Curious about weather (Black Forest, Woodland Park, Monument: how much, buying, live in)

[Dangerous Dave]

So, I put in for a promotion in Springs. I'm curious about the climate. I'm not a stranger to cold, snowy winters having lived in Wyoming and now metro Spokane and it's not going to have any real bearing on whether or not I accept the position if it's offered.


Just wanted to see how many days a year below zero degrees is expected. Also, how much snow during the winter and do people own snow blowers there?


We went from dry, high elevation with snowy but sunny winters to lower elevation, snowy winters where the sun doesn't come out to melt the snow off and it accumulates all winter. We much prefer what we had in Wyoming where the snow would come, then two days later it would be sunny and the snow would melt off, even if it were just 15-20 degrees.


Thanks for any input.

[TCHP]

Our winters are more like Wyoming's than Spokane's.

Snow blowers, I've seen em. We need them maybe once or twice a decade. I recall my Grandparents had one and it would sit so long in between uses that when they finally needed it, it was a day long affair to get it running again.

[beezle1]

Amount of snow will vary depending on where you are in the Springs. Higher elevations will get more and it will stay around longer (Monument, northern Black Forest, Palmer Divide area, Woodland Park, foothills). I live up on the Palmer Divide and I DO have a snow blower, and I DO use it a couple times per year. I have a long driveway that drifts and if I don't clear it in the drifted areas it turns to ice.

[TCHP]

..and with that I show my hometown bias. To me, Colo Spgs is the city proper, bordered by Marksheffle Rd and Briargate Parkway, although I think Northgate is now part of the city as well. None of the places you listed are, to me, Colo Spgs. But, since we now have the Colo Spgs MSA, and many newcomers consider it all the same, I suppose I should work at getting over that.

[Vision67]

How many days below zero? About 5.

Need a snowblower? I bought an electric snowblower last year to replace my 25 year old 5 hp dual stage sears. The electric does a good enough job, it's light weight and we used it about 3 times per winter so far.

[MsMetal]

I come from Mpls, so I find winters here super easy. Many, many days around 50+ degrees & it always feels about 10 degrees warmer than it is.

I've never counted, but the days below 0 are very minimal, a handful. A few more nights below 0, but again minimal.

Snowblowers? All depends on where you live in the city & how much driveway/sidewalk you have. Oh & how young & fit you are. The further north & west you are, the more snow you'll get. But if you orient your driveway correctly (south or west), the sun will do the bulk of the work for you on many occasions.

Snowfall really tends to vary from year to year & with your location. I've been here 16 yrs & we've only had 1 bad year. Most of the snow melts within 1-2 days. One thing to be aware of that shocked us, is that side streets are not plowed. Pretty much ever. The city just waits for the sun to melt the snow. Main roads are plowed, but even that is a joke. It can take a long time. Also, the other thing that was hard to get used to is that the snowfall is rarely predictable. It's quite common (b/c of the Rocky Mtns) for the forecasters to not have a clue whether you're getting 4" or 2' until the snow starts. They always say that a 50 mile change in the storm track can make a giant impact on how much snow we'll get. They also rarely even TRY to forecast until the night before. It makes it very hard to plan accordingly & is very different than a midwest snowstorm.

ETA: Oh & we own a snowblower & some years don't use it at all. Other years we use it a few times. We often get the kind of snow that's not really conducive to blowing. In fact, you'll often see people out with a broom, not a shovel.

[Dangerous Dave]

Gotcha. That's what I suspected. I'm sure it's a lot sunnier there in the winter than what we have in the NW. Granted, we also just got over a "top ten" year of snowfall with 117 inches. It's wet and heavy (snowball ready!). I actually do own an electric snowblower, which out here is better than shoveling, but not by much. We're debating buying a gas model but we'll see if I get the job first...


And judging by MsMetal's reply, we'll be holding onto our 4x4 cars regardless.