Utah or Colorado? (Park City, Aurora: homes, neighborhoods, school)

[kaytidid]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

Sweet revenge!

As the light softens and a chill fills the air, nary a heatmonger eye remains dry.
The last gasp of summer's inferno fades into the deep purple twilight; my time quickly approaches.
I but smile as tortured trails of tears flow down each of the summerfolk's chilled cheeks...

Could I offer you a jacket?

Ah, Chris...your sarcasm is not endearing.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

Maybe ChrisC could post something that would give you some kind of an idea of how many days a year you'd find to be within your perfect weather range. ... it seems to me that we have a TON of days that would be between 30 and 60 degrees. If you can deal with maybe four months of weather that would be too hot for you, you'd at least have close to eight that you'd love.

Okay, you posed an interesting question/problem. I took the average daily high temperature stats from the Western Regional Climate Center Salt LakeCity nwsfo reporting station for all years reported. Keep in mind that there are a bunch of reporting stations in the area that will vary slightly; I chose this one to give a "middle ground" from north to south along the Wasatch Front. I did a little spreadsheet work and here are some basic stats:

These are the stats for daily high temperatures (I didn't take into account the nightly low temps).

Number of days with a high temp below 40 degrees: 55 //As a percent: 15% ///cumulative percent below 40: 15%
Number of days with a high temp 40 – 49 degrees: 58 ///As a percent: 16% ///cumulative percent below 50: 31%
Number of days with a high temp 50 – 59 degrees: 50 ///As a percent: 14% ///cumulative percent below 60: 45%
Number of days with a high temp 60 – 69 degrees: 53 ///As a percent: 14% ///cumulative percent below 70: 59%
Number of days with a high temp 70 – 79 degrees: 51 ///As a percent: 14% ///cumulative percent below 80: 73%
Number of days with a high temp 80 – 89 degrees: 48 ///As a percent: 13% ///cumulative percent below 90: 86%
Number of days with a high temp 90 – 99 degrees: 51 ///As a percent: 14% ///cumulative percent below 100: 100% (remember this is an average; we generally have some days over 100)


I'm glad you brought this up, because (at least for me) this brings up an interesting situation. Look at how close those percents are. We (on average) spend about the same percent of the time in each range--30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's over the course of a typical year. That's oddly consistent. I'd doubt you'd see that in most other places. Many places sort of hang in the middle and others will spend more time at the extremes with not much in the middle. It also suggests that our spring and fall are a bit short (you'd expect that middle ground to double compared to the extremes). Anyway, there it is.

As for your other question: we spend about 45% of our year below 60 degrees for a high temp--the "pleasant" range for us cold-weather folks.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

One other thing is the sunshine intensity. I have noticed that higher in mountains it can feel damn hot in the daytime, not because of the air temperature, which is usually moderate, but because of the intensity of the high elevation sun, especially in clear dry air.

This is a good point. There is a huge difference during the summer between perceived temps in the shade and in the sun. It can be maddeningly intense in the sun whereas if you are under a tree and have a slight breeze, it's not so bad.

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

I am guessing Utah gets plenty of storms, but not an overwhelming amount. True?

We do get them and they can be intense, but we generally don't see nearly as many as Colorado or New Mexico does. Winter is our big time for precip.

[Tavish]

Utah all the way.

[Tavish]

Move to Ogden. It has low costs, low crime (compared to other states), more culture and history than a lot of other places in Utah, less uptight than other Utah communities, more diverse population, beautiful historic downtown, close proximity to the Wasatch Mountains and I would say it's one of Utah's best cities. It's close to Layton and right next to Riverdale so it's in the area you'd like.

[pll]

Colorado would be my first choice. Utah would be perfect if you are LDS.

[mlb]

Twenty years ago next month - we arrived from Chatsworth, California. We spent the better part of two years trying to decide between the greater Denver area and the greater Salt Lake City Area.... Utah won for the following reasons.

1. Proximity to the mountains. We were bigtime skiiers. As we've aged we've backed off on that (bad knees and backs) but we still love living close to the mountains. From our home in Sandy - 15 minutes to the lift lines at Snowbird. If we had lived in Colorado - it'd be more like 90 minutes or more.

2. SMOG. When we visited Denver - the smog was worse than the LA Basin. Utah wins again - (even with the 2+ weeks of inversion).

3. Affordability. Yes, the wages are lower - but so are the costs. Bought our first house in '93 for $92K. Moved up 5 years later to our current home - bought in '98 for $172K. We came to Utah with a hefty 20% down (what a concept, eh?) and our monthly mortgage payments are $482. Can't beat that.

4. We don't care what your religion is. We are a non-practicing Catholic and a non-observant Jew - we have no children (yippeee!) . If you live in Colorado - you may not be religous - but could be a zealot about just anything.... like Denver Bronco Football, or Beer Drinking, or Skiiing, or whatever. Utah has it's zealots too. We simply ignore them and live our lives.

Oh - and for those with kids? We live a mile - as the crow flies - from a womb to tomb Catholic campus. So you don't have to send your kids to public undereducating schools.

5. Transportation. I do not care what anyone says..... even tho the population and the interstates have grown in the past 20 years - it's still easier to commute here - than most places. California included. I live 3.5 miles from my office - and never get on a freeway to get to work. My spouse works from home.

This is NOTHING compared to the traffic in and around Los Angeles. And from what I remember in Denver - this is also much better. Utah wins again.

We still believe we made the right choice for us. Seems as if others - even on our own block - made the same choice. We have neighbors from Orange County, Ventura County, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Vegas etc. etc.

[hilgi]

Originally Posted by pll

Colorado would be my first choice. Utah would be perfect if you are LDS.

I wonder how people would feel if someone posted that California would be great if you were black or hispanic?

[kaytidid]

Originally Posted by pll

Colorado would be my first choice. Utah would be perfect if you are LDS.

Interesting. I am not, but still feel like Utah is perfect for me.

[VisitParkCity]

We're obviously biased to Utah...but this state does boast incredible natural beauty and a plethora of resorts, many of which are just a short drive from metro areas, if you're into outdoor activities. Park City, for example, has 3 resorts and is only 20-30 minutes from downtown SLC. In addition, we have a ton of amazing restaurants, shopping, galleries and summers packed with music and arts festivals. Way more culture than many realize. Definitely worth a look! [mod] too new for links, read TOS [/mod]