Which area has warmest winter LOWS? (Boise, Idaho Falls: house, living in, versus)

[JDproAV]

I know that Lewiston is a warm place. Just wondering if it has the warmest lows in the state.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Idaho is not the place to move to if you want warm weather.

[banjomike]

It all depends on what you call cold.

There is nowhere here that can't drop down past zero in any winter in this state. Minus zero temps are common in January and February anywhere here. The average winter here never goes above 30º for more than a few days, often hovers around 0º, and on clear nights, can drop to -20º frequently.

Cold is to Idaho what humidity is to Florida. Idaho will never be a warm state, just as Florida will never have dry air.

[NW Crow]

It appears Riggins is just slightly warmer than Lewiston. They probably have the warmest lows because of low elevation and heat trapping hills nearby. If there is a rare ID place warmer, I'm not searching for it. I don't think it exists. Lewiston averages 27 for low in January and 42 for full year. Only 2 days / yr below zero. Riggins is about 1 degree warmer with 1 less day below zero.

[nm9stheham]

Yes, I was surprised at the low elevation.... I did not know that there was any place in Idaho under 1000' elevation but Lewiston is at 745'

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

It appears Riggins is just slightly warmer than Lewiston. They probably have the warmest lows because of low elevation and heat trapping hills nearby. If there is a rare ID place warmer, I'm not searching for it. I don't think it exists. Lewiston averages 27 for low in January and 42 for full year. Only 2 days / yr below zero. Riggins is about 1 degree warmer with 1 less day below zero.

Yup. During the winters here, the cold air high above becomes denser so it sinks and displaces the warmer air below. The cold air will sink to the lowest point, driving the warmer air away, and quite often above the cold layer.
Once that happens, the cold air stays put on the ground. The warmer air will be at the top of the mountain, not the bottom, until it cools down below the temperature on the ground. And then the cycle begins again, as the cold air on the ground gradually warms.

In a hole like Riggins or Lewiston, those inversions can stick around for a long time. While Moscow may be colder as an average year round, on a cold winter, Moscow, because it's higher and more open, may actually be a few degrees warmer for most of the winter than Lewiston.

We're not talking about a big temperature difference here. A typical inversion is only less than 10 degrees colder or warmer, but it is enough to notice when you go above or below the inversion zone.

And no one ever knows how cold any winter will become or not in a particular location. 50 years ago, the weather patterns were much more stable and predictable than they are now, so choosing a place to live with weather as a major consideration is going to be a fruitless enterprise.

Personally, I could never live in Riggins. The canyon the town is in is far too dark year round and far too closed in for me, so the few degrees of warmth it has wouldn't make life there much different. I would be miserable living in such a dark narrow place.

So if Lewiston was my only other choice, I would choose Lewiston. It's sunnier. But since almost the entire panhandle is cloudier all winter than in the south, if my choices weren't limited, I would move to an area in the south because it's sunnier in the winters even if it is colder. I need sun in the winters. I can deal with the cold easier than the lack of sunshine.

The darkness of winter bothers me so much that I rejoice when I get a dazzling, bright day that's -20º in sunlight so bright I need shades. Dressing for the cold is quite easy for me. The darkness isn't at all easy.

That's just me. Other folks may not have such trouble dealing with the overcast as I have.

[JDproAV]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Yup. During the winters here, the cold air high above becomes denser so it sinks and displaces the warmer air below. The cold air will sink to the lowest point, driving the warmer air away, and quite often above the cold layer.
Once that happens, the cold air stays put on the ground. The warmer air will be at the top of the mountain, not the bottom, until it cools down below the temperature on the ground. And then the cycle begins again, as the cold air on the ground gradually warms.

In a hole like Riggins or Lewiston, those inversions can stick around for a long time. While Moscow may be colder as an average year round, on a cold winter, Moscow, because it's higher and more open, may actually be a few degrees warmer for most of the winter than Lewiston.

We're not talking about a big temperature difference here. A typical inversion is only less than 10 degrees colder or warmer, but it is enough to notice when you go above or below the inversion zone.

And no one ever knows how cold any winter will become or not in a particular location. 50 years ago, the weather patterns were much more stable and predictable than they are now, so choosing a place to live with weather as a major consideration is going to be a fruitless enterprise.

Personally, I could never live in Riggins. The canyon the town is in is far too dark year round and far too closed in for me, so the few degrees of warmth it has wouldn't make life there much different. I would be miserable living in such a dark narrow place.

So if Lewiston was my only other choice, I would choose Lewiston. It's sunnier. But since almost the entire panhandle is cloudier all winter than in the south, if my choices weren't limited, I would move to an area in the south because it's sunnier in the winters even if it is colder. I need sun in the winters. I can deal with the cold easier than the lack of sunshine.

The darkness of winter bothers me so much that I rejoice when I get a dazzling, bright day that's -20º in sunlight so bright I need shades. Dressing for the cold is quite easy for me. The darkness isn't at all easy.

That's just me. Other folks may not have such trouble dealing with the overcast as I have.

Thanks for the info. Really good points. So what are the sunniest spots in ID?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by JDproAV

Thanks for the info. Really good points. So what are the sunniest spots in ID?

I honestly don't know statistically. But I have lived in Moscow, Boise, Caldwell, and Idaho Falls through an entire winter, and I prefer Idaho Falls.

I can't say whether I do winter here the best because I was born here, or if it is actually due to more sunshine. It gets overcast here just as it does everywhere else, but I don't remember being stunned by a sunny day in Moscow or the other cities, although it could have happened.

There have been many of those days here in I.F. At least a few every winter, and sometimes many. But, as I mentioned, they are most often by far the coldest days as well, and for a fact, Idaho Falls is colder on average than Lewiston year round.

It's all a trade-off, because the winter days in the south are also longer than they are in NID. One end of this state is closer to the north pole by almost 800 miles than the other, and it makes a difference in daylight hours. Not by all that much, but enough to be noticed in the afternoons.

Because I'm a native, I'm so accustomed to cold it truly doesn't bother me nearly as much as heat. It's very easy to add a layer of clothing when chilly. Bringing that extra layer along became habitual.

When I'm down to bare skin and still too hot, cooling down is often more difficult for me. And for me, 90º is a hot day.

I notice the lack of daylight because I have always had SADD severely all my life. You might never notice it as much as I do.

[nm9stheham]

Agreed on the low, still areas in winter. We were in Stanley in Jan '17 for a week and the air was really still.... If you walked up on a nearby hill 300' higher, the temps were 10-15F warmer than in the valley bottom. Happens here in VA too.... on a still day, the mountains can be 5-10F warmer than the hollows on the flanks of the mountains, and in certain hollows, a stiff wind will set up around sunset, carrying cold air down the mountainsides.

As for the sunny days, in general the northern panhandle of ID has considerably fewer sunny days than the south of ID. Per one source, Idaho Falls is at 201 sunny days per year on average, and Lewsiton is at 169 days, a difference of over a month. Twin Falls is at 210 sunny days average per year, and Boise is at 206. State average is 197 sunny days per year. So you trade off moisture (rain and snow) and more forested areas and clouds in the north, versus sunny but drier in the south. We've passed up on a very nice house in NW MT because of the considerably fewer sunny days per year than in the sunnier parts of ID and WY.

[Meleemadness]

Originally Posted by banjomike

It all depends on what you call cold.

There is nowhere here that can't drop down past zero in any winter in this state. Minus zero temps are common in January and February anywhere here. The average winter here never goes above 30º for more than a few days, often hovers around 0º, and on clear nights, can drop to -20º frequently.

Cold is to Idaho what humidity is to Florida. Idaho will never be a warm state, just as Florida will never have dry air.

Well, I can vouch for Florida never having dry air and always being hot!!! When the humidity is at 70% (not often) we jump for joy as it is considered dry!!