Weather in Bend vs. Sunriver & La Pine (Redmond, Prineville: house, live in)

[neal93]

I've been reading about how bad (snow, long winters, etc.) it can be in La Pine & to some extent Sunriver. Are these 2 places much worse (in terms of winter weather) than Bend? Are they higher in elevation or somehow geographically different? Looking at maps, they appear to be more forrested. Excuse my ignorance, but they are located pretty near Bend & seem like they have pretty extreme winter weather...

[Bendite]

It's a matter of several microclimates in Central Oregon - the weather is different in LaPine, Sunriver, Bend, Redmond, Sisters, Prineville and Madras even though they are fairly close to each other. Even within some locations, such as Bend, the weather can be very different on the east side than on the west side.nd the south west different than the northwest. It is true that LaPine gets more snow and is colder than Sunriver and Bend. Sunriver gets more snow than Bend; Bend gets more than Redmond but less than Sisters. For example, averages of annual precipitation in one report show Bend getting 11.73 inches and LaPine getting 22.03, while Redmond got 8. Some of this has to do with altitude but there are other factors in the creation of microclimates such as cold pockets, proximity to the mountains, etc. As far as altitude: Bend is at 3650 ft. and La Pine is at 4200 ft, Sunriver is at 4150 ft.

[ldm883]

I live in LaPine. About a week ago we had our usual late snow storm. My house had about 3 new inches. I went to Bend while it was still snowing. Sunriver had about as much as me, but by the time I reached the outskirts of Bend, the snow had stopped and there was no sign that it had even reached there. This can happen a lot. I owned a store in Sisters for five years and travelled from LaPine through Bend and into Sisters pretty much six days a week all year long. Bend was always the least snowy. Even Sisters never had as much as Sunriver or LaPine. And usually when travelling along hwy 97 the most dangerous stretch would be at Sunriver....always people going to fast an in the ditch. But really, it's dry snow...unlike the gorge where you could get 4 feet of icey frozen snow! Get a little 4wheel drive, put on studs and drive sensibily and you'll get to love the snow.

[sdchargers619]

I live in bend right now. I know the weather to the south (Lapine and sunriver) is way colder and there is alot more snow. Lapine is slightly higher than bend i believe and there is alot more trees because bend is on the edge of where the pines turn to juniper.