For people who hate winter (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resorts, closing, living)

[80skeys]

It's definitely easier to tolerate when the sun is out.

[xeric]

It makes a big difference to me. Especially since I have lots of windows in my south-facing living room and it can get into the upper seventies in there on even the coldest winter days as long as the sun is out. But I agree with vegas about those other locales being much better in the winter for sun lovers. Not only are the days longer, but the sun is at a higher angle as well. In fact I read an interview with a dermatologist studying vitamin D deficiency who found that the sun provides no vitamin D at all in winter at latitudes above that of Atlanta, Georgia.

[LisaCACO]

I totally hate winter but love colorado. I grew up in California (southern) but went to college back east and lived in Massachusetts for a while before moving back to CA.

omg, it's so much better when the sun's out and the sky's not depressing. it even feels better here because it's dry rather than wet. love winter here. if it's gotta be cold, better here than anywhere else. .

I will always be a beach gal, but I can deal with winter here.

(I remember living in RI and it was always overcast and rainy. so depressing. gotta have sun!!!)

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by lpfan921

Does the sun make a difference in your mood during the winter months? I currently live in PA where it is cold, rainy and overcast during the winter. From what I have heard, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and other western states can be very cold, probably a bit colder than the east, but it is usually bright and sunny. Does this make it easier to deal with? Or do you still hate winter about as much as you would in an overcast place?

Hell no. If the temp is below zero or even below freezing, I could care less if it's sunny or not. I'm going to avoid going outside, if I can possibly help it. Unfortunately clouds hold warm air down to the ground. Clear skies allow the warm air to escape. So generally it's either cloudy, or its cold as hell.

OTOH, if you luck-out and get a nice warm sunny day (maybe on 50s) after a lot bad weather, sure it feels great.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by lpfan921

Does the sun make a difference in your mood during the winter months? I currently live in PA where it is cold, rainy and overcast during the winter. From what I have heard, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and other western states can be very cold, probably a bit colder than the east, but it is usually bright and sunny. Does this make it easier to deal with? Or do you still hate winter about as much as you would in an overcast place?

Having lived in central PA and Denver, yes ! Winters in Denver are much easier to deal with than winters in PA. Plus there's much less ROAD SALT--- ick !!!

Now the mountains are another story. If you're living up there, prepare for feet of snow rather than inches. Of the three states you mention, the front range area of Colorado (Denver area) probably has the easiest winters to deal with.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

But there are also many gloomy, overcast days in the winter too.

If you had ever lived in central Pennsylvania, you wouldn't say that.

And especially when there's no fresh snow on the ground, Denver can be a pretty ugly, dirty place in the winter.

Yeah, but at least when you walk around in a snow storm in the Denver areas, your boots don't get white with road salt. Yuck !!! Also, there is no sleet or freezing rain (only graupel and rarely freezing drizzle) in Denver.

Surprisingly, the gloomiest, most depressing winter I've ever personally experienced was this last winter in Reno, NV-- which is a high desert climate at the exact, same latitude as Denver, slightly lower elevation, also just east of a major mountain range, and statistically much less precipitation and snow. Go figure?

The winters are by far the wet season in the Pacific Northwest. Reno is close enough to be in that pattern, even though they aren't getting as much precip.

So if you hate a gloomy and "wet" winter and suffer from SAD Denver is likely to be a major improvement over PA.

I can almost guarantee that. The only benefit of PA's winter over Denver's is it's shorter (unless you're a former citizen of Bradford, PA, in which case you'll be pleased to find that the winter is hardly any longer in Denver).

But a place like Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, or southern California would be better yet.

Can't argue there ...

[Davros]

Originally Posted by OneMoreMove

The average doesn't tell you that 'more often than not' it will be 40s-50-s during the day. It tells you the average of all temperatures, without regards to distribution. Also, keep in mind that with Denver's dry climate, there can be big temperature swings as the sun sets/rises, etc.

Yeah, the difference between average daily low and high temperatures is greater in Denver than in the east.

You are right that an average high of 47 in January says that the average of all high temperatures in January is 47. It just so happens that a majority of days the high temperature is in the 40s and 50s. Therefore, Katiana is right too, even though it would be possible to have an average of 47 without that being the case. I'll explain that in more detail below (medians versus means, normal versus skewed probability distributions)

You have to be careful when using 'average' temps in a place with such temperature fluctuation. Last January I remember it getting cold night after night for long periods, but I also remember a few very warm afternoons. The average and the mean must be considered.

The average is the mean. Perhaps you meant median (the 50th percentile temperature), which is going to be about the same as the average/mean if the temperature distribution follow a bell curve (normal curve).

The average high in Denver in January is 43, the average low is 15. From my estimation, the average January in Denver will see highs ranging from 5 to 60, and lows ranging from -5 to 30. You will see lows as low as say -20 an occasional year, and a high as much as 75. This is a somewhat skewed distribution, so you are right. The median will be somewhat different from the mean. In fact, I think the median will be somewhat higher than the mean in this case, since the distribution skews further to the left than to the right. Therefore, as Katiana said, the majority of days tend to have highs somewhere around 45-50 and lows somewhere around 20.

Very cold may be 'in the eye of the beholder' to some, but to me it's really a simple matter of looking at what the temperature is. There are degrees of 'cold', but below freezing is certainly cold

True. To me 10-20 degrees feels the worst. Below that and it starts getting numbing.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by OneMoreMove

I'm not saying it's brutal. I have survived some brutal winters in my day and Denver is not that bad. But, being a warm-weather fan I am amazed at how defensive Denverites are at the idea of Denver being cold at all. It's not the most brutal winter, and the sun shines a lot, but it's a full-blown winter with lots of snow, ice, freezing temps, cold wind, etc.

I think the thing that gets out of staters about the Denver winter is that it is long. People from the east don't understand seeing snow in May. Long time local Denverites are used to it.

The snowiest months in Denver are March, April, and November. Lots of easterners can't shake the idea that --- hey, it's April. The birds are chirping. It's not supposed to snow !!!

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Davros

I think the thing that gets out of staters about the Denver winter is that it is long. People from the east don't understand seeing snow in May. Long time local Denverites are used to it.

The snowiest months in Denver are March, April, and November. Lots of easterners can't shake the idea that --- hey, it's April. The birds are chirping. It's not supposed to snow !!!

This is what got to me. I am a long-time local who finally left after 30-odd years.

We visited Denver this spring. It was the first week of May and we had a wonderful time; everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather (and it *was* beautiful) and talking about the long winter.

The following week, May 11th or 12th, it snowed in Denver.

Of course, you always want the moisture--just not in that form.
Birds are nesting, gardeners are hoping to put out their tomatoes--instead you are scraping your windshield and knocking snow off branches.

That's the trade-off: Plenty of sun to dispel winter depression, but it is tempered with spring (and sometimes autumn) snowfall.

[LisaCACO]

that's true, it is crazy weather. if you come from a place with consistency, you'll be shocked. oh and it's hard to plant anything. we've been trying to plant a tree, but spring ran right past us. it was always snowing. guess I'll plant in the fall, assuming we have one .