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Old 04-26-2009, 12:33 PM
 
Location: North Texas
7 posts, read 44,384 times
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We are looking to uproot from the Dallas, TX area for health reasons; we have to escape the extreme heat and bad conditions for allergies. We also want to find a place to live kind out in the country, away from all the people and noise of the suburbs. It looks like there is a lot of nice land for sale around the Ft. Collins area. I have just 2 questions:
1) Are the summers mild? It looks like June-August only get up to the mid 80s, not ideal, but far better than the deadly 90-100+ heat and high humidity of N. Texas.
2) What do people consider to be "room temperature" in the Ft. Collins area? This makes a huge difference to me because here, people seem to prefer indoor temps closer to 75F, and with the higher humidity, it makes heat sensitive folks pretty miserable. Even when the weather cools down to the 50s or low 60s, you can't enjoy it, because the native Texans all whine, shiver and hug their arms and crank the heat up to 74 or something.
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Old 04-26-2009, 12:46 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,318,490 times
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Well, I wouldn't call the summers anywhere along the Front Range "mild". If you look at this link, you will see the "average" highs in July are in the upper 80s. that means a number of days well above that. One thing you won't get is the high humidity of Texas, but "dry" heat can be hot, too.

I can't comment on the cultural norm for room temp up there; here in metro Denver I'd say it's around 70 during the day, many people set their thermostats down to 65-68 at night.

Typical Weather for Fort Collins, CO - Normal High / Low / Average Temperature for Fort Collins, CO (http://www.accuweather.com/us/co/fort%20collins/80521/forecast-normals.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&zipChg= 1&metric=0 - broken link)
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Old 04-26-2009, 02:01 PM
 
169 posts, read 670,861 times
Reputation: 68
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dizzwhiz View Post
We are looking to uproot from the Dallas, TX area for health reasons; we have to escape the extreme heat and bad conditions for allergies. We also want to find a place to live kind out in the country, away from all the people and noise of the suburbs. It looks like there is a lot of nice land for sale around the Ft. Collins area. I have just 2 questions:
1) Are the summers mild? It looks like June-August only get up to the mid 80s, not ideal, but far better than the deadly 90-100+ heat and high humidity of N. Texas.
2) What do people consider to be "room temperature" in the Ft. Collins area? This makes a huge difference to me because here, people seem to prefer indoor temps closer to 75F, and with the higher humidity, it makes heat sensitive folks pretty miserable. Even when the weather cools down to the 50s or low 60s, you can't enjoy it, because the native Texans all whine, shiver and hug their arms and crank the heat up to 74 or something.
I moved from Southern Louisiana so I came from the same climate. IMO the summers will be more comfortable due to the very low humidity. Also you will not get very hot summers (like Phoenix). However, there are days in the 90s and a few days that hit low 100s so it isn't perfect even though most days are in the 80s. The good news is that shade and perspiration work in this climate so you can grab a tree and be very comfortable. Spring and Fall are even nicer since you get 60-70s during the day and with the low humidity = very nice. For me the humidity is the killer, so I think you would enjoy the outdoors much more - I know I do.

In general my thought is that unless you can move to southern CA (which has the perfect climate) CO is a second best option here in the West. If you want to go east, NC I think is worth a look too if you are looking for 4 seasons and less humidity (still more humidity than CO though).

Regarding #2, not sure what you mean exactly. Many people do without A/C here in the summer if that is any clue. The cool nights are really nice. With the low humidity, temps between 40-80 are comfortable to me. In the south the wet cold could be nasty


Take a trip here in the summer and see for yourself
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Old 04-26-2009, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,318,490 times
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Here is the weather data from last July:

History : Weather Underground

Here are the record highs and lows for July:

History : Weather Underground
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Old 04-26-2009, 08:30 PM
 
Location: Denver
4,564 posts, read 10,931,864 times
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We moved from Dallas 10 years ago. If you are hoping to escape heat during the summer, then you will be disappointed. It gets hot here. Sometimes I wonder where the "averages" come from - but as Katiana pointed out - they are JUST averages.

Yes, there is much less humidity here and the nights are cool. But the sun is incredibly intense. Hot is hot.

When we first moved here we had no A.C. I don't know - I guess we got old and less tolerant and we eventually put it in. Partly because the dust/allergy situation. It is extremely dry here and my husband, who had no allergies in Texas, has them here. If we had the windows open and we had a wind event, the house was filled with dust.

Do we like the weather better here then Dallas? Without a doubt - but we didn't move here for that reason. The weather here has it's own set of issues. Sometimes the wind can put me over the edge.
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Old 04-26-2009, 09:15 PM
 
2,756 posts, read 12,943,741 times
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I like our front range summers, although mild isn't the probably word for them. Since they're relatively short, I don't mind a bit of heat and intense sun for a few weeks (usually there's a few cool days interspersed even in July). Usually, there's a handful of days in the high 90s or low 100s, almost always in July. Even then, the lows will be quite pleasant, usually in the 60s at the highest, but often in the 50s or even the 40s.

A/C, whether evaporative or mechanical, is not universally used here in Colorado, but in July especially there's going to a be a few days, at least, where you'll be really happy you have it. Plenty of people get by just fine with NO A/C at all, though. Without AC, you can take advantage of the always-cool nights to air out your house (a whole house fan, if you have it, works very well in this regard -- you can open your windows and run the fan for a few minutes as it sucks all the air out of the house, replacing it with the cool outdoor air).
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Old 04-26-2009, 10:41 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,318,490 times
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If you are gone all day and your house is closed up, it won't get too hot during the day, and you can probably rely on opening the windows to cool it off in the evening. However, if you/your kids are home during the day, the house will get hot from the coming and going, and doesn't always cool off in the evening. We have a big room air conditioner in our kitchen, which cools the parts of the house we use in the evening (kitchen, dining room, family room). We usually rely on the windows at night, unless it's extremely hot. We have second story bedrooms and heat does rise.

Another reason for having an A/C or swamp cooler is, as someone said, allergies.

It seems like most new homes come with A/C (at least that's what my patients tell me).
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Old 04-28-2009, 11:33 PM
BGF
 
57 posts, read 203,131 times
Reputation: 44
I heard the same "you don't need AC in Colorado" advice when I bought my first condo in Fort Collins. Big mistake. I bought a brand new unit that faced the front range which meant no shade and direct sun in the afternoon. It got unbearably hot. I tried swamp cooler, fans in the basement, and shades. I finally broken down and bought central AC after 3 summers. It was the best investment I have ever made. It certainly made the condo a lot easier to sell.

If you have an older house in a wooded neighborhood, and you don't have kids or pets that must remain cool during the day, then perhaps you can get away with having no AC thought what you would do over long weekends can be a problem.
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Old 04-29-2009, 01:44 PM
 
Location: USA
1,546 posts, read 2,946,016 times
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It all depends on how you define hot. The maximum average high temperature for the year is 86-87 in July. To me that's fairly tame but then I like hot weather. Remember that that is a dry 87 (I've never known the humidity to be high enough in Fort Collins to increase the heat index at all). Part of the problem with AC is that a lot of people don't adjust it to turn a hot house or business into a warm house (ie. upper 70's to 80). Rather, they practice overkill (assuming room temperature is the same as in winter) which makes it harder to adjust to the heat. If you are used to excessive chilling in the summer then you'll probably be uncomfortable in a non-air conditioned house.
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Old 04-29-2009, 06:35 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,318,490 times
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The record highs in July for Ft. Collins vary from 96 to 102. Last summer, there were 18 days in July >90, with 12 of these days > 95. There was one day <80 degrees, and 3 others under 85. (See the links I posted previously.) The average high for July was 91, close to the norm. This is hot. I will say, there is a difference between a day when it gets up to 90 by 1 PM, then clouds over and doesn't get any hotter, and a day when there are no clouds in the sky and it gets hotter and hotter all afternoon.
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