Fort Collins in Winter (home, neighborhood, property taxes)

[Yukichon]

We look pretty certain to be moving from England and one of the main reasons I am excited is winter. Here in Hertfordshire (just outside London), our winters are generally quite mild and we are lucky to get a few days of snow, and even then our snow in the UK is laden with water so it's very heavy and wet. If we get more than 2or 3 inches the whole blimmin country comes to a stop. It's pathetic to be honest. I am looking forward to dry crisp winters spent in the foothills, skiing and hiking.
Can you guys tell me when the season begins to turn cold and what sort of winter fun you can have as a family?
Also what is the local council like at clearing paths and roads etc to keep everything going?

Thanks

[Tallguy66]

Your answers will vary here because the snowfall does also. Last winter we barely had a day with snow in the streets, yet the mountains were getting punished. Some years we won't get snow until March, but it could be a few feet. You never know. As far as removal, they do a pretty good job, but don't get too excited if it takes a few days to get streets clear after a considerable storm because, with a slow economy, budgets are tight and snow removal is part of that. As far as what to do with the family, there are plenty of fun places to get out and play in it. The nice thing is that the snow is pretty dry here and you can brush it off instead of having it soak in and feel miserable. One thing to remember here is that we use an ice melter here called mag-chloride. It is great for keeping the roads thawed, but be careful about your car. Any mechanic will tell you that it will eat you car alive if not washed off regularly. Nasty stuff, but saves a lot of lives.

[Mike Weber]

As Tallguy66 said, the weather varies quite a bit, so the activities will, too. Downhill skiing is going to be 2 hours from Fort Collins in a good day, but if there have been recent storms, cross country skiing can be as close as the street in from of your home, the nearest park, or the local foothills. A local group has a portable grooming device to prepare cross country ski tracks in local parks on a random basis.

The streets department is responsible for clearing the streets of snow and is prepared for storms, so therefore does a pretty good job. The parks department is responsible for clearing the bicycle / recreation paths, and will often have them cleared before some of the roads have been cleared. As for dirt paths, they are not cleared, but the amount of traffic on them packs the snow down and makes hiking easier. The only issue with the packed snow on the trails is that when the weather warms a bit, it becomes icy.

Aside from sledding, snowshoeing, and skiing, winter activities are not that different from summer activities, but with warmer clothing. We cycle, hike, etc year round. The photos from below are all in December and January of various years and within 8 miles of my home on the west side of Fort Collins.

[iheartcle]

I believe FC averages 59 inches of snow per year, last year was a down year with only 28, I believe. If I had it my way it would snow 100 inches this year, but I love the snow and changing seasons.

[Davros]

You can get snow as early as late September and as late as June.

More "normal" years the first snow is around mid-October and the last snow is around early-May.

There will be plenty of snow free days throughout the snow season since it can get quite warm (70 deg. F +) throughout the winter. On those days, the landscape is brown, which is frankly the dominant color in winter.

Up in the mountains the snow season is longer and the snow cover is more permanent.

[Yukichon]

I've beekeeping an eye on the weather in FoCo, and you guys seem to be very warm at the moment? We are in the 50's most days this time of year

[Davros]

Originally Posted by Yukichon

I've beekeeping an eye on the weather in FoCo, and you guys seem to be very warm at the moment? We are in the 50's most days this time of year

Yes, it can be either hot or cold in the fall.

In the summer it's 80's or 90's most days. The rest of the year, you can't pin down temperatures like that. In Fort Collins you'd be living in a much more up-and-down kind of place as far as temperatures. It's not all that unusual to have a pattern something like this in mid-October ....

High 75 Low 40 High 52 Low 33 High 34 Low 25 High 57 Low 28 High 82 Low 53 High 75 ...

[JukieF]

Fort Collins doesn't do a very good job of clearing the streets, IMHO. I lived in FC for a total of 18 years, and there were lots of times when the local streets were NEVER cleared, even after a 3' snowfall. I moved to New Hampshire two years ago, and I can't believe the difference. Now THESE people know how to deal with snow! They don't just clear the main arteries, they clear all the city streets. And after they plow the road and throw snow up on your sidewalk, they come back through and clear the sidewalk. It's pretty amazing. Of course, we pay higher property taxes here than we did in FC, but we also get excellent services like this, plus trash and recycle pickups (at least in my city). I can remember one time, after a particularly bad storm, when we couldn't get out of our FC neighborhood for almost a week. We were one block off a main street (Drake Road), but we couldn't get to it. We had to wait until the sun finally did its work to get out. Fortunately, most of the time, the snow melts pretty quickly and it's not such a big issue. But watch out for the big storms and be prepared to be housebound for a while. :-)

[davemess10]

Originally Posted by JukieF

I can remember one time, after a particularly bad storm, when we couldn't get out of our FC neighborhood for almost a week. We were one block off a main street (Drake Road), but we couldn't get to it. We had to wait until the sun finally did its work to get out. Fortunately, most of the time, the snow melts pretty quickly and it's not such a big issue. But watch out for the big storms and be prepared to be housebound for a while. :-)

YOu and your neighbors couldn't get together and clear the street yourself? In a whole week? No one had a snowblower?

[kick4fun]

@ Mike. I just moved here to the Fort Collins area. You mentioned that skiing was 2 hrs away, where are some great places to go. I've seen Steamboat is about 3 hrs, but I would be interested in some of the other skiing places. Thanks,