Choosing between Sandpoint, Kalispell, and Pagosa Springs

[Hawkeye56]

You are right. I have been drinking a lot of Tequila lately (Gulp). Think I'll head back up north and call it good. Should of just took a vacation. Like a lot of folks, I went tooooo far left~~~~~~ Hawkeye

[mgold]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

Here is a somewhat typical season cycle in Sandpoint (but it's rarely typical from what I've heard from folks who've lived here their whole lives)...so take this FWIW from our perspective:

June/July/August are gorgeous summer. Highs in the high 80's, and last year went into the 90's up near 100 which was a record. Stays hot into the night hours since it's sunny until 9PM or later, and since the sun came up at 4:45AM or so, it had a long time to heat the ground. Blue skies abound. Storms are violent but brief. This is summer thunderstorm season, but as long as it's just rain, we don't stop outdoor activites just because it's raining. And no joke...on the lake, you can go 1/2 mile from where it's raining, and you're in good weather. But it can change on you in 15 minutes.

September starts to get chillier. We still boat through most of early-mid September, but only on warmer days, and tubing is more fun that waterskiing as the lake gets colder. Nights start getting crisp, fall colors start showing. Skies start getting more grey. By end of September, we're all putting boats in storage and the lake level is being drawn down to winter level (natural lake, but level is managed by the Albeni Falls Dam they put on the river down by Newport/Oldtown).

October starts getting downright cold at night but days are iffy. Jacket weather. Skies are mostly cloud cover. May get some snow but nothing that's going to stick. Fall colors in full swing. One of my favorite times in town. More rain starts falling. Still some gorgeous days that show up where you wish your boat wasn't winterized...but it's gone the next day.

November is cold and grey. Freezing at night, more rainy days. Snow will start in more earnest but may or may not start to accumulate on the ground, depending on the year. This year was obviously a cold one.

December is full winter. Snow is starting to accumulate. Grey skies completely. Everything starts being white and quiet.

January/February are butt cold. Highs around 10-20'ish, lows around -5 to 5 degrees, nasty weather. You never look at the sky because that means getting your face frozen.
Toward the end of February (again, depending on the year) it may start to melt off. This year we still had 5' of snow.

March sees spring breakup. Lots of rain washing away snow, creeks overflow in big snow years (like now). Roads turn to garbage as the ground unfreezes. Frost heaves are everywhere on dirt roads, paved roads show the need for repair. Potholes are more common than good pavement. It's MUD SEASON. We have clay under the topsoil, and it means bad "sucking mud". Can be nearly axle deep on my 4wd lifted truck, no kidding, but only in placed REALLY torn up. Most of the time, my wife's sedan can get through the mud fine. Skies may start showing blue on nicer days. Highs around 40-50, lows will still be sub-32. End of March usually starts getting really nice. Highs may hit 60, lows around 35 or higher.

April is usually very nice. Ending mud season for the most part, but not always. Lots of rain, but it's lighter sprinkles and only 2-3 hours at a time. We play sports in it, jog in it, garden in it, etc. Blue skies come 1-2 days a week, maybe every for several days in a row. More common is to have blue skies show up for a couple hours each day as clouds blow over. Toward late April bugs start showing up in numbers. Mostly little flying guys. Gnats, etc.

May is nice. Starting to get warm, up into the 70's, nights in the 40's. Still light rain coming often, and 4-5 days a week we'll get a couple hours a day of rain, and more hours a day of blue sky, usually in the afternoon/evening. Bees, hornets, and wasps begin to abound. I hate getting stung, so we have a plethora of traps around the place and it works. Ants are in full swing, so we've already had the place sprayed in april usually, and every 6-8 weeks after that. Starting in late May, we're on the lake 3-4x a week. Since it's light so late, we like to go boating after dinner on weeknights, and at least one weekend day that we're not playing sports.

WOW!! That is amazing information! Thank you so much!! It kinda sounds like the weather in Breckenridge. Also, I saw that you have a lifted 4x4 truck. Do you and your family 4 wheel drive? And if so where? My husband and I love to 4 wheel drive and are trying to find some areas in the Sandpoint area. If you have any suggestions that would be helpful also! Thanks again for the run down on the weather, etc...

[mistyriverranch]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

Highs in the high 80's, and last year went into the 90's up near 100 which was a record.
January/February are butt cold. Highs around 10-20'ish, lows around -5 to 5 degrees, nasty weather. You never look at the sky because that means getting your face frozen.
.

Like Sage said...keep in mind the above is typical. In the six years we've been here, we've had it go over 100 a few times in summer and down to around -20 in a couple of late January freezes.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by mistyriverranch

Like Sage said...keep in mind the above is typical. In the six years we've been here, we've had it go over 100 a few times in summer and down to around -20 in a couple of late January freezes.

I also want to add that this area is FULL of micro-climates. Even in this huge winter we had this year, Bonner's Ferry had their athletic fields clear and grassy weeks before Sandpoint. And in the Dufort Valley just 12 miles south of the long bridge (valley goes from Highway 95 west past Round Lake State Park to the river) we're about 3-5 degrees colder than town. and when Sandpoint's forecast on Accuweather calls for snow, whether it's 2" or 2', it's about 50-75% more on the ground here. So if you start seriously looking at property here, post up the locations and we can give you input on the micro-climates if we know that area.

[Sage of Sagle]

Oh, and the lifted truck...came that way when I bought it. Just a 3" lift...not a rock crawler. My point was that during mud season it's nice to have height over the really deep mud, but of course the lower 2/3 of my truck is brown during the springtime from it.

We don't really do any other offroad driving for pleasure. We're mostly at the lake in the warm months, and Schweitzer in winter...

[MEfree30]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

We're mostly at...Schweitzer in winter...

Thanks for all the great info Sage.

[SIZE=2]Heard many good things about Schweitzer but also hear that it is foggy quite often...I am an avid skier who doesn't mind going out in less than perfect weather, but find I don't ski as well when visibility is poor. Having spent this past year in the French Alps, I have come to appreciate the difference between above tree line and below tree line skiing in stormy conditions and also know that I don't ski moguls too well when I can't see them in flat light conditions.

How does visibility tend to be at Schweitzer? Are there many good tree skiing or other options that you can take advantage of for protection in a storm? Any other thoughts about the ski area are appreciated...

Matt
[/SIZE]

[Sage of Sagle]

There certainly are foggy days. We like to ski the back side, where we find visibility to be better on days where the front side (Midway area) has less visibility.

[jason1]

MGold Small world my wife and I live in Silverthorne. We have lived several places and have friends and family near Sandpoint.

Sand point is nice but it can get very cold. Not nearly the same amount of snow as Frisco. In the pan handle of ID and even parts of Montana the winter months can be cold and sometimes windy making it very cold. It also seems to be overcast allot during these months and the cold will feel different than here in Summit. It definitely is not as majestic as Frisco either we will have more sunshine in the winter with the exception of maybe this year.

As for the other areas you mentioned not as familiar but jobs may be harder to come by.

We have lived several places in the US. I can agree here in Summit County winters are long. I threatened to move myself this year.

Some things to think about while researching your perfect place.

Activities you want.

Accessibility to travel.

Scenery.

Cost of living.

Associations and friendships.

Topography and scenery.

I am from the South and we plan on retiring back their some day. Quality of life and cost being an important factor.

After reading all the post here and your response you might try the Carolinas. 4 seasons, Great scenery, Summers are not to bad and can be great depending on where you live. Friendly towns, good job growth, and can be near skiing. Not our quality of skiing but not bad either. North Carolina is home to the tallest mountains on the East coast.

As far as Texas my brother lives there and it has some nice attributes but it is defiantly not what you are looking for.

Send me a Direct message and I would be glad to give you any more information I have.