The Official Colorado Front Range Weather Thread (Denver, Colorado Springs: new house, subdivision)

[LBear]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

all I know is I want out of here, Colorado is a nice place for the most part, just not for me. The cold is keeping my home from being looked at here in Loveland, and I have it 30K below market. No one wants to take a look in this freeze I guess.

January (winter) is a bad time to sell, especially anywhere that is cold. Phoenix, Arizona has a decent market in January as people escape the cold to find and buy property where it is warm.

[ MOD EDIT: I'll copy & split this posting. Weather portion stays here, housing market part went to the the thread for that issue. ]

[Charles]

I can't post on City-Data when it is in the 60s in Colorado in January.

I'm taking my kids horseback riding.

[ab14asos]

Hi all,
My wife, young daughter and I currently live in Flagstaff Arizona. We moved here last summer from Oklahoma City, OK. I am originally from Arizona and my wife is from the Broomfield, CO area. We hate it here in Flagstaff. The surrounding area is beautiful and there are many outdoor recreational things to do in the area. The city of Flagstaff is just a very trashy area and the cost of living is extremely high. We are planning on moving away from the area within the next few months. We are debating between the Phoenix Metro or Denver Metro (Broomfield/Louisville/Superior). We really don't want to move to Phoenix because of the 100+ degree temps they have for so many months of the year. I have visited the Denver area a couple of times and loved it there.
The Rocky Mountains are amazing. We are both very much into climbing, hiking, mountain biking etc..... My question to all is. "Is the weather really as great as what I hear and have read on here?" On average, how much of the year is the weather nice enough to do outdoor rec activities? Would we be able to hike year round or do the foothills and Front Range receive too much snow to hike and bike? We don't mind the cold and snowy winters as long as they aren't too bad. We hated the winters in Oklahoma City. It would get grey and cloudy and remain that way for weeks at a time. Not to mention all of the ice storms. Flagstaff's winter hasn't been too terribly bad. We've had a bit more snow then what we'd like to have (90 inches so far this winter season). I hear that the snow amounts this winter aren't even as high as normal for the area. It does tend to be sunny here most days, so that makes it nice. I hear that Denver stays pretty sunny year round too. Does the Denver area have that bad of snowfalls usually? I read that the average annual amount for Denver is like 55-60 inches. Is that pretty accurate? We look forward to everyone's advice.

[2bindenver]

spend some time reading http://www.city-data.com/forum/denve...s-updated.html

[wxdunn]

Normal snow in Denver is 61.7" a year. Occasionally we will get a "bigger" storm that brings a foot of snow or more, but that is really the exception. Typically, our heavier snows come in the spring. March and April are two of the three snowiest months, on average. That also means the snow doesn't stick around as long, since the sun is at a higher angle in the sky and the amount of daylight is much greater than mid-winter. Also, with the mountains nearby we get wind blowing downslope that warms in the process. Something that just doesn't happen in the midwest or Oklahoma. Denver experiences a fair amount of sunshine in the winter and due to the dry climate (much like Flagstaff) the colder winter days really don't feel that bad! Now, if you plan on moving to the foothills West of Denver, the snow increases quite a bit...more like 80-90" a year, on average. Plus, the growing season is shorter due to the higher elevation. On February 29 we had a high temperature of 63°. Not bad!

[Katiana]

The 60" of snow per year can be misleading. There are wide swings in the amount of snowfall. This year has been fairly snowy, especially in the mountains. We didn't get what I consider a proper January thaw in the metro area. We often get some quite warm, 60ish weather that month. March seems to be coming in like a lamb, often goes out like a lion. We'll see.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Pettrix

January (winter) is a bad time to sell, especially anywhere that is cold. Phoenix, Arizona has a decent market in January as people escape the cold to find and buy property where it is warm.

[ MOD EDIT: I'll copy & split this posting. Weather portion stays here, housing market part went to the the thread for that issue. ]

sold house, I guess it was not weather, it was football. After superbowl, Bahm. Please don't let it snow on my drive with my Uhaul to AZ.

[rgb123]

It seems pretty unanimous...Denver winter is like some kind of paradise compared to Illinois/Michigan areas. But what about Thunderstorms? I'm attracted to Denver for various reasons, but one thing it seems to have over California is that I sometimes do get bored with the same ol' beautiful weather. What about thunderstorms? I missed those the most in Cali. It seems to me the Denver area would get some pretty good ones....is that so? or would I just need to travel to Nebraska on the weekend!?

[suzco]

Originally Posted by rgb123

It seems pretty unanimous...Denver winter is like some kind of paradise compared to Illinois/Michigan areas. But what about Thunderstorms? I'm attracted to Denver for various reasons, but one thing it seems to have over California is that I sometimes do get bored with the same ol' beautiful weather. What about thunderstorms? I missed those the most in Cali. It seems to me the Denver area would get some pretty good ones....is that so? or would I just need to travel to Nebraska on the weekend!?

We have thunderstorms. Frequently, we have late afternoon thunderstorms in the summer. On occasion, we have thunderstorms with snow.

Best yet, we get rainbows!

[rgb123]

ooohhh thundersnow....my favorite!