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Hi , I am currently in search of somewhere to move to . Wife and I currently live in Colorado and i hate it. Its uber busy, crazy expensive , and to dry for me . I know boise area is pretty much the same climate as what we have here in Denver. My question is what about northern Idaho? or like the town of McCall Idaho? I am looking for something that gets plenty of snow and doesn't melt. If we get snow here its gone in 1 day . the sun is just too [mod cut] hot here. I want snow on the ground most if not all winter long. I also want some rain during the the rest of the year. Again I know it wont be a ton of rain . What towns come to mind?
thanks
Last edited by volosong; 03-12-2018 at 10:59 PM..
Reason: we don't cuss and swear here, even in their mild forms
I moved from Evergreen to Couer d'Alene a year and a half ago, Colorado was too crowded and expensive. There are other towns up this way that are nice and others will chime in about, but I chose CDA and am happy with it. Snow here stays, unlike CO, since the days are grayer and shorter in the winter.
It sounds to me like the climate in the panhandle may be what you are looking for. You can find weather statistics over on the data side of City Data, or any number of other places for that matter.
We live in Sagle, just south of Sandpoint. An average winter here will be about 65" of snow, and figure about 25" of rain per year as well. Long time locals tell us that there is no such thing as a typical winter here, but I think with that much snow the typical winter will see snow on the ground for most of the winter.
I have noticed both this winter and last that the snow disappears faster down in Coeur d'Alene. We got 90"+ of snow both of the past two winters. I was down in CDA last Friday, and it looked like most of their snow was gone, but we still had almost 10" on the ground up around Sandpoint.
Winters up here are fairly gray, which many people don't like, but it sounds like that may be OK with you. That doesn't mean the sun never shines in the winter, but it is cloudy most days in the winter.
Summers are generally fairly dry, but it does rain from time to time during the summer. Most of the rain fall seems to come in spring and fall.
yes that sounds decent. 60 inches isn't much as that's what our average is here in Denver metro area. There's never snow on the ground. I think we may have had 12 to 15 inches this season so far. I am looking for a city with a average of like 125 to 150 so that if its not a snowy winter they still get 80 or 90 . McCall Idaho seems to average over 100 inches form what i see? Can anyone speak to this ? What other cities are there that are snowy? 25 inches of rain sounds excellent as we only average like 12 to 15 inches of rain if that. I'll take all the clouds I can get , I hate the sun. I lived in Michigan for over 20 years where its always cloudy and loved the weather for the most part. Lots and lots of moisture there. Right now I'm looking into Idaho and out east in Northern Vermont in the green mountains. They get hammered all year with moisture. How does Idaho do with tiny houses? I am thinking of buying land and getting a tiny house . How do they view it ? I know some states don't like it at all.
As elousv notes above, to get the amount of snow you are looking for I think you'll need to get to a higher elevation than the most of the panhandle, which generally sits between 2,000' and 2,500'. There are a few places in the panhandle where people live at higher elevations, but generally when you get higher you find you are in National Forest lands.
You should also be aware that we tend to get a lot of sun in the summer. There aren't too many cloudy days, and the days are quite long due to the latitude. Temperatures are generally quiet moderate in summer though. I think of typical summer time temps being in the 60's at night, 80's during the day, but it's not unusual for daytime highs to get into the 90's and sometimes even break 100.
As for your tiny house question that's really going to be a question of the local jurisdiction, either the city or county level if you are outside city limits. I know the Sandpoint city council has been considering updating their regulations to address tiny homes, but I don't think anything has been finalized yet.
Dave
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