Colorado Weather (Denver, Boulder: live, move, average)

[Count David]

I'm not going to provide stats or anything, but OP:

If you are "scared" of things that you may not have experienced before, you probably shouldn't venture out of your comfort zone(s).

You're either up for it, or not. Millions of people live in Colorado, and millions of them survive each and every season just fine. Some just like (or hate) it more than others.

But honestly, I don't think you'll shrivel up or permanently freeze if you experience temps under 30F.

[jim9251]

Here's an idea. Come visit. Visit in February, visit in July. Visit ALL of Colorado, not just the front range west Kansas prairie. Spend some time exploring, go to LOCAL cafes and talk to people who live here. Good luck.

[CO.Native.SW]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

People confuse the term "mild climate" with "mild weather." Compared to, say, Minnesota or Maine, Colorado's lower elevations have a relatively mild climate, meaning that average temperatures, precipitation, snowfall, etc. are fairly "mild"--though "mild" is certainly a subjective term.

Colorado weather, however, is NOT mild--in fact, Colorado weather can be quite extreme, in both variation and event. Not only is Colorado weather history full of extreme events, but extreme weather occurs just about every year in Colorado. Things like massive temperature changes within hours, huge snowfalls, high winds, extreme hailstorms, flash floods, searing drought, etc.--all of those occur in Colorado with relatively frequency. As I read years ago in an article about Colorado weather, "There is nothing 'precious' or 'cute' about Colorado weather." How true.

San Diego, California has pretty mild, benign weather--Colorado ain't that.

Thats true, but how many days a year have huge snowfalls, extreme hail storms, floods, extreme cold? We do get a huge snowfalls (6+ inches) probably 2, 3, maybe 4 times a year. Our huge snowfalls usually melt in a day, two, possibly three days. Would you agree? Also, we do get blizzards (12+ inches) but that probably happens once a year at the max. Most likely every tow or three years, on average. The last time extreme hail happend was the 2010 summer, but thats the worst hail storm i can remember in a long time. Floods are not too big of a concern. I will say that drought is very common in Colorado. However, thats common as well in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, etc. So, maybe were not "MILD" completely, but most of the year its pretty tolerable and confortable weather. Our winters are better than anywhere in the midwest, northeast, northern mountain states. I would take CO winters over Pacific Northwest and the upper southern states winters (Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, etc.) Maybe thats just me.

[pdfsmail]

Colorado weather can be extreme, but like many others have said, it is not as bad as it sounds... I moved to Colorado from the south (Florida) and found that because of the low humidity, it can be 45 degrees outside and I am comfortable with just a light jacket, although it can be windy at times.

One thing that many people don't think of in Colorado along the front range and east has some serious hail storms and tornadoes. I remember once it hailed so much one spring day that it literally looked like it had snowed and the roads were being plowed...

Considering how the lower humidity makes lower temperatures feel warmer than in locations east in winter, the sunny daytimes with temps in the 40s is not bad at all, and when it does snow, it can snow a bunch, but usually melts within a day or 2... Overall much better than places like Ohio, NYC, etc...

[Snarfums]

I have lived in Colorado my whole life, 25 years. I am very, very anxious to get out. I live a bit north of Denver, close to the mountains. Right now, in the middle of April, it's still snowing. Everything is still brown and dead. You will get snow from September through May. There are only 3 months when it is warm and perfect. But unless you love to ski, or be miserable in the cold/blizzards for monhs at a time, then I would not reccommend Colorado.

[AceShopper]

Originally Posted by CO.Native.SW

Trust me when I say that we have mild weather compared to most places in America. I prefer our dry climate. I couldn't stand to live somewhere in the south. It may not get cold in the lower south, but its humid and rains a bunch, and the sunshine hours for southern states are only really abundant in far southern Florida, where you are from. The sun belt in the south (Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Northern Florida) is a lie. Just look the numbers. Even the upper south is uncomfortable for me. It gets cold there, and its humid as well. The Midwest...forget about it LOL. Nothing against the midwest, but the weather is not nice, in my opinion. Sunshine is low in most all areas, it rains way more than the SW, and has frequent extended periods of cold. The Northeast??? Its too humid for me, and snows like crazy. Also, the snow in these other areas does not melt very quickly.

You left out your opinion about the Pacific NW

But I agree! We came to the same conclusion as well. NE is snowy, cold in winter and humid in summer. The central "sun belt" states are icy in winter and hot and humid in summer. The southern states have milder winter weather but extreme summer heat (and bugs! ). West coast including PNW is way too expensive, drippy/drizzly in winter and earthquake prone (personal fear). So finally, we might be headed to Denver where we get our snow fix in winter but it does not stick around on the ground for long, we get hot summers with low humidity (with few bugs from what I read). And the whole public transportation expansion projects will make a huge difference once gas goes beyond $5+ a gallon.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by AceShopper

And the whole public transportation expansion projects will make a huge difference once gas goes beyond $5+ a gallon.

"Huge difference"? That's very laughable, but in a very sad way. I hate to admit it about my home state, but Colorado is hopelessly far behind many areas of the country in developing workable mass transit. The current light rail projects that are being built won't even get Denver back even close to where it was with public mass transit in about 1920.

Contrast what metro Denver even has on the drawing boards for commuter rail with what the Wasatch Front in Utah (that has about half the population of the Front Range) already has in place, and the contrast becomes pretty clear. Colorado is barely talking about commuter rail going anywhere outside of metro Denver; Utah already has it from Salt Lake City to Ogden, and will have it from SLC to Provo by 2013; UTA's westward extension of light rail will likely be up and running before Denver's, as well.

Bottom line: metro Colorado is a sprawled out loser when it comes to having either a living arrangement or a transit system that will work in the difficult years ahead--and it is way late (and way broke) in the game to ever get it built. A shocking and despicable lack of foresight.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

The dominant weather pattern in Florida is humid summer weather.

The dominant weather pattern in Colorado is dry windy winter weather.

Colorado is at the crossroads of several seasonal weather patterns and the mountain elevation plays a major part in weather in CO. Compared to other states with more predictable weather patterns, it's more extreme in CO. Even in Denver you can get some cool days in summer(60's 70's) and some warm days in winter(50's 60's) but for a lot of the year it will be cool and the wind can play a major part in how things feel.

I would say if you enjoy the south florida beach weather, Colorado is not for you. However if you are open to cooler weather and weather extremes, then it is worth looking into.

I like to say it can be 70 on New Year's Day and 70 on the 4th of July. I looked it up once, and it has never been 70 on Jan. 1, but there have been Jan. days in the 70s. Never checked out the 4th of July temps, but some years it's been cool and rainy. (It's my daughter's birthday, so I kind of remember it from year to year.)

Originally Posted by CO.Native.SW

Rarely above 90 degrees in CO??? Pueblo averages 69 days of 90 or more in the summer, and about 9 days of 100 or more. Denver has about 25-35 days of 90 or more as well.

Well, Mike lives in the Springs. The average high for July in Denver is 89, and for Boulder it's 87. That means a lot of 90+ degree days.

Originally Posted by jazzlover

"Huge difference"? That's very laughable, but in a very sad way. I hate to admit it about my home state, but Colorado is hopelessly far behind many areas of the country in developing workable mass transit. The current light rail projects that are being built won't even get Denver back even close to where it was with public mass transit in about 1920.

Contrast what metro Denver even has on the drawing boards for commuter rail with what the Wasatch Front in Utah (that has about half the population of the Front Range) already has in place, and the contrast becomes pretty clear. Colorado is barely talking about commuter rail going anywhere outside of metro Denver; Utah already has it from Salt Lake City to Ogden, and will have it from SLC to Provo by 2013; UTA's westward extension of light rail will likely be up and running before Denver's, as well.

Bottom line: metro Colorado is a sprawled out loser when it comes to having either a living arrangement or a transit system that will work in the difficult years ahead--and it is way late (and way broke) in the game to ever get it built. A shocking and despicable lack of foresight.

The last time I was in SLC, they had the worst air pollution I have ever seen, and on a Sunday, no less. I don't think they're the ones we should be comparing ourselves to.

[Neditate]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I like to say it can be 70 on New Year's Day and 70 on the 4th of July. I looked it up once, and it has never been 70 on Jan. 1, but there have been Jan. days in the 70s.

You can find Boulder data here: Boulder Colorado Climatology: Daily records of Temperature and Snowfall
It was 70 on Jan. 1 & 2, 1997. Lots of 70 degree days in January throughout the years.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Neditate

You can find Boulder data here: Boulder Colorado Climatology: Daily records of Temperature and Snowfall
It was 70 on Jan. 1 & 2, 1997. Lots of 70 degree days in January throughout the years.

Well, I'll be darned! I think my source was the Weather Underground. TY!

Too bad it doesn't list the lowest highs; then I could check 4th of July. Anyway, we've had plenty of swimmng parties for DD at the local rec center instead of outdoors, over the years.