Gunnison or Steamboat Springs??

[CosmicWizard]

Visit in January when winter has settled upon the land.

[sheila_917]

Good idea, Cosmic Wizard, but the transfer would be next month!!! Just in time for your month and a half of summer!! Too bad I won't be in Palm Springs to watch the asphalt melt!

[jazzlover]

The great thing about Gunnison winters is that there is very little wind. In fact, the lack of wind is why the ambient temperatures sink so low--the cold air just drains into the valley and stays there. March is usually the windiest month, but even it is not bad. Utilities? The good news is no need for air conditioning in the summer. Summer temps seldom get above 85°, usually 80° or less--summer lows usually into the low 40's or high 30's--did see 21° one time on June 21st--the first day of summer! Winter utilities can be high, especially if your apartment, house, etc. is not well insulated and winterized. $200-$400 per month for natural gas is not unusual at all for even an average size place. Gunnison has actually been getting warmer in the winter over the last 20 years or so. Winter temps the last few years (though '07-'08 was pretty cold according to me friends who live up there) have tended toward highs in the teen's and 20's, with lows down around -10° to -20°--nothing like the 40 to 50 below zero nights I saw some January's and February's when I lived there. One year we went 32 days straight without getting above 0°--and, yes, that's Fahrenheit, not Centigrade.

I still would choose Gunnison in a heartbeat over Steamboat, Aspen, or Vail--all overpriced "cartoon" versions of what Colorado should be--and all full of a bunch of mostly affluent, pretentious, out-of-state trustifarians and other ne'er-do-wells. Gunnison is way closer to being a real town with real people.