Missouri vs Colorado (St. Louis, Ozark, Denver: house, tornado, income)

[mechanic]

I've lived here in Missouri for the last 8 years and to tell you the truth I am ready to move back to Colorado. We've lived in the country since being here. The worse thing about Missouri I think is the weather. No matter how hard I try I can't use to tornados, ice stroms, heavy rains, and humidity. This goes from one extreme to another. You can be enjoying the warm summer like tempertures in the middle of winter then get blasted with heavy rains, tornados, or ice storms, just from having to warm of a day. It drives me crazy because I hate one extreme to another. I can remember getting nice warm days in Colorado then it turns off cold and maybe snows. Put on coat, this is completely normal. But you don't have the worry of severe weather. I've had enough. The next move will be back to Colorado

[cyrano]

Well, I hope you find happiness and/or contentment wherever you live. I sympathize, having made my 30-mile commute up US 63, past a half-dozen cars that crashed or skidded off the road in the weather that was just bad enough to be scary...not to mention the idjits who think that 4-wheel drive means immunity from driving peril.

For me, the payoff to Missouri weather is that spring and fall are beautiful, even glorious seasons. The spring storms and threats of tornados and such are, to me, more interesting than scary-- I just move one car into the garage, take another one to the downtown parking garage (this is to avoid the hail), and wait it out. But the best thing, season after season, is the amazing light shows of sunrise and sunset that we have 3 out of the 4 seasons...and even occasionally in winter-- we had a double rainbow one morning after some ice in the sky. And last Friday, it was a blood-red sunset whose color changed by the second. I even enjoy the contrails of the jets flying over us between the coasts-- the hour at sunset will start to highlight those again soon.

Me, I enjoyed visiting Colorado but wouldn't live there for anything. Denver's too big and smoggy, Colorado Springs isn't to my political taste, Boulder's too weird, and everyplace else that is pretty and/or livable is too darned expensive. Each to his own.

Everybody's got something that drives them crazy. For me, it's tailgaters and other mindless drivers. For you, I guess it's extremes of weather.

[jrhartwick]

I have a fear of tornados myself, I can never figure out the best location in my basement to sit with the kids. I don't remember this many ice storms either.

My husband and I were engaged at the top of Vail 11 years ago. We were in Colorado over the past summer. Such beautiful scenary! We forgot what humidy and bugs were like until we stopped in Kansas. But, Missouri provides us with the joy of being able to raise our kids on one income. We own small acreage and have all the comforts of "big city" living without the price tag. Colorado is special and beautiful, but not a place we could afford to raise our family right now.

[WestCoDude]

Originally Posted by mechanic

I've lived here in Missouri for the last 8 years and to tell you the truth I am ready to move back to Colorado. We've lived in the country since being here. The worse thing about Missouri I think is the weather. No matter how hard I try I can't use to tornados, ice stroms, heavy rains, and humidity. This goes from one extreme to another. You can be enjoying the warm summer like tempertures in the middle of winter then get blasted with heavy rains, tornados, or ice storms, just from having to warm of a day. It drives me crazy because I hate one extreme to another. I can remember getting nice warm days in Colorado then it turns off cold and maybe snows. Put on coat, this is completely normal. But you don't have the worry of severe weather. I've had enough. The next move will be back to Colorado

Yeah...I'm actually a Colorado transplant living in St. Louis. The weather here is pretty much insane--but it isn't like Colorado is smooth sailing either. The weather in Missouri IS really bad but there are so many other things which offset the weather. The cost of living is a biggie.

But....good luck!

[WestCoDude]

Originally Posted by jrhartwick

I have a fear of tornados myself, I can never figure out the best location in my basement to sit with the kids. I don't remember this many ice storms either.

My husband and I were engaged at the top of Vail 11 years ago. We were in Colorado over the past summer. Such beautiful scenary! We forgot what humidy and bugs were like until we stopped in Kansas. But, Missouri provides us with the joy of being able to raise our kids on one income. We own small acreage and have all the comforts of "big city" living without the price tag. Colorado is special and beautiful, but not a place we could afford to raise our family right now.

Colorado is definitely beautiful. But there comes a point where the beauty isn't enough to keep you there. I love Colorado...but I didn't let the scenery stop me from moving to Missouri. People here think I'm nuts for moving away from Denver...but they don't realize that Colorado has an enormous amount of problems that Missouri simply doesn't share. Sure it's beautiful...but it's not as paradisical as it might seem from the postcards you get in the mail each ski season. I'm not sure whether or not I'll end up moving back--my hunch is that I will--but you Missourians really shouldn't be so hard on yourselves. The people here are infinitely better than Coloradans.

[Clint_Noname]

Well, Missouri has some mountains too, in the form of the Ozarks. The cost of living in Missouri is much lower than that of Colorado, but the weather is pretty insane in Missouri. I'm used to tornadoes and I don't mind the temperatures, but when a tornado hits close to home, I always pray that the tornado doesn't hit my house