I HATE this weather! (Denver, Windsor: condo, car, Walmart)

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

why are you attacking Lbear. If I had read this post a year ago, I would have saved over 50K. Thats what it cost me to fix my mistake and "Live somewhere else" This and other threads like it are not really for those who LOVE the weather. Its for folks like me that want to hear a point of view from someone who is not trying to get my money, like a school district, or Realtor. I read all the anti posts on phoenix weather, and decided the pos out weight the neg. At least I could go somewhere and read the negs. Im glad you like the ICE.

Lbear, Phoenix is your place, we will see you when you get here. Bring some sun tan lotion and a swim suit.

Man there are all these foxy ladies here walking around in skimpy clothing...Im having such a tough time here

As has been said before, anyone can look up weather stats. Perhaps before you relocated to Denver you should have done what you did when you relocated to Phoenix. Read all the pros and cons. There are many threads about weather here on the Denver/Colorado forums, not to mention umpteen weather websites. And LBear is not being, well, nice. S/he uses all caps and bolds and 'screams' at us a lot.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by tfox

Well, for a former job assignment I did spend a lot of time in Phoenix, and my experience was that a "typical" day from about mid-November to March 1st was in the 60s, and occasionally in the 40s-50s, and sometimes up into the 70s. Does that mean that the 'Zonies are freezing to death in their best weather? Maybe so. I thought it was great that time of year.

Yep-- that's the truth. No joke, but I've seen people there wear sweatshirts when it's 80 degrees out. I've seen people turn on the heater in their cars at night when it's in the upper 60s outside. There was one day last December when it was probably around 67, 68 degrees, and no joke, I saw someone in a Wal-Mart parking lot walk from her car to the store wearing a jacket, earmuffs, and mittens. I remember parties there at night when the weather might have been in the low 50s or upper 40s and native Phoenicians looked like they were freezing. If you think I'm making this up, just read through the archives of some of the last few weeks and months on the Phoenix forum, whenever the subject of weather comes up. There is one poster there (who I actually like, bless his/her heart) who openly admits to turning the heater in his/her house on when the thermostat is anything less than 80 degrees. I don't know whether your blood thins or what when you live in Phoenix, but it's a little weird. As McGowDog says, at least people in SoCal are used to having cool nights. In Phoenix, the nights are actually warm for at least half of the year. When you live in Phoenix, you actually forget what it feels like to be cold for more than half of the year.

I was fairly lukewarm (no pun intended) about Phoenix generally, and that included its weather. Weather is beautiful for part of the year, hellish for part of the year, and kind of on-again-off-again in-between. For my part, the weather was neither nice enough to make me want to live there for that reason but not so bad that I would rule the place out based on weather alone, much like Denver's weather actually. I loved Arizona, outside Phoenix anyway, but Phoenix seemed to offer little more than just the opportunity to live in Arizona and a launching pad for exploring a beautiful state. The city itself just doesn't really have anything to draw you in; just miles and miles of sameness, imagine a much larger Denver Metro with no Denver or Boulder and that's pretty much what you have in Phoenix.

Yep, you pretty much summed up how I feel about Phoenix too. Although to be fair, Tempe, even though it's a separate city, acts as a kind of second urban center for Phoenix. Scottsdale has a lot going for it too; Old Town Scottsdale is kind of like Cherry Creek Mall/ Cherry Creek north, but with more nightlife and geared more towards a younger audience (at least at night). They are making baby steps to improve downtown and central Phoenix, but it's happening at a snail's pace compared to what's going on in Denver. Their new lightrail system might help a bit. Meanwhile though, the sprawl is at a pace that makes the development of the Denver metro area in the 1990s look slow. Tucson is also an interesting place. Tucson is about as far from Phoenix as Pueblo is from Denver, and the city is like if you fused Pueblo with the suburban parts of Colorado Springs, kept the air force base, and added in CU Boulder (but left out all the other parts of Boulder).

[jkcoop]

Originally Posted by LBear

[u]All I ask is that REAL DATA be used and not backyard readings when describing Denver's weather or any cities weather for that matter.

Actually I would love to have backyard data as to me that is a truer picture for everyday life.
The weather can vary so much from city to city along the front range. There are so many variables.
For example, here in Longmont, we have what I call the "doughnut" effect. My husband and I thought it was all in our heads when we moved here until we read an article in the local paper explaining why Longmont seems to miss much of the snow, while surrounding areas get pounded.
It's because we are not close enough to the foothills to get that snow (like Boulder) and not far enough out in the plains to get that snow.
We live in a bit of a river basin here and it always gets colder. We've had friends comment on the huge temperature difference sometimes when leaving our house and going home to Superior.
Those are the kind of "everyday" things that are good to hear about. There are many, many micro climates along the front range in my opinion.....

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Katiana

As has been said before, anyone can look up weather stats. Perhaps before you relocated to Denver you should have done what you did when you relocated to Phoenix. Read all the pros and cons. There are many threads about weather here on the Denver/Colorado forums, not to mention umpteen weather websites. And LBear is not being, well, nice. S/he uses all caps and bolds and 'screams' at us a lot.

Yep thats for sure. I used my bad experience of Colorado as a guide, and did my homework this time. No one here in Phoenix (on city-data), has denied that it gets HOT here. Hey, its my fault, I admit it. I think being a Bronco Fan had something to do with it too. And then there was that damn John Denver song...you know: Rocky Mountain Lies...colorado.... WHo wouldnt want to move to a state with a song that pretty.

[FoRuMRideR420]

i wish it would snow tonight and temperatures would drop to below zero just so everyone would be mad........

[LBear]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Yep-- that's the truth. No joke, but I've seen people there wear sweatshirts when it's 80 degrees out. I've seen people turn on the heater in their cars at night when it's in the upper 60s outside.

The reason for the above is actually a physiological response of the human body. When the human body is subjected to high temperatures for a long time, the body will begin to adapt to the high temperatures. That is why when it does drop to temps below 80F, the body feels "cold" and people turn on heaters at night when it is 60F.

It is no fault of the people themselves, it is just the human body reacting to the climate they live in. Just in the same way if someone from Denver went to AZ when it was cold in Denver, they would be very hot in Arizona when it was 90F, while most Arizona's would not even blink at 90F. Over time, they would adapt to the climate.

Of course, 110F is still 110F and precautions must be kept when in the desert.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by LBear

The reason for the above is actually a physiological response of the human body. When the human body is subjected to high temperatures for a long time, the body will begin to adapt to the high temperatures. That is why when it does drop to temps below 80F, the body feels "cold" and people turn on heaters at night when it is 60F.

It is no fault of the people themselves, it is just the human body reacting to the climate they live in. Just in the same way if someone from Denver went to AZ when it was cold in Denver, they would be very hot in Arizona when it was 90F, while most Arizona's would not even blink at 90F. Over time, they would adapt to the climate.

Of course, 110F is still 110F and precautions must be kept when in the desert.

Very true. I moved here from L.A. a couple years ago and out there, your body feels cold when you get a winter day with highs in the 50s. Once I went to a seminar in March at a Disneyland hotel and there were spring breakers out running around in swimming suits, swimming, soaking up the sun, etc. I was wearing a coat because it was only 70 degrees and just seeing them, they looked like they must be freezing, but I'm sure they were all from a cold climate. Or just a couple weeks ago, I was freezing here in Denver and wore my parka to walk the dog, although it was 58 degrees. My body has already adjusted to warmer weather.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by FoRuMRideR420

i wish it would snow tonight and temperatures would drop to below zero just so everyone would be mad........

Its Spring, it wouldnt do that....oh wait...its Colorado

[McGowdog]

For me, when it's mid to late spring and we have that first 80° day, I'm miserably hot. In the summer, that would be a cool day for sure.

When I was out in Virginia in the summer of 86, I remember the Grease Man comin' on the radio and saying It's 6:00am and it's 80°. 80° already! It was so humid there that 90°-95° was hellishly hot. But I was young. I was a kid and I was in shape. No shirt all day long! But I had to wear jeans and work boots.



That's literally where I worked most of the summer. But there was no lawn and landscaping there at the time. Just dirt. And lumber. I'd rip the lumber and paint exterior Cetol on the wood for protection against rot-due to the humidity.

I adapted! I went out there weighing 165 and came back weighing 132. Muscle and Bones man!


Then in the fall, like right when college football starts, there's this erie day when it's kind of windy and the temp dips down to 50° for the first time...and it's cold! It could be 50° every night all summer long and it seems cool, but no need for anything but a t-shirt and shorts, right? But when it's only 50° with the sun out, it just feels cold.

I say it's psychological. Some people are on the psychological edge of Wuss Cliff.

[LBear]

Speaking of which, a HUGE tornado just hit Greeley and/or Fort Lupton. Hopefully nobody was hurt or killed. The sirens are going off.

Weld County is under a tornado warning and Adams County is under a tornado watch. All of Denver is under a severe thunderstorm watch until 8PM.

But the naysayers will come and say this is rare but the data shows Colorado to be in tornado alley. Yet the guy with his Wal Mart instruments will come back and say he's never seen a tornado. Yet NOAA has recorded 150 tornadoes in Adams County and 227 tornadoes in Weld County since 1950. Make that 228 with todays tornado.

227 tornadoes in Weld County (228 with todays)
150 tornadoes in Adams County
76 tornadoes in Arapahoe County
52 tornadoes in Douglas County
13 tornadoes in Jefferson County (with an F2 in 1981 causing 2.5 million in damage)

A grand total of 1,674 (1,675 after today) tornadoes since 1950 have been officially reported in Colorado. How many get UNREPORTED is estimated to be around a couple hundred (200-300).