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I'm in a similar situation. I'm from Portland Oregon, and I just got admitted to the University of Montana! But I'm wondering what people know about places to work and the weather?
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
2,308 posts, read 4,120,376 times
Reputation: 5025
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elkman
I am a midwesterner and I hate the bone chilling cold we get. I'm also thinking of moving to Montana but worry about the winter weather.
Go to Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground
type Missoula, MT in search block
In the line immeadiatly below the search block, click on History Data
Type in "MSO" in the Location block & click submit
Now on the Daily Summary page, click on Custom
Now you're on the Custom Summary Page...
Type in: Jan 1st 2007 to Dec 31 2007 Or any other year you prefer.
Study the charts....you'll get a good idea as to Missoula's weather at the Airport. Other locations within 10 miles of the air port can vary up to at least 10 to 15 % ..up on down.
Personally I am not a fan of Missoula. Going there to pick up things I can't get at the local grocer and medication is a chore. I just don't care for the energy of the city. Sure, it's beautiful to look at, but it's not my cup of tea. For you, it might be. You're probably alot younger and would fit in with the younger set. Is it a more peaceful area to live in? If you're looking for peace, you might opt to live somewhere outside of the city.
You'll probably be surprised to find yourself dealing with heavy traffic in some areas, particularly reserve road. And oh boy, do I really hate going down that road during the busy hours! You also may be surprised to find that the drivers up here ..... drive pretty scary sometimes. You just have to be careful. You're also dealing with animals jumping out into the road at any time. My husband was really surprised to encounter a herd of deer crossing reserve at 4:30 am on his way to work. For him, it was the first time seeing that many deer in that part of town since he began commuting there a couple years ago.
We hung out at Caras park a few times over the summer, and took our daughter to play in the park, but to be honest, I prefer the likes of my small town once I get home. For us, Missoula is okay for a night at the movie or dinner. For the young'un's they might find something else to do lol
Now would I feel safe walking downtown on Higgins or anywhere else late at night alone? No! Like any other town though, you want to be cautious. It's not the 50's anymore.
I have nothing against hippies or liberals, but, they can get a bit annoying when they choose to misbehave when you're strolling down the sidewalk with your family. Last summer we went to see a friend at the Wilma and a group of hippies were hanging out on the bridge. Some girl pulled her top off right there in front of my 6 year old. :/
One night when my husband and I were going to dinner downtown, a couple was engaging in public intimacies that should only be taking place in privacy right outside near the riverfront parking lot.
But see, I'm a little prudish and old fashioned. My mother raised me to behave like a respectful lady. I tend to take offense to things that another may not find offensive.
And gee, I guess I don't care for the Independent's ads in the back either. But then again I don't have to pick up the paper and open it either!
I have lived in alot of areas and I really think that Missoula is a fine place to attend college. Personally, I don't know about their Business program, but if I were young and making a choice I would want to go there rather than some big city school.
Everywhere has crime. You can't escape it completely. I don't think Missoula is as bad as other places I have lived in, when making the comparisons.
As for friendly people, there are alot of them up here and you won't have a problem making friends. Just be yourself and use common sense in regards to your safety
The weather for me is tolerable. But I am an Alaskan native and I've also lived a number of years in some rough midwestern winters. I really think this part of Montana (I'm in the Bitterroot), is really mild in regards to temps and snow compared to the midwest. Last winter we only had a stretch of days that got real bitter cold, then it passed. Dressing in layers is very helpful.
How about average low temps? Add some moisture in the air and compare -26 to -33. I've lived in both the midwest, and Montana. Trust me, the midwest is colder.
I got conned into leasing an apartment in Downtown Missoula, they said there'd be plenty of parking. There is no parking unless you intend on feeding a meter every two hours, and even at that, there is a two-hour limit and the meter maids will tag you with a ticket for parking over 2 hours. I grew up in Hamilton and I'll tell you that this city was design for about 40,000 residents, but there are now over 90,000 residents in the greater metro area. So, yes, it gets jam-packed during the work days and also the weekends when people travel in for the bar scene, downtown.
And dare I mention the 3 "H"s? Hippies, Hobos and Homosexuals? Missoula is the Homosexual capital of the Northwestern U.S. and they operate most of the bar scene, previously mentioned. They even took over the AmVets Club, which went bankrupt, and they have yet to remove the old AmVets sign. Hobos are rampant, I find them peeing near the dumpster at my place of employment all the time. I find them sleeping between the bushes and my car, all the time. You can't come into the city without encountering the hobos. The hippies make up a portion of the hobos as well. And this is their chosen lifestyle and the reason they "live" in Missoula, because the law doesn't crack down on marijuana and doesn't crack down on vagrants. They call it "tolerance" I call it ignorance.
Once my 1 year lease is up and I've completed a few classes at the UofM, I'm moving away. The only reason that I don't rescind my decision to live here is because if I break my lease, I will not only pay a fee, but I'll still have to continue paying the rent for this apartment until they fill it again or the lease runs out, which ever comes first. That, my friends is called double-dipping and is illegal in most cities, but not Missoula.
Oh and nearly forgot. Missoula is one of the most expensive cities in Montana, to live in. The home prices here far out-pace the median income and they just double with the last assessment, which has just about everyone hopping mad, because the property taxes are now the highest in the Northwestern U.S. Sure you can buy a trailerhome for around $100,000 but you'll be paying through the nose to rent a lot to put it on. Average home price is $260,000 (thats the ghetto trash type home. If you want a decent house you'll pay over $500,000) with an annual property tax of about $4000 and unless you're a nurse or a lawyer, you won't find many jobs that pay over $25,000 a year.
Little story about my hunt for an apartment here. I looked around at the bottom end of the price range, around $800/mo., and was looking at a studio apartment near the University for $865/mo. The building was probably built around 1900 and didn't look like it had had any renovations since that time. It was literally falling down, broken windows, stunk like stall booze, cracked and leaking toilet .....and.....THE FRIGGIN stove was missing. I went back to the property management and tried to work a deal, because at that point I was tired of looking at dump after dump after dump. I told him about the missing stove. He told me; "Oh, you'll have to buy one if you want one before next year." I looked him square in the eye and asked him if he was kidding me. Nope. I went into a rant about the condition of that building and the exorbitant rent, and how a $30 flat utilities rate wasn't going to entice anyone to live there. To which he corrected me; "The flat rate is $90." WHAT? It says right in the handout: "$30/mo flat utility rate" "Oh, thats a typo. We'll have to fix that." I got up and walked out. He just call out with sarcasm; "Good luuuck!" Ass-nugget.
That's probably why I'm in this dump downtown, it's nicer, cheaper, but right in the middle of the club scene and has no parking. I should have never moved to this over-priced, over-rated, over-crowded city.
Last edited by JetMech72; 10-27-2009 at 08:53 AM..
I lived in the midwset (W Lafayette, Ind) for four years, and Missoula for 3 years. I know what the difference is between the two types of winter. Believe me, the winter in the Midwest is much worse. It's damp and windy. Missoula is a dryer type of cold, even though it may get a larger snowfall. Low humidity. Zero degrees in the midwest is worse than 15 below in Missoula. I'd rather spend several winters in Missoula to one in the midwest. Plus, Missoula is very nice in the spring and summers. Fall-pretty much a draw.
Wow, you have some rather major exaggaretions in your post...it's like a movie that was inspired by a true story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JetMech72
I got conned into leasing an apartment in Downtown Missoula, they said there'd be plenty of parking. There is no parking unless you intend on feeding a meter every two hours, and even at that, there is a two-hour limit and the meter maids will tag you with a ticket for parking over 2 hours. Downtown is only a few blocks and there is plenty of street parking if you can handle walking a couple blocks.
I grew up in Hamilton and I'll tell you that this city was design for about 40,000 residents, but there are now over 90,000 residents in the greater metro area. So, yes, it gets jam-packed during the work days and also the weekends when people travel in for the bar scene, downtown. Missoula would only be considered a city in contrast to other Montana towns. It has no "metro" area, unless you consider subdivisions a metro, and the population is much closer to 60,000.
And dare I mention the 3 "H"s? Hippies, Hobos and Homosexuals? Missoula is the Homosexual capital of the Northwestern U.S. and they operate most of the bar scene, previously mentioned. They even took over the AmVets Club, which went bankrupt, and they have yet to remove the old AmVets sign. I really think you just made this part up.
Hobos are rampant, I find them peeing near the dumpster at my place of employment all the time. I find them sleeping between the bushes and my car, all the time. You can't come into the city without encountering the hobos. The hippies make up a portion of the hobos as well. And this is their chosen lifestyle and the reason they "live" in Missoula, because the law doesn't crack down on marijuana and doesn't crack down on vagrants. They call it "tolerance" I call it ignorance.
Once my 1 year lease is up and I've completed a few classes at the UofM, I'm moving away. The only reason that I don't rescind my decision to live here is because if I break my lease, I will not only pay a fee, but I'll still have to continue paying the rent for this apartment until they fill it again or the lease runs out, which ever comes first. That, my friends is called double-dipping and is illegal in most cities, but not Missoula. True, Missoula has a homeless problem for a town it's size, but you make it sound like the slums of Rio.
Oh and nearly forgot. Missoula is one of the most expensive cities in Montana, to live in. The home prices here far out-pace the median income and they just double with the last assessment, which has just about everyone hopping mad, because the property taxes are now the highest in the Northwestern U.S. Sure you can buy a trailerhome for around $100,000 but you'll be paying through the nose to rent a lot to put it on. Average home price is $260,000 (thats the ghetto trash type home. If you want a decent house you'll pay over $500,000) with an annual property tax of about $4000 and unless you're a nurse or a lawyer, you won't find many jobs that pay over $25,000 a year. Yeah, the wages in Missoula or horrid but it's not the most of expensive town in MT, not even top three. You also made up your "statistics" in regards to average home prices. Just because Missoula is expensive compared to Scoby doesn't add any credibility to your post.
Little story about my hunt for an apartment here. I looked around at the bottom end of the price range, around $800/mo., and was looking at a studio apartment near the University for $865/mo. The building was probably built around 1900 and didn't look like it had had any renovations since that time. It was literally falling down, broken windows, stunk like stall booze, cracked and leaking toilet .....and.....THE FRIGGIN stove was missing. I went back to the property management and tried to work a deal, because at that point I was tired of looking at dump after dump after dump. I told him about the missing stove. He told me; "Oh, you'll have to buy one if you want one before next year." I looked him square in the eye and asked him if he was kidding me. Nope. I went into a rant about the condition of that building and the exorbitant rent, and how a $30 flat utilities rate wasn't going to entice anyone to live there. To which he corrected me; "The flat rate is $90." WHAT? It says right in the handout: "$30/mo flat utility rate" "Oh, thats a typo. We'll have to fix that." I got up and walked out. He just call out with sarcasm; "Good luuuck!" Ass-nugget.
You must picked a bad landlord because you're paying way too much for rent. I don't live in Missoula anymore, but I know plenty of people who still do, and per square foot, no one is paying $865 for studio size apartments.
That's probably why I'm in this dump downtown, it's nicer, cheaper, but right in the middle of the club scene and has no parking. I should have never moved to this over-priced, over-rated, over-crowded city. You're from Hamilton and you didn't know what to expect when moving to Missoula? They're 40 miles from each other.
People reading this thread who are not from Montana need to realize that many Montanans don't like Missoula because it's not like the rest of the state. Missoula would fit in much better if it was located in Oregon or Western Washington, as a result it somewhat clashes with many parts of Montana.
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