How is working outside in the cold?? (Evergreen, Monument: hotel, home builders)

[CO mom in paradise]

Hey everyone!!

First of all, HAU"OLI MAKAHIKI HOU to everyone! (Happy New Year in Hawaiian) Well, it seems like I have hit kind of a road block with my husband on this whole moving to Colorado thing. You see, the other day we were talking about the Springs (now, the footage of the blizzards didn't help) and he was saying how he hates working in the cold. His concern is He's from here and not used to working in cold conditions. I would like to get some insite from those of you who work outside in the cold preferably those of you who work in the trade industry (ie, home builders, etc,) and what your take is on working there. Your help as always is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
Michelle

[Mike from back east]

Well, no one works in blizzards, here or anywhere else. Nor do they work during hurricanes, like the one that wiped out Poipu Beach on Kauai about 20 years ago...weather happens. The great hotel we stayed at on Poipu (Waiohai?) was wiped flat by that hurricane....shame....had a bar in the middle of the pool, brilliant designs like that deserve honors....

The day after the recent snow, men were back here working on the new TH's up the street. Construction work goes on all year long around here, even concrete work. Millions live and work here, it isn't a problem.

Here's the difference....low humidity. When it's 40 degrees here, in bright sun, you are warm, but back east in all that humidity, 40 is bone chilling cold. Water is a great conductor of heat, or cold. Water-laden air will be bone chilling cold at 40 degrees. Dry air at 40 degrees, like here, will have no feeling to it at all, as long as the sun is on you. That's why you'll see pix of people ski-ing in shorts or bikini's here, jogging in January in shorts is a regular occurance, etc. I was outside in the sun yesterday in my shorts....dry air makes all the difference.

I'll be outside in a few minutes...no coat, no hat....just a long sleeve shirt over a Tee, a pair of jeans.....and SUN glasses and chapstick.....

s/Mike

[500mike]

Hello ,
I've been planning on moving westward for a few years and CS is a place i've kept an eye on.
I follow the weather on weather.com and today was the first day in a while that the wind was suppose to be calmish [variable].The important thing w/cold is wind -yesterday the chill factor was 18*.
I've been to northern new mexico ,colo. and wy. and it is somewhat true about the dry weather -but body temp. 98.6 wind chill 18* or 40*= cold.
If your husband is working -physically working yes it won't seem too bad ,if he's a jobsite manager [supervisor] whatever you want to call it -it will feel cold.It's winter in colorado it started a few months ago and has a few months to go!
I've been to hawaii -kona and of coarse it's a warm climate -colorado is not.
Best of luck to you -Mike

[gpraceman]

While 40deg in the sun doesn't feel very cold, once you get in the shade and after the sun goes down, it does. As others have stated, outside jobs tend to work year round and only stop with the worst of weather.

[BenWolfe]

At an elevation of over 5,000 feet the sun feels much stronger and you don't feel as cold, but watch out after dark. Your body also acclimates to the temperature, I seldom wear a coat on sunny days in the winter.

[BabyBoomers2]

Personally.........I WOULDN'T live in area like here if my job was mainly an outside job. Perhaps when I was younger I would, but now (at 57), no way! I know, from living there for a number of years, in Southern Calif. when the rainy season starts (they call it winter in the lower elevations), a lot of construction workers stop working and collect unemployment or the relocate to a different State (like Florida) to continue working in the construction trade.
I knew one guy that told me, "I put away a certain amount of money I make during the "sunny/warm season" so I will be covered when the rainy/winter season hits here. If I need to, I will work a different job until the winter is over here".

[CSColorado]

My husband is an electrician, and he hates working out in the cold. He wears 2 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of pants and I don't even know how many shirts... most all winter long. We do have a lot of nice winter days that he would be sweating if he wore a coat- but sometimes you have to meet a deadline and work when it's really cold out. The wind can make it really miserable! These last few weeks he's gotten behind on work because of the weather and has spent several days at home that he needed to be out working. I've lived here 24 years, and I've never seen snow like we've gotten this year. I heard today that this is the most snow we've seen this early in the season for 90 years!
Even so- He wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

[wirenut]

I currently live in Huntington Beach (So. California). My best friend took a job at Rocky Flats (huge raise) and moved to Evergreen about 7 years ago. He's an IT guy, so outside weather isn't much of a problem for him. I, on the other hand, am an Electrical Contractor (tools on much of the time) and, like your husband, work outside. Last week, the house next door came on the market. It looks like it already sold (rats!) but it got our attention. Being a working owner, I am out in the field much of the time and the weather is the main thing holding me back. I'm flying out Friday morning to scout it out (no family, just me) to see if it's really for me. After stumbling onto your message about how rough it is on your husband, I'm getting second thoughts. Having to rebuild a business is bad enough. Freezing my #@$ off while doing it? Hmmmm... If you (or he) have any input, I'm all ears.

[vfrpilot]

CO mom-
I was born on Maui and grew up in SoCal. I live in Monument now and love our life here. But I don't have to work outside for a living. I don't mind clearing the driveway, playing with our daughter, or snowboarding, but I wouldn't like working out in the cold for hours. I think any sane person would prefer to work when it's 70 degrees. The really cold weather usually doesn't last that long though. But it's hard to know how your husband will take the cold. When I was living in San Diego it was very hard to imagine what would make a person put up with the CO winters. I thought they were all kidding themselves. After spending a bunch of time during the 2 years before we moved up here, I discovered:
1) the winters were not as bad as I thought> the previous posts explain scientifically why.
2)the benefits far out weigh the winter weather
3)the other approximately 9 months are pretty darn nice.
This is my .02 and it may or maynot work for you guys.
Mahalo,
Paul

[McGowdog]

It's been a while since I actually had to work outside during the winter. 40 and sunny is pretty nice for sure! But when it's 20 and below and windy, it sux. You wear gloves or keep your hands in your pockets a lot and take breaks around some kind of fire or heat source or you go inside.

As mike says, when it gets really bad, you don't work that day but may have to work a Saturday or a Sunday to make it up.

Get real. From the cold or not, when it gets cold, even smokers don't like to smoke outside. The tough ones smoke out in their barn with their propane space heaters going.