Snowiest, coldest, hilliest area of Missouri?

[OA 5599]

Originally Posted by ajf131

You're from one of the coldest places in the country, I'm not really sure you know what not cold is. By pretty much any definition, Missouri is cold in the winter. Snow is a common occurence, as well as ice. Now, compared to Michigan, I agree, Missouri is not you want if you want a harsh winter. But Missouri definitely qualifies as having real winters. And real summers. Both seasons in most of the state fit the typical definition, although the Northern and central parts of the state have much worse winters compared to the southern half of the state. My point...our winters can be bad, much worse than a lot of places in the country, but also not nearly as bad as many other places in the country. We are somewhere in the middle...kind of makes sense considering our geographic location.

Missouri winters are very erratic. While it gets very cold in Missouri (down to 0, even in southern Missouri, about every year) it is not a consistent cold. It also seems to spike up into the 70's for a day or two just about every December and January...as I've mentioned before on New Year's Eve 05/06 it was 70 degrees and sunny, and we had temps in the 70's with thunderstorms and tornadoes in early January of 2008. I also remember it snowing (and accumulating) on Halloween when I was a kid, sometime back in the 90's.

When I was interviewing for jobs in St. Louis last mid-December the temps were between 10-15 degrees with lots of wind, ice, and snow.

My point is, a Missouri winter is not consistently cold like most of Colorado and Utah. It does indeed get very cold in Missouri, just not for that long. The jet stream usually flows right through our lovely state, and brings in both cold Canadian air and warm moist air from the Gulf every winter.

[GraniteStater]

The Upper Midwest has consistently cold winters with more reliable snowfall while the Lower Midwest does not. This is pretty much a given. The further west you go- especially west of the Missouri River, the more extreme the winter temperature swings will be. This is due to compressive downslope warming events off the Rocky Mountains that often precede a cold frontal passage known as an Alberta Clipper. The Upper Midwest, particularly the Great Lakes, do not experience these downsloping events at all and are much more consistently cold during the winter season.

[Hillman]

Originally Posted by ajf131

You're from one of the coldest places in the country, I'm not really sure you know what not cold is. By pretty much any definition, Missouri is cold in the winter. Snow is a common occurence, as well as ice. Now, compared to Michigan, I agree, Missouri is not you want if you want a harsh winter. But Missouri definitely qualifies as having real winters. And real summers. Both seasons in most of the state fit the typical definition, although the Northern and central parts of the state have much worse winters compared to the southern half of the state. My point...our winters can be bad, much worse than a lot of places in the country, but also not nearly as bad as many other places in the country. We are somewhere in the middle...kind of makes sense considering our geographic location.

Oh they can be fun without two weeks of electric and temps down around Zero.

Road to my place after Ice Storm few years ago


hillman

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by BAHOWELL

Husband and I have been searching for a new town and have been looking in the mountains in Utah and Colorado. We're now considering somewhere closer to our families here in Houston so want to see what Missouri can offer close to our original desires.

Love the weather in MO but we want somewhere that is
- very cold (not just touching the twenties once)
-snowy (would like some that sticks around, if you know about how long say)
-hills!

Thank you for taking the time to respond and hope to be there soon!

I recall Missouri getting enough snow in the winters of the late 60's and 70's to run snowmobiles many times a winter. This is no longer the case and ice storms have become the norm over deep snowfalls.

In MO I'd suggest the Weston area (NW of KC and S. of St. Joe) for cold/hills/snow.

Outside of Missouri, if still seeking that "Midwest/Western small town" feel, I'd suggest South Dakota near Rapid, Spearfish, etc.... .

Good luck with your search!