weather in Colorado?

[artsyguy]

Is Denver and Boulder considered "High Country"??

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

Is Denver and Boulder considered "High Country"??

Boulder butts up against the mountains, is not High Country. Denver is 15-20 miles east of the mountains, on far western edge of Great Plains, not High Country. On a map, see the area served by I-25; this north-south corridor is known as the Front Range (the east side of the Rockies). Cities along the I-25 corridor are not High Country.

There is also the Western Slope (west side of the Rockies) and that would be cities like Grand Junction, also somewhat desert-like.

The High Country is the high mountains in the center of the state, all the places you see on the news (Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Winter Park, Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Leadville, Steamboat Springs, etc). These are the areas that get the huge winter snows, skiing, and the avalanches. Also the huge home prices made famous by the very wealthy.

The larger region of CO, WY, MT, ID, UT, and parts of NM, NV and AZ etc, is often referred to as the "Inter-Mountain West" (think "Mountain Time Zone).

When you see garish TV news of semi-trucks jack-knifed on a snow-covered mountainside near Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, way west of Denver, that is the High Country, and that is the image my pals back east think of when they think of Colorado. Wrong! My home is in Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, along I-25, with a view of the mountains, elevation 6650, but on that western edge of the grassland prairie. The official nomenclature for this area is "alpine desert" as we get about 15 inches of precip a year along here. A few miles east of here, it is flat - all the way to St Louis, MO.

s/Mike

[SouthDenverGuy]

Originally Posted by Been There

You are right elfyum, I lived in Colorado Springs for two years and it was the coldest place on earth next to Antarctica. To say it is mild there is a real joke! Also they don't tell people about all the gangs, murders, robberies and all that there. I got out of there because of crime and the COLD! I'd suggest you rent a place in winter there before you commit to buying a house there. These guys who are telling you what a great place it is may be realtors! BEWARE!

I would agree with Mike back East totally. Springs is very conservative, but very livable and pleasant. The weather can be varible, not much snow last winter and pretty mild; may be different this year. 300 days of sunshine here, I will never leave Colorado, and wished I had moved out here 30 years ago instead of 10.