CDA Winters? IF Winters, etc.? (car, retiree, driveway)

[volosong]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Speaking of mountains...

Wrong. Mt. Whitney in California is 14,494. It beats Colorado's Mt. Elbert at 14,433...

Neat bit of history about Mount Whitney. When the USGS surveyed the peak, it came out at exactly 14,500 feet. Saying that nobody would believe them and that they just made up the number, they knocked six feet off the official measurement. Might be moot considering the tectonic activity in California. Who knows what it is now.

[nm9stheham]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

more gray days

This is on thing I pay attention and has made me lees inclined to retire to the far northern Rockies. Cd'A shows a month or so lower than average for sunny days versus the US average, per this source. I.F. shows almost right at average. But I would expect that the fewer sunny days in Cd'A is one of the reasons for the nice evergreen forests at lower altitudes than where it is sunnier and drier.

[Ella ellinghausen]

I LIVED IN IOWA GROWING UP! I remember below zero, and a foot of snow over night...
Coeur D Alene is awesome. NOTHING like that Iowa weather- not winter, or summer or any.
I lived in Seattle 20 years, Nampa/Boise ID 4 years, and CDA ID 5 years now.

Wikipedia? what? CDA is fine. It hardly ever gets below zero, and yes of course it snows.
But for heavens sake, Dubuque had that icy ski hill and all that. and yes, it rains here, but no tornadoes.
BanjoMike knows his stuff, and so does Misty.
ellae_forreal

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by wiseguy15

Why does everyone broadbrush CDA as having bad winters? I just went through my third winter in CDA after moving from CO. The only challenges are there are more gray days and the snow doesn't melt very quickly. The temps are milder throughout the winter which is both good and bad, bad because many of our snows are the wet and heavy variety which are hard to move. As for the gray days just find new hobbies and stay busy.

Well, if someone has never spent their life in the mountain west for any length of time, it's only natural to think the winters here are bad. They are bad for a native Californian who has never spent any winter in ice and snow.

At the same time, Idaho doesn't get very much wet snow or ice storms, as it happens in the midwest so often. The winds here are oceanic, but the Sierras, Blues, and other coastal ranges tend to scrub the moisture out of them on the windward side, so there isn't much moisture left in the air to produce the wet snows that are so common on the coast.

So for someone who's lived in the midwest all their life, where the temps might be higher but so is the humidity, a winter here may seem to be milder just because it's so dry in comparison.

Folks who have never lived here, or even visited here, know almost nothing at all about Idaho. Even if they move here and settle down, and never travel around this big state, they still know next to nothing about the entire state and its many vast differences. Other states aren't like this one, and most are far more similar all over than here.

I don't fault anyone for their ignorance. I know next to nothing about life in the midwest, as I only passed through some of it once, 50 years ago on my way back home here. So if I was considering a move to Ohio, I would be just as ignorant of what the state's conditions are and what a life there is like.

The questions I might ask would probably be seen as being dumb by Ohioans, and I'm sure I would get many different answers, along with some snark from a few natives. That's the way the net is.

That's also why I often say: Idaho is different from what you think it is, and it's not a paradise. Some folks move and like it, some move and hate it.

Right now, Idaho is the great romantic spot in the romantic west to build a nice little home to get away from all the nastiness of humanity. That's a powerful fantasy, but it's still only a fantasy, and a bad reason to commit to something as life-changing as a move with no plans of return.

Real life here is not always pleasant, and there will be many things folks take for granted where they're living that simply don't exist here. Some never will exist.

[509]

Originally Posted by Ella ellinghausen

I LIVED IN IOWA GROWING UP! I remember below zero, and a foot of snow over night...
Coeur D Alene is awesome. NOTHING like that Iowa weather- not winter, or summer or any.
I lived in Seattle 20 years, Nampa/Boise ID 4 years, and CDA ID 5 years now.

Wikipedia? what? CDA is fine. It hardly ever gets below zero, and yes of course it snows.
But for heavens sake, Dubuque had that icy ski hill and all that. and yes, it rains here, but no tornadoes.
BanjoMike knows his stuff, and so does Misty.
ellae_forreal

My first winter in CDA was in 1978. Minus 25 at night for three weeks. The lake froze over. Half the homes in town had their water lines freeze and stay frozen until mid-March.

It wasn't bad. I survived. Of course, my water lines did not freeze.

But the gray skies did me in....got out of CDA. If I wanted dark and gray skies.....I would have moved to Seattle.

Oh, that summer I had a fire in the fireplace on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. That summer was worse than the following winter.

[nm9stheham]

Understood on the grey skies..... some folks seem to be OK with that and others not. Our 2nd February in the midwest (IN), the skies were 100% overcast for 14 days, the sun came out for 1/2 day, then it clouded up again for another 10 straight days! It sure was a change from what my wife and I were used to. We recently passed on a very nice house in Seeley Lake MT that we both loved... lots of snow (which I like) but too few sunny days that far north for us. I have a sincere appreciation for those who thrive on the cloudier weather.

[mtngirlatheart]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

One huge thing for me is the beautiful evergreens that dominate our landscape and forests.
So much less dreary than bare branches.

Absolutely 100%. I always thought winters in CDA and north Idaho as a whole were beautiful. It's quite a difference just 5 hours southeast in the central part, and not in a good way, lol.

[Shaner]

Winters get grey, thats why I have made it my focus to travel then 2nd week of January every year for 1 week, reboot my grey meter =)

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by Shaner

Winters get grey, thats why I have made it my focus to travel then 2nd week of January every year for 1 week, reboot my grey meter =)

Where’d you go this past winter?
We traveled a winter before last but stayed put this winter. It got a bit long for my husband. Which makes it king for me.
Seriously thinking about doing the snowbird thing in AZ next year. Just for 2-3 months.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Originally Posted by Ella ellinghausen

I LIVED IN IOWA GROWING UP! I remember below zero, and a foot of snow over night...
Coeur D Alene is awesome. NOTHING like that Iowa weather- not winter, or summer or any.
I lived in Seattle 20 years, Nampa/Boise ID 4 years, and CDA ID 5 years now.

Wikipedia? what? CDA is fine. It hardly ever gets below zero, and yes of course it snows.
But for heavens sake, Dubuque had that icy ski hill and all that. and yes, it rains here, but no tornadoes.
BanjoMike knows his stuff, and so does Misty.
ellae_forreal

One VERY COOL thing about CDA winters is the city snow plows use snow gates. Most people have never heard of these, but what happens is when the plow goes by your driveway they'll drop the gate and instead of blocking your driveway right after you cleared it, the gate blocks the snow and then they release it when they get past your driveway.

I see Spokane has jumped aboard the bandwagon.

This article says they only work on road graders, not plow trucks. I don't recall that part.

Here