tell me about winter:) (Des Moines, Northwood: house, mall, airport)

[robojester]

Hey folks.

I am wondering how bad your winters are?

Please provide specifics if possible not just," It gets cold."

I know it gets cold but I am from Mn originally just to put things in perspective.

Looking for a place to be close to the adult kids but not too close now that we are retired.

Pretty much looking at drawing a line across the state at about Aimes and looking anything south of that line.

thanks for any info.


Joe

[riffle]

You can look up the climate graphs on the main page of City-Data. In general, along Hwy 30 will be a bit warmer than far northern IA or southern MN. CID airport did get down to -30F this past winter, but I believe that was a record for the date in question. I don't find snow accumulations here to be impressive at all; however, blizzard conditions can develop out in the open country with the wind blowing. Ice storms are a bigger issue IMO especially the further south you get. Being retired should mitigate this - just stay home when the roads are bad, and they'll be okay in a day or two.

[robojester]

Thanks
I was wondering if it melts between snows

[riffle]

Originally Posted by robojester

Thanks
I was wondering if it melts between snows

Usually, yes. I don't like it.. the brown dead ground is ugly compared to snow cover, and cross country skiing is definitely not an everyday winter activity here.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by robojester

Thanks
I was wondering if it melts between snows

Not always! Certainly not like it does in drier climates like Colorado. I remember winters where we didn't see anything but snow on the ground for months and the huge mountains of snow in mall parking lots can stick around till April. One winter (2010 or 2012...somewhere in there) there was so much snow the city (Des Moines) was running out of places to put it and they were trucking it to the outskirts. That was an unusually snowy, long, horrible winter, but it happens. I remember shoveling nearly every day and one day I had to park 2 blocks from my house because my street wasn't plowed and it was too deep to drive down (in the city). And the time my power went out for 16 hours when it was a blizzard outside. Got down to about 50 in the house. Man, I don't miss that!

As someone else said, blizzard conditions are very common as it doesn't take a large volume of snow to create zero visibility when the wind is blowing at 30 mph.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by riffle

Usually, yes. I don't like it.. the brown dead ground is ugly compared to snow cover, and cross country skiing is definitely not an everyday winter activity here.

I disagree. I'd rather see the brown dead ground than the blackened, filthy snow mounds on the side of the road that stuck around forever! I never thought snow was pretty, though, not even when it was fresh. All I saw was a chore to be done (shoveling) and pain the butt driving conditions and slick sidewalks.

[BeauCharles]

The single winter I spent in Des Moines it dropped below 32F a few days days before Thanksgiving and it didn't go above 32F until the last week of February. Below freezing day and night for three months straight. From what I understand that's not really typical though.

[riffle]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

The single winter I spent in Des Moines it dropped below 32F a few days days before Thanksgiving and it didn't go above 32F until the last week of February. Below freezing day and night for three months straight. From what I understand that's not really typical though.

https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/on...day=2016-03-04

http://www.weather.gov/media/dmx/Cli...limateData.pdf
Most Consecutive Days of Max at 32 degrees or Lower: 47 January 8 – February 23, 1978

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by riffle

https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/on...day=2016-03-04

http://www.weather.gov/media/dmx/Cli...limateData.pdf
Most Consecutive Days of Max at 32 degrees or Lower: 47 January 8 – February 23, 1978

This was back in the 80s. I guess my memory is completely faulty. Either that or as a California it just felt like it was below freezing for months!

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

This was back in the 80s. I guess my memory is completely faulty. Either that or as a California it just felt like it was below freezing for months!

Yeah, the colder winter of 1978-79 the western UP of Michigan had over 450 inches of snowfall in the Lake Superior Snowbelt. Iowa winters are just typical of the Midwest, but not cold compared to the Northwoods. Yes, if you are coming from the Sunbelt they are frigid if you factor in the wind, which is problematic much of the time in Iowa.