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Old 03-12-2019, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,153,599 times
Reputation: 23792

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Hi, nowhereman...
The simple fact is Idaho is a cold, snowy state in the winters. Every winter will be cold and snowy. The only differences will be relatively minor and will vary from year to year.

But if you want to live in Idaho, you must be mentally prepared for spending the winter months in cold and snow. And darkness, and in most areas, cloudy skies.

The winters here will give you a break from time to time, but Idaho is a high mountainous state that is closer to the North Pole than the equator. If you want mild winters in general, this is not the state for you.

What varies is our summers. There are some places here where the summer temps will be quite a lot hotter or cooler than others, and some places where the humidity is higher than others.

The population demographics aren't giving you a clear picture. Ammon and Idaho Falls are conjoined; they should be considered to be one city. The same goes for Chubbuck and Pocatello, and Rathdrum and Coeur d'Alene, Star and Boise. Life in one is almost completely identical to life in the other. Life in the neighborhood will be pretty much just the same.

Some others in your list are all independent little cities that small population centers surrounded by farms, ranches, some mining or logging, or wilderness. These little towns can lack major medical services and most of the shopping amenities the larger cities offer. They can be an hour or more away from those services.
This would include Weiser, Soda Springs, Grangeville, Troy, Arco, Salmon, McCall & Moyie Springs.

Some of that list are essentially the only urban area that exists for many, many miles around. Salmon is a good example. If goods and services can't be found in Salmon, it will be either 100 miles to Idaho Falls, or 100 miles to Missoula to find them.

Others in your list are more semi-independent. They lie less than an hour away from a larger city. Some of them lie in a string of several small towns, each about 20 miles apart or so. These include Rigby (7 mi. north of I.F.) Firth (7 miles south of I.F.) Blackfoot (25 mi. south of I.F., about the same north of Pocatello).

Congestion here is nothing like most congestion in more urban states except in a very few places. The Boise area is the only place in the state that has the kind of traffic that's common in California, and that congestion is more localized- it doesn't extend very far out of the Treasure Valley, and at the outer edges of the valley, it isn't significant except for the drive times.

Congestion in general lessens considerably after the end of a day's work. There's little 24-hour congestion here anywhere that could be compared to urban California.

The real problem here is the distance and difficulty of driving to get your needed goods and services. Many of the roads that connect our small towns to our large cities are narrow, wind through difficult terrain, and can be affected by our weather. During the winter, a road that's easy and quick to drive in the summer may take hours to navigate during a storm or on a windy day; blowing snow or blowing dust can both make a drive slow.

Those roads are used just as much for commercial purposes as for civic purposes. In an area surrounded by farms, a drive to a big town can be one where a driver will encounter one big farm truck after another coming and going in both directions, each going along at around 50 mph or less. Semi tractors and trailers are also common.

Traffic can pile up behind a truck because there's no safe place to pass the truck, and these strings can go for many miles before a safe place to pass comes.

At other times, a driver can pretty much open up and drive as fast as safety and comfort allows and can encounter almost no traffic at all coming or going. And all this can change as a driver passes through one area to another.

The life in our small towns also varies really a lot. There are towns here where everyone is distantly related, where they all come from pioneer stock, and the town hasn't grown or shrunk very much in 100 years. Sometimes a newcomer is welcomed, sometimes not.

Really, if you are serious about moving here, you much come out and spend some time looking this state over first. There's no way you'll ever find your right place to live here until you do.

I've simplified and exaggerated writing this somewhat, but only to try to make a clearer picture of life's realities here. Trying to use numbers, statistics and such won't provide you much of anything that's essential.
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Old 03-12-2019, 01:43 PM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,903,779 times
Reputation: 2787
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike View Post
Hi, nowhereman...
The simple fact is Idaho is a cold, snowy state in the winters. Every winter will be cold and snowy. The only differences will be relatively minor and will vary from year to year.

But if you want to live in Idaho, you must be mentally prepared for spending the winter months in cold and snow. And darkness, and in most areas, cloudy skies.

The winters here will give you a break from time to time, but Idaho is a high mountainous state that is closer to the North Pole than the equator. If you want mild winters in general, this is not the state for you.

What varies is our summers. There are some places here where the summer temps will be quite a lot hotter or cooler than others, and some places where the humidity is higher than others.

The population demographics aren't giving you a clear picture. Ammon and Idaho Falls are conjoined; they should be considered to be one city. The same goes for Chubbuck and Pocatello, and Rathdrum and Coeur d'Alene, Star and Boise. Life in one is almost completely identical to life in the other. Life in the neighborhood will be pretty much just the same.

Some others in your list are all independent little cities that small population centers surrounded by farms, ranches, some mining or logging, or wilderness. These little towns can lack major medical services and most of the shopping amenities the larger cities offer. They can be an hour or more away from those services.
This would include Weiser, Soda Springs, Grangeville, Troy, Arco, Salmon, McCall & Moyie Springs.

Some of that list are essentially the only urban area that exists for many, many miles around. Salmon is a good example. If goods and services can't be found in Salmon, it will be either 100 miles to Idaho Falls, or 100 miles to Missoula to find them.

Others in your list are more semi-independent. They lie less than an hour away from a larger city. Some of them lie in a string of several small towns, each about 20 miles apart or so. These include Rigby (7 mi. north of I.F.) Firth (7 miles south of I.F.) Blackfoot (25 mi. south of I.F., about the same north of Pocatello).

Congestion here is nothing like most congestion in more urban states except in a very few places. The Boise area is the only place in the state that has the kind of traffic that's common in California, and that congestion is more localized- it doesn't extend very far out of the Treasure Valley, and at the outer edges of the valley, it isn't significant except for the drive times.

Congestion in general lessens considerably after the end of a day's work. There's little 24-hour congestion here anywhere that could be compared to urban California.

The real problem here is the distance and difficulty of driving to get your needed goods and services. Many of the roads that connect our small towns to our large cities are narrow, wind through difficult terrain, and can be affected by our weather. During the winter, a road that's easy and quick to drive in the summer may take hours to navigate during a storm or on a windy day; blowing snow or blowing dust can both make a drive slow.

Those roads are used just as much for commercial purposes as for civic purposes. In an area surrounded by farms, a drive to a big town can be one where a driver will encounter one big farm truck after another coming and going in both directions, each going along at around 50 mph or less. Semi tractors and trailers are also common.

Traffic can pile up behind a truck because there's no safe place to pass the truck, and these strings can go for many miles before a safe place to pass comes.

At other times, a driver can pretty much open up and drive as fast as safety and comfort allows and can encounter almost no traffic at all coming or going. And all this can change as a driver passes through one area to another.

The life in our small towns also varies really a lot. There are towns here where everyone is distantly related, where they all come from pioneer stock, and the town hasn't grown or shrunk very much in 100 years. Sometimes a newcomer is welcomed, sometimes not.

Really, if you are serious about moving here, you much come out and spend some time looking this state over first. There's no way you'll ever find your right place to live here until you do.

I've simplified and exaggerated writing this somewhat, but only to try to make a clearer picture of life's realities here. Trying to use numbers, statistics and such won't provide you much of anything that's essential.
Thanks for that info
I will be coming up to see everything in person for sure during the different seasons.
The weather can only get worse in Montana and Wyoming including the snow, ice etc.
I know Wyoming has that nasty wind plus even more harsh elements.
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Old 03-12-2019, 05:03 PM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,153,599 times
Reputation: 23792
Quote:
Originally Posted by nowhereman427 View Post
Thanks for that info
I will be coming up to see everything in person for sure during the different seasons.
The weather can only get worse in Montana and Wyoming including the snow, ice etc.
I know Wyoming has that nasty wind plus even more harsh elements.
Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are all similar in their climates. The biggest differences lie in which slope of the Rockies a person wants to live on. The Rockies form a big curtain of air which tends to block the weather on either side of them.

So the western slope tends to get the warmer, wetter Pacific winds, while the eastern slope tends to get the Arctic winds coming from Canada.

This is only the most general climate pattern. During the winters, that pattern can be broken up by the polar vortex winds. Sometimes the vortex can keep the normally cooler eastern slope relatively warm all winter while the western slope freezes for months, and sometimes its the opposite.

Most of the time, the Pacific and the vortex winds fight it out all winter, alternating the weather between their extremes in constant shifts that are all shorter and slighter.

Since Idaho is such a tall state, even the 'normal' patterns vary widely. NID gets most of its weather from the colder waters of the northern Pacific, while SID gets it's weather from the warmer waters of the mid-Pacific.

The Rockies tend to funnel it all around on either side, so the western slope's weather that comes first in NID may slide down the slope into SID a few days later.

Any change in the weather can bring its fierce winds. And our jagged terrain creates its own winds.

Here in Idaho Falls, for example, the town lies close to the foothills that are the base of the Rockies in this area, and because the town is higher than the terrain to the south and west, normal heating and cooling of the day creates breezes in town when 50 miles away in Pocatello, it's dead calm.

Just because of it's location, I.F. has more wind than most other cities of its size in the state. That's not to say the wind is strong all the time, though.

But even gentle winds can cause problems sometimes; here in I.F., because it's so breezy, we tend to get wildfire smoke from as far away as Nevada, California or Oregon sometimes, when Boise won't get any. The breeze won't be strong, but it's just enough to gently carry smoke with it.

When it's quite smoky, sometimes the smoke is worse in Pocatello than in I.F., as Poky is more sheltered by nearby mountains on 3 sides. Our breeze tends to flush the smoke out quicker here than there.
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Old 03-12-2019, 08:13 PM
 
Location: Idaho
6,330 posts, read 7,675,157 times
Reputation: 14096
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike View Post
Hi, nowhereman...
The simple fact is Idaho is a cold, snowy state in the winters. Every winter will be cold and snowy. The only differences will be relatively minor and will vary from year to year.

But if you want to live in Idaho, you must be mentally prepared for spending the winter months in cold and snow. And darkness, and in most areas, cloudy skies...
Feel obliged to report that I've "survived" this winter a lot better than last winter. And, last winter was pretty mild. This winter started out mild, but Ol' Man Frost knocked us silly starting the beginning of February. Since the management of our neighborhood scolded us about throwing snow into the streets, it is now piled up eight-feet high on either side of my driveway. I can't throw it much higher. I'm thinking today might be the last storm of the season.

I've become accustomed to 32 degree temperature and it does not feel cold to me anymore. Today, we're getting a pretty good snow storm, and after shoveling the driveway this morning, I've been wearing shorts and a light jacket all day. While out and about this afternoon, people asked if I were cold and must have thought that I'm weird. Well, I'll admit that I am, and it hasn't felt cold at all. Maybe because the wind is calm. Now, the low 20s we've been getting lately? That does feel cold!

The biggest thing that helped me get through the winter is that I've been turned on to Vitamin D3. I'd almost bet we've had more sun this winter too, but that just might be the D3 talking. It is hard to believe such a little thing could make such a big difference if I hadn't experienced it before, but I have, and it really does work.
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Old 03-13-2019, 10:39 AM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,903,779 times
Reputation: 2787
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike View Post
Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are all similar in their climates. The biggest differences lie in which slope of the Rockies a person wants to live on. The Rockies form a big curtain of air which tends to block the weather on either side of them.

So the western slope tends to get the warmer, wetter Pacific winds, while the eastern slope tends to get the Arctic winds coming from Canada.

This is only the most general climate pattern. During the winters, that pattern can be broken up by the polar vortex winds. Sometimes the vortex can keep the normally cooler eastern slope relatively warm all winter while the western slope freezes for months, and sometimes its the opposite.

Most of the time, the Pacific and the vortex winds fight it out all winter, alternating the weather between their extremes in constant shifts that are all shorter and slighter.

Since Idaho is such a tall state, even the 'normal' patterns vary widely. NID gets most of its weather from the colder waters of the northern Pacific, while SID gets it's weather from the warmer waters of the mid-Pacific.

The Rockies tend to funnel it all around on either side, so the western slope's weather that comes first in NID may slide down the slope into SID a few days later.

Any change in the weather can bring its fierce winds. And our jagged terrain creates its own winds.

Here in Idaho Falls, for example, the town lies close to the foothills that are the base of the Rockies in this area, and because the town is higher than the terrain to the south and west, normal heating and cooling of the day creates breezes in town when 50 miles away in Pocatello, it's dead calm.

Just because of it's location, I.F. has more wind than most other cities of its size in the state. That's not to say the wind is strong all the time, though.

But even gentle winds can cause problems sometimes; here in I.F., because it's so breezy, we tend to get wildfire smoke from as far away as Nevada, California or Oregon sometimes, when Boise won't get any. The breeze won't be strong, but it's just enough to gently carry smoke with it.

When it's quite smoky, sometimes the smoke is worse in Pocatello than in I.F., as Poky is more sheltered by nearby mountains on 3 sides. Our breeze tends to flush the smoke out quicker here than there.
Wow! thank you for that wealth of information. It's a lot but it helps to make the best decision. But as always once I get there that will be the deciding factor. So many factors involved as Montana has no sales tax, Wyoming has no State Income Tax. Idaho has both taxes BUT Idaho appears to have nicer homes I would rather prefer to live in. Newer and just more appealing to me from where I am. I don't need more than one acre of land which = too much maintenance but at the same time I understand that acreage provides the cushion of privacy, peace and quiet which usually means lots of acreage. I will have to find something in between. Unlike here where our subdivisions people are merely a few feet apart from each other.
I would have to find out which of the 3 states is the most affordable also. All of this will require a lot of travel when I come out to see. Thank you and keep me posted of anything I just might need to know more of.

Last edited by nowhereman427; 03-13-2019 at 10:51 AM..
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Old 03-13-2019, 10:44 AM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,903,779 times
Reputation: 2787
Quote:
Originally Posted by volosong View Post
Feel obliged to report that I've "survived" this winter a lot better than last winter. And, last winter was pretty mild. This winter started out mild, but Ol' Man Frost knocked us silly starting the beginning of February. Since the management of our neighborhood scolded us about throwing snow into the streets, it is now piled up eight-feet high on either side of my driveway. I can't throw it much higher. I'm thinking today might be the last storm of the season.

I've become accustomed to 32 degree temperature and it does not feel cold to me anymore. Today, we're getting a pretty good snow storm, and after shoveling the driveway this morning, I've been wearing shorts and a light jacket all day. While out and about this afternoon, people asked if I were cold and must have thought that I'm weird. Well, I'll admit that I am, and it hasn't felt cold at all. Maybe because the wind is calm. Now, the low 20s we've been getting lately? That does feel cold!

The biggest thing that helped me get through the winter is that I've been turned on to Vitamin D3. I'd almost bet we've had more sun this winter too, but that just might be the D3 talking. It is hard to believe such a little thing could make such a big difference if I hadn't experienced it before, but I have, and it really does work.
Funny you should mention that because all of my life I have always been hot. I have been to doctor's and they don't know what the problem is but they believe it's a good thing. Living in this foggy weather too people thought I was crazy because I always dressed light in these temps here.
The Vitamin D is very interesting. I have not heard of that before or understand that. But I know once you get moving and physically working the body you will get warmer to hot at least that's how my body gets. I am always hot and everyone else is complaining its cold.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:09 PM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,153,599 times
Reputation: 23792
That vitamin D3 thing is always overlooked, but it is extremely important for living a good life this far north. I've taken lots of D3 for years, increasing my dosage in the winter and decreasing it in the summer.

The Scandinavian countries have always made in a big deal of D3. Denmark, Sweden, and the others hand out free D3 to school kids, as it becomes deficient in everyone who live this far north, and a person just can't get enough of it during the winter months through diet alone.

We get most of our D3 from sunlight.
So living farther south than the intermountain west is usually makes a deficiency not a problem worth mentioning here in much of the U.S.

I didn't take it for many years, and around this time of winter, I always came down with a seasonal depression. Quite often, I would also catch whatever virus was going around too, and would never be able to shake it off.

Once I began adding D3, both of those became much better. I now go through winters with no depression, and if I do catch something, a bug doesn't hang with me for weeks like they once did.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:33 PM
 
Location: Idaho
6,330 posts, read 7,675,157 times
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Is it also recommended to take D3 in the summer? I was planning to discontinue in another few weeks as I'll be spending pretty much every day outside once the snow melts here in the lowlands. Maybe I should reconsider that.
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Old 03-14-2019, 12:00 PM
 
Location: Idaho
2,085 posts, read 1,911,697 times
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It's been a year since we moved from New York to Sunnyslope, Caldwell.

The weather here has been much better than we had expected.

There were a dozen or so days in July and August with temperatures near or above 100F. On those days, we were still able to work outside in the morning until about noon then later in the evening after 6-7pm until sunset at 9-10pm. Our A/C set at 84F turned on only few hours on those hot days.

This winter has been surprisingly mild. It has snowed only about 4 or 5 times with <1" each time. I used the snow pusher once to scrape some patches of packed snow on our walkways - all in the shapes of paw prints ;-). My husband laughed at my nostalgic action because the snow usually melted by noon. I have been rowing on the Snake River all through winter. The only time I found some ice at the edge of the riverbank was on my New Year row. I think the temperatures dipped in the high teens only once or twice. There were quite a few days this winter with temperatures got up in the high 50s.

We visit our daughter who lives in Boise every so often. This winter Boise had more snow, dark and cloudy days than our location. It's likely because we are not near the foothills and the river has moderated air temperatures (warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Regarding traffic, we ran into a traffic jam only once last summer on our way to Boise at Nampa I 84 intersection (due to road construction - the highway was closing one of the 33 exits. We now only have exit 33 instead of 33A and B). If you live in Caldwell/Nampa and commute to Boise, there will be some traffic during rush hours. However, the traffic jams are nowhere near the levels we had experienced in big cities like Boston, New York, LA and Seattle. I think there is road budget of something like 13M to widen I 84 sections near Nampa/Caldwell. This will definitely help with the rush hour congestion.

About job opportunities, I think people with trade skills would have no problems finding jobs in Caldwell/Nampa area. I believe the combined population of these neighboring cities is around 130K.
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Old 03-14-2019, 01:01 PM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,903,779 times
Reputation: 2787
Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaDL View Post
It's been a year since we moved from New York to Sunnyslope, Caldwell.

The weather here has been much better than we had expected.

There were a dozen or so days in July and August with temperatures near or above 100F. On those days, we were still able to work outside in the morning until about noon then later in the evening after 6-7pm until sunset at 9-10pm. Our A/C set at 84F turned on only few hours on those hot days.

This winter has been surprisingly mild. It has snowed only about 4 or 5 times with <1" each time. I used the snow pusher once to scrape some patches of packed snow on our walkways - all in the shapes of paw prints ;-). My husband laughed at my nostalgic action because the snow usually melted by noon. I have been rowing on the Snake River all through winter. The only time I found some ice at the edge of the riverbank was on my New Year row. I think the temperatures dipped in the high teens only once or twice. There were quite a few days this winter with temperatures got up in the high 50s.

We visit our daughter who lives in Boise every so often. This winter Boise had more snow, dark and cloudy days than our location. It's likely because we are not near the foothills and the river has moderated air temperatures (warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Regarding traffic, we ran into a traffic jam only once last summer on our way to Boise at Nampa I 84 intersection (due to road construction - the highway was closing one of the 33 exits. We now only have exit 33 instead of 33A and B). If you live in Caldwell/Nampa and commute to Boise, there will be some traffic during rush hours. However, the traffic jams are nowhere near the levels we had experienced in big cities like Boston, New York, LA and Seattle. I think there is road budget of something like 13M to widen I 84 sections near Nampa/Caldwell. This will definitely help with the rush hour congestion.

About job opportunities, I think people with trade skills would have no problems finding jobs in Caldwell/Nampa area. I believe the combined population of these neighboring cities is around 130K.
Sounds good
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