How bad are the winters in Denver? (Englewood, Parker: houses, living)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Jame22

Yeah, back home in the lower Midwest, the grass is turning that bright green color, daffodils are blooming, the smell of spring is in the air. Here, even though it is warming up, it still pretty much looks like January, we usually have to wait until at least mid April to feel that spring fever vibe. I hate that aspect of Colorado’s climate

The Lower Midwest has false early Spring warmth followed by severe freezes that destroy everything, this is becoming far more common with extreme weather patterns. Anywhere east of the Rockies is prone to seeing more extremes in low temperatures. I recorded 23F on May 13th 2020, and that is at under 1,000 ft. elevation just north of the Ohio River. Sure, it can "green up" early, though.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

I'm gonna be pedantic. Denver is not in the desert. Eastern Colorado is largely a semi-arid steppe. If it were humid here the nights would be slightly warmer, but the days would be colder. You'd be looking at mid-30s for average highs with lows in the mid-upper 20s at night. The summers would also suck. There's absolutely nothing refreshing or moderating about walking outside at 10pm in July or August and being blasted with a thick, heavy 85-95 degree airmass. Austin and DFW are 100% garbage from May-September.



Denver isn't terrible in the winter in large part because of the sunshine and the wide diurnal temperature range. It's gonna be close to 70 today, but rain/snow is in the forecast for late Weds/early Thursday. It'll be back in the 60s by the weekend.

I grew up in WI. Winter here is a piece of cake compared to the Upper Midwest. Summers are better, here than they are in the Upper Midwest and south/southeast, too.

I'm in Vilas County, WI every summer as well as winter. Northern Wisconsin has some of the nicest summer weather anywhere I've ever lived or visited. In June and July it is common to have low temperatures in the 40's and high temperatures in the 70's with a nice pleasant non-harsh sun angle. When I'm in Colorado visiting family- the sun can be brutal and can make the pleasantly dry sunny days seem much hotter.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Jame22

Long, sunny, monotonous, dry, dull, cold with plenty of warm 50 and 60 degree days mixed in. Most snow comes in the fall and spring with a decent amount of storms on the bigger side. Lots of ice on streets and sidewalks because the temperature drops so quickly at night due to the dry air. Gets very cold at night, 16F is the average January low. If you don’t have a garage you’ll be scraping your windshield way too much

I grew up in the Midwest and it’s still a little too cold here for me. At least the warmer days provide plenty of breaks to get outside and run around, but overall it’s a very real winter despite what most people try to argue. C’mon guys, we have 3 months of nighttime lows below 20F on average, 7 months of 33F or colder… you’re lying to yourselves if you won’t call that a ‘real’ winter.

I’ve never been a beach person, but the bone dry winter here leaves me dreaming of the ocean.. or even just some rain

I lived in CO for over 20 years and came to San Diego just once was all it took. I left -17 at the old airport and it was 80 here when I landed in January. I moved within months.

They get a very real winter.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

[Denver] gets a very real winter.

Not if you are comparing it to Buffalo where I lived for 4 years.

[Jame22]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

The Lower Midwest has false early Spring warmth followed by severe freezes that destroy everything, this is becoming far more common with extreme weather patterns. Anywhere east of the Rockies is prone to seeing more extremes in low temperatures. I recorded 23F on May 13th 2020, and that is at under 1,000 ft. elevation just north of the Ohio River. Sure, it can "green up" early, though.

I've noticed that too, but that kind of pattern is the norm in the Mountain West, not just a result of extreme weather patterns. It's still worse here too. We're about to get 4-8 inches of snow here in Denver while my hometown has only 50's, 60's and 70's in their 10 day forecast. Winter in Denver may be mild at times, but it is long as hell.

[Jame22]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I lived in CO for over 20 years and came to San Diego just once was all it took. I left -17 at the old airport and it was 80 here when I landed in January. I moved within months.

They get a very real winter.

ahhh a San Diego ocean breeze sounds incredible right now.

We had some very light rain here in Denver earlier this afternoon and I was out walking, completely relishing in it.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Not if you are comparing it to Buffalo where I lived for 4 years.

-17 is -17 no matter where you live. I vividly remember scratching the top of my car digging out after a blizzard with snow drifts coming off the house. We also had no power for weeks because all the poles snapped off. Just because Denver had a string of fairly mild winters doesn't mean they won't have a string of nasty ones. I don't function well in freezing temps.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE DENVER. In the summer. That is the only time I plan to be there. I miss the view of Pikes Peak every morning when I lived in the Springs. Just not the black ice and blowing snow. Trying to get to class at UNC at 6 am in that crunching snow. Sometimes it melts a bit off your boots then freezes and now you have a floor of ice for a month until it gets warm enough to melt it. Scraping ice off your window every morning. Sorry, nope, not again.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Jame22

ahhh a San Diego ocean breeze sounds incredible right now.

We had some very light rain here in Denver earlier this afternoon and I was out walking, completely relishing in it.

Supposed to be 70-80 tomorrow at the beach. I'm riding the bike down and hang out. Bringing my laptop and working from a picnic table. I prefer hearing Seagulls and boat noise looking at some waves.


Hats off to those that enjoy the cold. I still go to Big Bear when I want to ski or local hunting second season bow. There is snow on Laguna right now. I hate sitting in the tree stand when it's single digits though.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

So my wife's on her academic job search and was invited to apply for CU Denver. While I've visited Colorado numerous times throughout my life and really enjoyed the mountains and hiking, I've never visited in the winter. The snowfall statistics look a bit scary and I remember there being snow even around labor day a couple of years ago.

I grew up in Michigan and really hated the snow and couldn't wait to leave and endured through every single winter in high school until 2001 when I got accepted to college in California. Since then, I've lived in either California (in places where it almost never snowed) and Texas (where it may snow once or twice a year.)

Snow itself is no deal breaker for me. What I really despised, when growing up in Michigan, was seeing snow on the ground for weeks with no end in sight and not seeing much sun at the same time. And since the ground is flat there, it's basically all white everywhere you look for many weeks of the year. From what I hear, this sort of thing is not that common in Denver which might make winters more tolerable. However, the catch seems to be that snow can happen far more often throughout the year except July and August.

How often does Denver go through a period where a ton of snow stays on the ground for weeks and you don't see much sun during the period which seems more common in the Midwest and Northeast? That's the only deal breaker for me.. OK, maybe one other: neighborhoods where the residential roads are never or seldom plowed and having to drive on the snow daily in order to get out.

We don’t get those extended periods of grey here, however, it’s not uncommon to see snow for lengthy periods, particularly on the north sides of streets and piled up in store parking lots.
Because it is so dry and generally sunny after it snows, high traffic areas do tend to clear pretty quickly after plowing, but the side streets and suburban developments are a whole other matter.
My neighborhood in SE Aurora is never plowed so we endure days of melt/ice/melt/ice… until the temps get high enough for it just go away.
The other thing to keep in mind is yes, it is more likely to snow in March and April than in December or January, so if you like your spring to be spring-like, this is not the place to be.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by Jame22

Yeah, back home in the lower Midwest, the grass is turning that bright green color, daffodils are blooming, the smell of spring is in the air. Here, even though it is warming up, it still pretty much looks like January, we usually have to wait until at least mid April to feel that spring fever vibe. I hate that aspect of Colorado’s climate

Yeah, I love that the sun is out more often than not here but the fact that snow on Mother’s Day is not unusual is pretty soul-crushing.