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My wife and I are looking for a place to retire. I am 77 she is 65. Drop dead requirements are NO Disasters - tornadoes, floods, wildfires, power company outages to minimize wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, Our major physical activity is walking our 2 15lb dachshunds. We have no special cultural or educational requirements.
We want a "good climate" not a lot of days (whatever that is) above 90 or 100, no ice storms that put ice on the road for 3 or more days at a time, no snow on the ground more than 3 or 4 days at a time. Does it snow in any of these cities? Other things being roughly equal we would prefer the coolest of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Vegas NV.Do most places offer AC? We have used Swamp Coolers and find them inadequate.
I think Albuquerque (and certainly Las Vegas) would meet your snow requirements. Santa Fe gets more snow than Albuquerque, but I'm honestly not sure how long it typically stays around. Santa Fe has the coolest temperatures of the three, but it might not work when it comes to the snow requirements.
There is a mixture of swamp coolers and refrigerated air (familiar A/C) here. I have been able to find apartments with refrigerated air, without any trouble, but some rentals will have swamp coolers.
My wife and I are looking for a place to retire. I am 77 she is 65. Drop dead requirements are NO Disasters - tornadoes, floods, wildfires, power company outages to minimize wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, Our major physical activity is walking our 2 15lb dachshunds. We have no special cultural or educational requirements.
We want a "good climate" not a lot of days (whatever that is) above 90 or 100, no ice storms that put ice on the road for 3 or more days at a time, no snow on the ground more than 3 or 4 days at a time. Does it snow in any of these cities? Other things being roughly equal we would prefer the coolest of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Vegas NV.Do most places offer AC? We have used Swamp Coolers and find them inadequate.
I would imagine that Las Vegas,NV has quite a few days in the 90's and 100's.Best of Luck to you,OP.
We want a "good climate" not a lot of days (whatever that is) above 90 or 100, no ice storms that put ice on the road for 3 or more days at a time, no snow on the ground more than 3 or 4 days at a time. Does it snow in any of these cities? Other things being roughly equal we would prefer the coolest of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Vegas NV.Do most places offer AC?
IMO Santa Fe would be the mildest. Lots of cultural goings-on. The last few years, the rare snowfall has only been 2 inches max, no ice issues, but this year, we just had some snow that quickly turned into half-frozen slush, that was dicey to drive in. Only lasted a half-day, though. Winters here are milder than they used to be. Last January there were a couple of days of snow, but driving wasn't bad at all.
So the question is: do you want to put up with the excessive heat of Albuquerque, in order to avoid snow as much as possible in the winter, or do you want the somewhat cooler temps of Santa Fe's summers, with a little more snow (or not, depending on the year) in Santa Fe's winter? It's a trade-off; you pick.
I'll tell you one thing; as a smaller town, Santa Fe is much easier to drive in than ABQ. I've really come to enjoy small-town living in Santa Fe.
My wife and I are looking for a place to retire. I am 77 she is 65. Drop dead requirements are NO Disasters - tornadoes, floods, wildfires, power company outages to minimize wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, Our major physical activity is walking our 2 15lb dachshunds. We have no special cultural or educational requirements.
We want a "good climate" not a lot of days (whatever that is) above 90 or 100, no ice storms that put ice on the road for 3 or more days at a time, no snow on the ground more than 3 or 4 days at a time. Does it snow in any of these cities? Other things being roughly equal we would prefer the coolest of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Vegas NV.Do most places offer AC? We have used Swamp Coolers and find them inadequate.
I would point you to Rio Rancho, a suburb on the NW corner of Albuquerque west of the Rio Grande (3rd largest city in NM). There are a number of retirees here already. There are two hospitals and sufficient services. It meets your disaster and weather requirements and is fine for dog walking. The temperature might hit 100 a couple days in summer but the humidity would be near single digits. I have not had to shovel snow in the six years I have been here. I have a swamp cooler and I'm happy with it but some newer developments have AC as do many custom homes. Humidity is very low but might come up during "monsoon" season in August. It is close enough to Albuquerque to take advantage of cultural events, minor league baseball, soccer, airport, Amtrak, etc.
Santa Fe, at over 7,000 ft. has more snow and might be 10-15 degrees cooler than ABQ, generally. It has a lot of museums and galleries. It is a bit more costly but only about an hour from ABQ so accessible for events or visits. There is a commuter train between ABQ and Santa Fe with usually a free senior day each week and generally cheap fares otherwise.
My only experience with Las Vagas NV has been the intense heat in summer - over 110.
Albuquerque doesn't have "excessive heat" It only gets up to 100+ degrees about 2-3 times on average each year here. 90+ degree days occur about 43 days on average each year. This is the high desert, not the low desert.
I'll tell you one thing; as a smaller town, Santa Fe is much easier to drive in than ABQ. I've really come to enjoy small-town living in Santa Fe.
I certainly agree with this! Compared to SF traffic, Albuquerque traffic can be a bit "trying." It's always a relief when I head north on I-25 and get past Bernalillo where traffic thins significantly.
As far as snow in SF....we had a small dump on Thanksgiving and a bit last week. All roads were clear in less than 24 hours, most not even that long. Summer temps.... low 90's seemed to be the max last summer.
LV, NV?......just too darn hot in the summer and traffic is a bigger rat-race than Albuquerque.
What "other things"? Certainly cost of living is not equal-- Santa Fe has a much higher CoL than Albuquerque, especially in the housing market. And Albuquerque has about 8x the population of Santa Fe, also not equal. There are many other inequalities you might want to consider.
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