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Im deciding to move west from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My father lives in Elephant Butte, New Mexico and brother is in St. George,Utah. Both are awesome places. I'm an outdoorsman and really like vast spaces of open land to hike with no bugs and I like the low humidity. I've been traveling to Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Now I notice things like how 20* in Milwaukee feels worse than 4* in Bozeman. I'm curious on if that is due to the drier air? I really don't mind the cold if the suns out. But I have horses that I like to ride and I'm sick of being stuck inside for 6 months from frigid temps. And I'm wondering about the wind. Maybe someone who has lived in the midwest can tell me if it is way windier out west or is it all relative. I can't find anywhere online that gives wind data the way you can find for temperature. Now I know this question has been asked a million times about moving to a low humidity, bug free, 4 season place. But I'd like to add onto it and find areas where you're close to places to ride horses. If I could get the insight from someone who has moved from the midwest that would really be greatly appreciated. As much information as possible.
Sidenote. Also if water rights are an issue in places. That's something that's new to me. I'd be renting for months but plan on buying a house on 5 acres so I wouldn't have to board my horses forever.
Humidity and wind have a huge impact on how cold or hot temps feel. The lack of humidity in the mountain west means it has the exact impact you have mentioned. I'd also add that elevation and the resulting sunlight also impacts that as well. Even if it is 30*, windy, but sunny, outside could have a wind chill of 10*, but inside a vehicle can easily be 50*. The lack of humidity will impact everyone and everything. Sinus passages will dry out, nosebleeds are common, body thirst and the need for hydration are paramount. Static is a by product of dryness as well, so be prepared for constant shocks.
Also, weather here can be highly variable and quite wild at times. Awesome things like thunder snow canbe a pleasure to encounter, but things like golf ball sized hail are not. We also have tornados. Not the huge F4 monsters like OK, but occasional and sporadic F1s. Grass fires and forest fires are also a risk, again due to the dryness and winds, and can they can burn fast and destroy hundreds of acres in a heartbeat.
We do have a fair amount of wind in the mountain west. The geography can really mess with pressure zones. For wind data you can look here; https://www.windy.com/?39.743,-105.073,5 You also can look at airport data near any place you might be considering to find historical wind data. Part of the reason the plains are the plains and not a forest is the wind and dryness.
I wouldn't say we are bug free either. We do have fewer species, smaller sizes, and a shorter season than WI, but we have bugs a-plenty, especially flies, mosquitoes, ants and spiders.
Water rights are an issue everywhere west of the 100th meridian. If you are bringing horses with you, it will be a paramount concern for you to have a place that allows access to adequate water for them. Many newer 5 acre plots around the Front Range areas of CO do not include water for anything other than household use. You would need to step up to 35 acre parcels to have permits or rights to allow more than than household use. Rights and access will vary considerably from state to state as well as from county to county within the states. Most of the west is based on Prior appropriation water rights, whereas WI and points east are Ripearian rights; basic read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior-...n_water_rights
Also, you don't mention work and budget. These are two really big factors that may drive specific relocation points. population density in the west means most jobs are located around significant metro areas and this drives real estate prices. Bargain basket land prices should be an immediate red flag for further investigation as to why. Land for sale for less than $500 an acre should be highly suspect in regards to water access and proximity to population centers.
When you do begin your search for a place to live, I HIGHLY recommend you quiz your real estate agent about how long they have lived in the area and their knowledge about the types of land you are looking for. This is because of the westward migration of late means you can hire a real estate agent that is very knowledgeable about selling property but knows less about the actual land you are looking at than you do and they can be totally clueless about a host of issues. Water is the biggest, but mineral access, underground water, subduction zones, mining impacts, expansive soils, sandy soils, etc are all factors that can impact land choice. Most of the west's real estate works under a caveat emptor philosophy, so due diligence will be required on your part.
I've lived in various cities in Montana so that's the only western state I can speak for. It is WINDY. The wind drove me nuts. Water is also an issue. Especially with horses. You'll need a much larger piece of property to house a single horse in MT than you would in WI. I think the recommendation is 20 acres per horse in MT. You're not putting several horses on 5 acres. At least not if you want happy healthy horses. Most of the horse people I know (around Helena) have to supplement their horse's food and there usually seems to be a shortage every year. They end up having to travel pretty far and pay steep prices for feed. Then you choke on smoky air during fire season.
If you do consider MT, I hope you either bring your job with you or have a high paying job lined up. Wages do not support real estate prices. Especially in Bozeman. I left an identical job in Helena after 8 years experience, took a 3 year detour in MI working out of field, and now am back to my profession and I'm paid close to double what I was making when I left MT. And our house in Shorewood cost the same as the house we sold in Helena 4 years ago. Which is now on the market again at a $60,000 price increase.
Having moved to New Mexico (near ABQ) from central Missouri five years ago the wind was somewhat of a surprise. Springtime winds can occasionally keep you indoors but it is not every day and it only lasts a few weeks. I see hot air balloons up on many mornings so it is calm early but might start to blow by noon on windy days. It's a day by day thing...maybe twice a week. I think the lowest humidity I've noticed was 4% and that, plus the elevation of 5500 feet, makes for a great four-season climate...even with the wind. The sun will keep you warm in the winter and can scorch you in the summer even though the temperature might be in the 80s. A hat and sunscreen are your friends.
I was raised in Ohio and remember well those hot, humid summers and lake effect snows. I also spent too many summers in Phoenix, AZ, the dry heat and cold are not comfortable for me. Living about 50-100 from the coast and on the West side of the mountain ranges seems to work best for me as the seasonal extremes are milder.
I'd say that connectivity and communications infrastructure should also be a part of your research. Another aspect of life in the west is population density means support and services decrease, sometimes significantly, as you radiate out from population centers. Internet connectivity 40 miles away from a major metro can be great to average, to almost non-existent in some locations. Wisconsin is 31st in population density. By way of contrast, Colorado is 43rd, Utah is 46th, Idaho is 50th, Montana is 54th, and Wyoming is 55th. So you are looking at moving from a place that is just below halfway point to places that are near the bottom in the density ratings.
Otherwise, you will need to narrow down a state and then an area to get into the nitty gritty of more of the specific issues you will need to be aware of.
Im deciding to move west from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My father lives in Elephant Butte, New Mexico and brother is in St. George,Utah. Both are awesome places. I'm an outdoorsman and really like vast spaces of open land to hike with no bugs and I like the low humidity. I've been traveling to Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Now I notice things like how 20* in Milwaukee feels worse than 4* in Bozeman. I'm curious on if that is due to the drier air? I really don't mind the cold if the suns out. But I have horses that I like to ride and I'm sick of being stuck inside for 6 months from frigid temps. And I'm wondering about the wind. Maybe someone who has lived in the midwest can tell me if it is way windier out west or is it all relative. I can't find anywhere online that gives wind data the way you can find for temperature. Now I know this question has been asked a million times about moving to a low humidity, bug free, 4 season place. But I'd like to add onto it and find areas where you're close to places to ride horses. If I could get the insight from someone who has moved from the midwest that would really be greatly appreciated. As much information as possible.
Sidenote. Also if water rights are an issue in places. That's something that's new to me. I'd be renting for months but plan on buying a house on 5 acres so I wouldn't have to board my horses forever.
I've lived in Wyoming and Montana and they are generally windier. When it's not windy 20 degrees there feels warmer than in the Midwest. You're likely going to want to be aware of culture shock more than the weather.
And what would you mean by culture shock? When I was down in New Mexico for a month everyone seemed friendlier than up here. Willing to stop and talk for a moment. Everything wasn't rush rush. I've been told that it's more like that throughout those states. Is that what you are referring to NDak15 ?
And what would you mean by culture shock? When I was down in New Mexico for a month everyone seemed friendlier than up here.
You can encounter culture shock when changing from any region to another. As far as friendliness goes, that's not always a guarantee. Before I moved to my current location, I visited, and yeah, it seemed much friendlier. But that was in vacation mode, and I was just in brief encounters. When you move and have to be around people daily, impressions can change. Colorado people can seem very friendly in visits, but colder and shrewder when dealing with them daily for the long haul. Beware of that kind of phenomenon. Don't ever take people at face value during visits. Do research - including this forum - with feedback on specific people/culture/region differences.
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