Best Dry Snowfall To Seattle (Spokane, Yakima: schools, earthquakes, living in)

[Destiny77]

I am planning to move to washington next summer and want to live in a good community for children/family with good jobs/schools and so forth but desire to have snowfall every year in my yard for my kids to play as oppose to the more wet winters Seattle offers. Leavenworth weather sounds perfect but can I get this same kind of weather a little closer to the west even going more North maybe? Really didnt want to be 2 hours from Seattle but having lived in Florida 35 years....4 distinct seasons and dryer snowy white winters are our hearts desire. Please help....so many areas to choose from??!

[scirocco22]

I'm going to say; short answer, no. I believe climatologically impossible. You'll have to be looking at locations on the east slopes of the Cascades and locations on the east side of the mountains for dry snow. The majority of the time, the west side will get relatively wet snow ...when it does snow. Even places in the mountains such as Snoqualmie Pass will get a wetter snow due to the marine undercurrent and relatively high temperatures pertaining to their snow conditions. Snoqualmie Pass ski areas are not particularly noted for their powder snow conditions as it's usually a heavier wet snow they typically receive.

How about Cle Elum or Ellensburg? Still about two hours from Seattle during the winter but probably the closest if you're considering commuting to the Seattle area.

[Destiny77]

Sir,
AreCle Elum or Ellensburg more city type mountain areas with snow. Its hard because I dont know much about any of the areas except for what I find on the internet. We want to be by the mountains with dryer annual snowfall but not out in the middle of nowwhere. Still desire to be able to find jobs, shop, hit coffee joints, etc within the area where we are living. Do you know if any of these areas like that? I really dont even know if Leavenworth is like that although their Barvarian Village looked neat. Just dont want to have to sacrifice people/activity for nature. Trying to find a happy medium of the two. Thanks for your help.

[wythors]

If these are really your criteria, Washington probably isn't the place for you. The populated areas of western WA get very little snow, generally speaking, and what they do get is usually very sloppy, wet and short-lived. The eastern side of the state is much drier and gets a little more snow, but still not much by the standards of those in the midwest or on the east coast. Living in a town like Cle Elum or Leavenworth will certainly get you the snow you desire, but the trade off will be lack of jobs or other amenities, as well as having to deal with horrible winter driving conditions to get over the mountain passes to reach the more urban things you desire. If four seasons and dry snow is really your "heart's desire", I would think Colorado, Montana, Wyoming or Idaho might be more appropriate.

[scirocco22]

Okay, so you're aren't looking at commuting to Seattle?

If not, you probably should be looking east of the Cascades. However, most places that are big enough to have the amenities you're looking for may not have snow on the ground all winter.

Places located on the eastern slopes of the mountains will probably be what you're looking for as far as snow goes but you may not find jobs, a lot of shopping opportunities, etc. Leavenworth, Cashmere, Twisp, Cle Elum, etc. all may have snow on the ground the majority of the winter but you'll have probably have to sacrifice having some of the amenities you listed unless you start considering places like Wenatchee, Ellensburg, Yakima ...or even Spokane. The smaller towns on the outskirts of Spokane may be worth considering.

All the cities and towns on the east side of the mountains will have a drier more powdery snow but not necessarily snow on the ground the entire winter.

Let's see what others have to say.

[scirocco22]

Yeah, I agree with Wythors in that the picture of Washington you have in your mind is probably flawed. Although it's in a northern location, Washington isn't a huge "snow state."

[KidBlue]

Is there any reason you are only looking only at WA state? What you are describing fits Pollock Pines in El Dorado Co, CA perfectly. It is about an hour's drive from Sacramento (i.e. jobs), lots of small cute shops about 15 minutes away in Placerville (I'm sure there's a coffee shop in town too). The housing is much cheaper than most of CA.

It will be very dry in the summer and around 80-90 degrees. In the winter it will never get below 10 degrees, hardly ever gets much below 20 degrees, and will get a couple of feet of snow, sometimes more in total, but usually not more than 6-12 inches at once. Lots of black oak and Ponderosa pine. There's also a beautiful state/county park and reservoir there. Just a thought.....

[Destiny77]

We chose WA for 2 main reasons: Our original plan was BC but through researching the immigration process it seems the waiting times for application processing to get in and job situation is a little much more than we wanted to deal with/wait for right now. WA just seemed to be a no brainer because we could drive/ferry up to BC and slowly possibly still make our way up there. 2nd reason is because my husband loves to surf and snowboard and although you can get this on the East side of the U.S. in Virginia, North Carolina, and on up the coast......we just dont ultimately feel the beauty is comparable or should I say the same. When you've been waiting this long you want REAL mountains and coast if you know what I mean. We tend to think the lifestyle will be better over there too but honestly really dont know thus here I am. The North east is definately not the lifestyle/setting we are looking for, nor is North Carolina. You are right though Colorado is truly MY ultimate choice but no ocean there and lakes wont cut it for him. When your used to living within 2 hours of the ocean and want to add the mountains/snow .....what better choices are there than WA, CA, or BC? The CA town sounds great but just a little too far from BC. Not to confuse it up even a little more but I saw another discussion on here about earthquakes in Seattle. Is that a big concern on the eastern side of the cascades too? I've learned to live with hurricanes but atleast they come with a warning. Also, Sir mentioned Ellensburg which I've been checking out....seems like a happy medium.....what do ya think???Thanks for all the comments. Greatly appreciated!!!

[wythors]

If surfing is your husband's thing, again, I really don't think WA is what you think it is. Yes, people do surf here, but it involves full wet suits in July and the waves aren't the big breakers that they get in Cali, just low slow rollers.

[Destiny77]

Thanks for the heads up. A realistic picture is definately something I need. Actually slow rollers in the cold are OK. He's used to surfing mostly slow rollers on the Gulf Coast west side of Florida during Winter Hurricane season with a wetsuit cause thats really the only time the Gulf picks up like that. Otherwise he travels 3 hours to East coast when the swell is up. I get the picture now that you really cant have city, surf, and winter wonderland. So 1st choice would be winter wonderland with some kind of community/job life. Dont have to have it all....just dont want to be out in the middle of nowhere. I read on another post and Sudden Valley sounded nice. What's your thought on that say compared to Ellensburg? Just dont want to be where snow is not a yearly thing and snowboarding/sking is not close by. Thanks alot.