Seasonal Affective Disorder a problem? (Boise: home, live, cabin)

[bobolou]

Hello,

Awhile back, I was considering a move from south texas to boise. The move has not been ruled out, but options for portland oregon came up. After reading a ton of posts describing how gloomy the town is and how people are all depressed by SAD and having to use lamps for sun lights, makes me want to stay in the sun in texas. Can anyone advise as to how bad this problem, if any, is in boise?

Thanks,

[rickers]

Boise is pretty sunny, I've only heard of folks geting S.A.D. in places like Seattle and Portland.

[Sage of Sagle]

I cannot imagine S.A.D. being an issue in Boise. It's as sunny as plenty of places I've been in the southwestern states. But I would worry about it in Portland (and any of the PNW coastal areas).

[AlleyTD]

Lots and lots of sun in Boise
It's no where near as dreary as other parts of the Pacific Northwest.

[violet57]

I have SAD in reverse. I left Boise after 30 years because there was too much sun! I now live on the Oregon coast. Sure, it is rainy and gloomy 7 months of the year, but the other 5 months are sunny here on the coast and it is even sunnier in Portland, Eugene and Salem during the summer months.

[boisefan88]

I think so, but it isn't as pronounced as it may be in other places (especially the PNW in the winter or say, Texas or Arizona in the summer).

I get cabin fever fairly bad right around mid February. I actually look forward to winter and enjoy December, but January I'm ready for it to move on, but when the cold weather lingers throughout Feb and March - especially if Jan and Feb have had normal or worse inversions - I think I start suffer from seasonal affect disorder.

Oddly enough I get it in mid August after the 3rd or 4th week of 90+ weather.

This year, however, has been extremely mild in both winter and summer months. It's quite odd, really.

What I like to tell everyone about Boise/Idaho weather is that spring/summer/fall seem to go by so quickly, and winter seems to linger around forever, even if its not necessarily cold/snowy (I couldn't imagine having to suffer through Northern Idaho winters).

[jufrbo]

In the winter sometimes you won't see the sun for a month or so, but that didn't happen this year, I don't think it was gloomy for more than a week. In past years it has gotten bad with the inversion. In the summer you get sick of sun and hope for a rainstorm. Its way hot and sunny right now. Almost too hot for anything but the river.

[rickers]

Originally Posted by boisefan88

What I like to tell everyone about Boise/Idaho weather is that spring/summer/fall seem to go by so quickly, and winter seems to linger around forever, even if its not necessarily cold/snowy (I couldn't imagine having to suffer through Northern Idaho winters).

Even more so where I live, here in the "high line" region of Montana.

[BlackShoe]

Perhaps more of a factor regarding SAD is the total amount of daylight during the 24 hour period rather than the cloud cover during daylight hours.For a person moving from South Texas to Boise or Portland the difference would be considerable.Below is a link to sunrise/sunset tables for the year in US cities.Would suggest looking at December dates around the winter solstice and compare the home city to the destination city and evaluate your tolerance for the new city.
Location Selection for Sunrise Sunset Calendar