been here, temps were early morning minus digits, days average freezing or slightly below. I'm in the panhandle about 40 miles from the Canadian border. I moved here from Alaska, so my ideas of severe winters might be a little different. View Quote |
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Never been to any of them, just curious if one of them has worse winters than the others. View Quote |
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SW Montana. Winter lasts 6 months here. We have a 3 month ice climbing season, if that tells you anything. The bears and moose don't mind..
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No. Billings had a decent winter. A few days of -40 windchill but other than that, it wasn't bad at all.
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