Less snow - what major city (Billings, Missoula: real estate, home, live)

[surftherain]

Hi Folks,

Looking to relocate to the great state on Montana. Single girl and her Golden Retriever.

I am flexible on any major city - Billings, Helena, Bozeman etc...

Have been reading about Billings -- real estate is more affordable or not?

Worried about the snow. Which city has the less snow. I love the snow, but would hate to have to dig my way out...LOL.

Any comment is a welcomed comment.

[NDak15]

Billings definitely has less snow and is going to be more affordable than Bozeman.

[NW Crow]

Of the major cities Missoula gets the least snowfall. Bozeman the most. Helena, Billings and Great Falls in the middle. It melts off quicker in Billings. Climate data here http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/climsmmt.html
For snowfall and average snowfall depth, notice the missing data. The real totals would be higher. But also be aware that the actuals will fluctuate up and down with LaNina and El Nino weather patterns.


Billings median housing price is about 15% above national average, 5% less than Missoula and well below most of the Colorado front range. Factors could push Billings prices up or down in near and intermediate future or one then the other. A lot depends on whether the energy sector stabilizes or recovers any time soon.

[sky1949]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Of the major cities Missoula gets the least snowfall. Bozeman the most. Helena, Billings and Great Falls in the middle. It melts off quicker in Billings. Climate data here Montana Climate Summaries
For snowfall and average snowfall depth, notice the missing data. The real totals would be higher. But also be aware that the actuals will fluctuate up and down with LaNina and El Nino weather patterns.


Billings median housing price is about 15% above national average, 5% less than Missoula and well below most of the Colorado front range. Factors could push Billings prices up or down in near and intermediate future or one then the other. A lot depends on whether the energy sector stabilizes or recovers any time soon.

I'm not going to quarrel with these statistics, obviously, but I've lived in Missoula, Helena and Billings, and find it very hard to understand how Billings is higher in snowfall. Your comment about the meltoff probably explains my perception. Shovelling snow in Billings seems much less of a chore than what I remember about Missoula and Helena.

[NW Crow]

I forgot to mention Kalispell and Butte. I'd put both in the broad middle on snowfall though Whitefish can be at the very top and Flathead valley will sometimes hold on to its snow.

[brb going fishing]

Bozeman gets the most snow of the major cities, followed by Kalispell, Butte, and Great Falls. I feel like Helena is the driest, particularly at the north end of town at the valley bottom. I know the official average for Helena is 50" but the airport hasn't recorded anywhere near that in decades. 50" is believable maybe at base of the south hills near the capitol building or something, so maybe they relocated weather stations at some point.

Also, that brings up the point that different towns have wetter and dryer sections even within town. This seems especially true in Helena and Bozeman, which get snowier the further south into town you go. Here within the Flathead Valley, the further north and west you go, the snowier the microclimate, so here at my home a bit west of Whitefish we typically have a couple of feet on the ground until April.

[Reziac]

Northwest Bozeman can get zero snow while southeast Bozeman is buried. As a general rule, the more out on the flat, the less snow, tho when it blows the flats will get more drifts.

[oldtrader]

Here you will find annual average snowfall by city in Montana, and how many days it snows on the average over the last 30 years.

https://www.currentresults.com/Weath...l-snowfall.php

[Reziac]

Less snow also usually equals colder, sometimes significantly colder.

[Senah]

One thing I would say would be to try and plan for how the weather affects you. We get snow here in Bozeman, but honestly with how warm it has been in the past 3 years, it isn't that much. The thing I have noticed is that with some friends who moved to Missoula they like the city but are super down with how dark it is a lot of the year due to the foggy/weather inversion thing. It's sunny in Bozeman all year, which is a big plus. I'm not trying to put Missoula down or anything at all, but a lot of people get obsessed with the snow/cold thing, and forget to factor in the weather and they then really regret it. For example, we did a stint on the Pacific NW coast and though it didn't snow much at all and was warmer (though humid), the fog and rain got us so down we were super depressed and are much happier in MT than even we were being from the South.

Just worth considering. Some people don't mind at all.