Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't see what the big deal is. If you're retired, you can easily plan for it.
Yep. it's not exactly something that jumps up and hits you without any warning. Well, maybe I'm wrong on that one. Every time the news starts ramping people up about the next NE blizzard (often still days away) they show footage of empty store isles and shoppers searching pitifully for the basics they should already own...you know, boots, hats, gloves, shovels, warm coats, and the most basic groceries. Do those folks live under a rock or something?
I agree with some of the posters about the snow and being retired. Unless you live somewhere which gets so much snow that you are stuck indoors for weeks at a time, I don't see what the big deal is. If you're retired, you can easily plan for it. You should have plenty of food in the house and there is no need to go outside or drive anywhere. Why can't you just
I sit back and enjoy looking outside and seeing the snowfall in your nice warm house?
I lived in Johnstown, CO in the late 80's, worked at a nearby power plant. At that time we did occasionally get surprised by a snowstorm, but, anymore, you should get enough warning on your smart phone, or NOAA weather radio, so that you don't get blindsided.
So I agree with Marino here - if you are retired, and OK with just staying home for a few days, like 2 or 3 max, you should be fine.
My memory of Johnstown is that the snow would sometimes come in up to a foot at a time, but that the sun came out soon after, and that the roads would be melted off within say 3 days max.
You may want to consider a somewhat cheaper location, either in CO, or maybe WY, ID, parts of MT, so you can do better than rent an apartment, IMHO. Loveland is close enough to Denver that you do have people commuting, and that drives up property values. That and in my mind Colorado has got too "Californicated" for my taste anyway. I enjoyed my time there, but would not go back.
For everyone’s info, the reason we have to rent an apartment is that, financially, buying housing just can’t happen. That’s it.
I don’t think anyone in the Loveland/FC area would drive to Denver for work. Fort Collins, yes, but Denver’s not close.
Actually, the winters in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho can be worse than where we plan on being. The Loveland yearly snowfall average is 41 inches. That’s good compared to 66 inches in Parker, where we had a house.
I also don’t think many folks move to Colorado for what we want to move back for......rodeo action, freshwater lakes, elk “rut” and other things.
Yep. it's not exactly something that jumps up and hits you without any warning. Well, maybe I'm wrong on that one. Every time the news starts ramping people up about the next NE blizzard (often still days away) they show footage of empty store isles and shoppers searching pitifully for the basics they should already own...you know, boots, hats, gloves, shovels, warm coats, and the most basic groceries. Do those folks live under a rock or something?
Well, I'm planning on moving to a place which gets average 16" of snow per year. I have no plans on being snowbound for weeks at a time and even so, I'll keep my food supply well stocked. I'm looking forward to living with some snow as a retiree but not an overboard amount of it.
I lived in Johnstown, CO in the late 80's, worked at a nearby power plant. At that time we did occasionally get surprised by a snowstorm, but, anymore, you should get enough warning on your smart phone, or NOAA weather radio, so that you don't get blindsided.
So I agree with Marino here - if you are retired, and OK with just staying home for a few days, like 2 or 3 max, you should be fine.
My memory of Johnstown is that the snow would sometimes come in up to a foot at a time, but that the sun came out soon after, and that the roads would be melted off within say 3 days max.
You may want to consider a somewhat cheaper location, either in CO, or maybe WY, ID, parts of MT, so you can do better than rent an apartment, IMHO. Loveland is close enough to Denver that you do have people commuting, and that drives up property values. That and in my mind Colorado has got too "Californicated" for my taste anyway. I enjoyed my time there, but would not go back.
I put in 11 years in 3 different decades on different assignments at that same plant-The Ft. St. Vrain Plant. There is nothing, I mean nothing as squirrelly as snowstorms 40 miles south of Denver and 40 miles north of Denver. In early March of 1989 a whopper of a storm came over Longs Peak and Estes Park. That front from the northwest collided with a front coming up the front range/Rampart Range mountains.
It started at midnight and kept going for 36 hours. My boss held me and a couple laborers back (I worked for the maintenance sub contractor) Around noon on the first day we got a call from a resident halfway between the plant and Johnstown saying that a carload of 4 had hiked a quarter mile to their house. Those guys were all laborers who lived in Loveland, their car had slid off into the ditch.
My boss went out on a front end loader and picked up the guys and literally hauled the guys in the bucket of that loader. He had the bucket down and left the site, plowed the snow, picked up the 4 guys and turned the bucket up where 2 guys could ride in it with the other 2 squeezed in the cab. And headed back to the site. In the meanwhile the PSC cafeteria was closed and locked. I took my Dodge Powerwagon and bought hot dinners at the DoubleTree Restaurant in Platteville, five miles south of the plant, so at least we had some dinner, didn't have any lunch. I was lucky as C-Dot had just plowed that county road.
That part of Colorado gets those type of storms every winter, and trust me, the ones in mid March to mid April are the worst ones.
If anything were to happen to my wife, I would consider returning to Ohio because as much as I despise the cold now, I seriously miss the changing seasons.
We are in a similar situation and plan to retire in a snowy area but are looking for someplace that has many conveniences within walking distance -- grocery store, church, library, eating places. We don't want to be cooped up indoors for days on end and have to risk driving in poor conditions.
I put in 11 years in 3 different decades on different assignments at that same plant-The Ft. St. Vrain Plant. There is nothing, I mean nothing as squirrelly as snowstorms 40 miles south of Denver and 40 miles north of Denver. In early March of 1989 a whopper of a storm came over Longs Peak and Estes Park. That front from the northwest collided with a front coming up the front range/Rampart Range mountains.
It started at midnight and kept going for 36 hours. My boss held me and a couple laborers back (I worked for the maintenance sub contractor) Around noon on the first day we got a call from a resident halfway between the plant and Johnstown saying that a carload of 4 had hiked a quarter mile to their house. Those guys were all laborers who lived in Loveland, their car had slid off into the ditch.
My boss went out on a front end loader and picked up the guys and literally hauled the guys in the bucket of that loader. He had the bucket down and left the site, plowed the snow, picked up the 4 guys and turned the bucket up where 2 guys could ride in it with the other 2 squeezed in the cab. And headed back to the site. In the meanwhile the PSC cafeteria was closed and locked. I took my Dodge Powerwagon and bought hot dinners at the DoubleTree Restaurant in Platteville, five miles south of the plant, so at least we had some dinner, didn't have any lunch. I was lucky as C-Dot had just plowed that county road.
That part of Colorado gets those type of storms every winter, and trust me, the ones in mid March to mid April are the worst ones.
I remember a late season storm where when I left Johnstown, there were just a few flakes in the air. I thought to myself, maybe some wimps will want to take the day off for the snow. Little did I know I would not be making that 8 mile trip to the Fort, even in my old air-cooled Bug, with snows on the rear. Dumped like crazy. It was mostly the rest of day shift, many in big Detroit RWD cars with no snow tires, that got stuck on the road to the plant, such that I was just stuck with non-movers ahead, non-movers behind, and no way to turn around or get past them. Nobody got mad or blamed anybody for not having a snow-qualified rig, the storm came in out of nowhere, so we just took care of each other and didn't worry about assigning any blame.
A few guys with 4WD trucks, particularly the smaller Japanese brands that were more common in the 80's than they are now, who sort of snaked up and down the line, we all just left our cars in the middle of the road, and caught a ride back to Johnstown. I think a couple of guys spent the night on my couch. FSV was that kind of place, you could pretty much leave a co-worker in your house all day alone, and they would take care of it as if it was their house. Of course the midnight shift guys didn't get relieved, the plant ran on, a few guys that had 4WD trucks who could get in, regardless of what shift they were supposed to be on, but they were qualified and could show up, came in and relieved them. It was that kind of a place. If the Sheriff even knew about those cars parked on the road, he didn't say anything, it was a sort of a "Code of the West" sort of deal, that no one would bother or vandalize those cars, and all of us with a car out there would come on out as soon as the snow cleared, which everyone knew would be soon, and that the common-sense answer was to just let us be and let us take care of business on our own. Which we did.
By sundown the next day, there was no evidence of that snowstorm, save a few little patches of snow in shadowy areas.
The weather is like that, out there just north of Denver.
Well, you sure wouldn't have liked one Red Roan horse that I had. Nice roping horse, but I felt like I was breaking him when I first got into the saddle. He definitely done some "crow hopping", but I managed and stayed in the saddle.
One thing wife and I did find out, even though falling can happen easier in winter months, a Senior can fall anywhere in any kind of weather, be it sunshine and warm or ice and snow. Even falling in a house, condo or apartment can happen. Just have to be extremely careful and wear appropriate footwear.
Like already stated, we can't afford to be "snowbirds", so that's definitely out. After visiting northern Colorado, we found out just how much we missed Colorado and many of the things we did. We will be 10 years older when we move back, but will still be able to enjoy some of the things we simply don't have here where we live.
Now, comparing the risk of falling down in Miami or the SF Bay Area while living there vs. living in Montana or WA or anywhere with ice and snow - isn't any kind of reasonable comparison.
What I see happen in these kinds of threads, is people look for the answers they want. If you are determined to move somewhere with snow and ice, nobody is going to talk you out of it. You will argue that anyone can fall down in any kind of weather - regardless of the reality of the odds of falling somewhere with ice and snow half of the year vs. somewhere with none.
If you stated unequivocally that you were determined to move somewhere with ice and snow, regardless of the risk, I would not take any issue with what you're saying. But, you're trying to convince yourself that there wouldn't be a greater risk of injury somewhere with ice and snow vs. somewhere without it - and that's just not reasonable.
So, own up to the fact that you accept the risk. But, really, don't try to convince anyone that the risk is equal, because it just isn't.
Wow... if there even IS an "annual snowfall" I wouldn't move there :P I like annual rainfall about 4-5 inches, 0 snow. That's weather!
Ha! One year up here we had 24 FEET. Yes you read correctly. It was insane.
I'd love to be a snowbird and head to Fla for a month or so every winter but hubby loves the winter. He'd never agree to go for even a month and I wouldn't go alone.
At least we have a cottage to break the monotony that is about a 1/2 hour drive from our house and then a 15 minute snow machine ride from our vehicle. Sitting in our cozy cottage by a crackling fire is nice. Catching a big fat trout down on the lake is fun. Sitting out on the lake with a gang on a sunny (warmer) day is fun.
At home, I grit my teeth and shovel a path for my two little pooches, don't venture out shopping when it's snowing to beat the band, try not to look outside when it is a dark, snowy day, and dream of spring/summer, and camping in our RV.
At least almost every year, we fly away to a warm, sunny southern vacation for a week during the long winter, and that helps.
I wouldn't mind the winter so much if it was shorter, but there has been the occasional year when we've had snow on the ground from late October right until the end of May.
There is a standing joke for our climate “Canada has two seasons, winter and the month of July" Not funny!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
