OT: Weather question for Wyomingites

[J Miller]

For the last five or six years I've desperately wanted to move to WY. My wife has been himming and hawwing and totally non committal. So I'm stymied.

She keeps talking about moving back to AZ then she'll change the subject or switch to IN. Personally I'd move to IN just to get out of IL, but I'd still want to move to WY.

I spent a summer in Casper in 64 and fell in love with the area. Then I didn't get back till 96, some 16 years after my dad died.
I drove into WY on I-25 in a real thick fog bank, drove straight to Casper and it felt like home. We found a hotel and crashed for the night, then the next day I drove around the place like I'd never left. Met with my step mother and sister, then hit a bunch of neat stores including one huge gun shop.
I didn't want to go back to AZ but we did. I should have stayed and sent the wife back on the train.
The old saying is: "Home is where the heart is." Well, my heart is in WY.

Anyway she's telling me she doesn't want to move anywhere cold. And so it looks like AZ again. I really don't wanna go back to AZ. Spent 40 years there and up north it gets cold, and down south it's too dam hot.

So for you guys in WY, is there any particular area there that has milder winters? I gotta convince the wife somehow, so help a feller forumite out ... please.

Joe

[Don McDowell]

Lander, Riverton, in the Wind River Valley is where the Indians and Mtn men wintered.
Casper is a bit high and can get wind chill doolux in the winter,due to the natural wind tunnel it sets in.
Torrington/Wheatland and the lower Platte valley is pretty decent , the Big Horn Basin Powell/Lovell etc can be good at times, but the cold air can really settle in there from time to time.
The Bridger Valley , Lyman/Ft. Bridger can be a pretty decent place in the winter.

I think you can look up the weather info from various places around the state thru the Wyoming ag statistics information. This past winter was back to a fairly typical winter, so those numbers should give you a good idea about temp, wind etc.

[Hobie]

Based on the military reports in the 1800s you wouldn't do well at Douglas. It is MY wife that 'tempers' many of my possible decisions as well.

[Buck Elliott]

The Cody/Powell area claims to be Wyoming's "banana belt." Dubois has mild winters, compared to Jackson Hole, which is just over the mountains, to the West. Casper is a dirty, smelly rat hole, IMNSHO, but Douglas can be a fairly nice place. I'd keep away from the southern (I-80) corridor of the Sate, because of the blizzards and general windiness.

As I type, it is snowing outside, in Cody, but the temp is hovering just above freezing, and the snow isn't sticking to the streets & roads.

[336A]

Great topic J Miller, as I was thinking of this the other day. I would really like to move to Wyoming too after I retire from the military in a few years. But the burning question that I have is what is the job/employment oppotunity situation there at the moment.

[Don McDowell]

More info contained here than can be useful, but we gotta pay them gubbermutt folks to do something I spoze
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_ ... /index.asp

[OI phones in...]

The winter here in Torrington was much milder than I remember from growing up in Lander Valley - which is/was prone to bitter cold inversions (-20ish).

[J Miller]

Elaine ( my spouse ) ask me to ask you guys about jobs in the food industry. She has more experience there than she would like to admit.

Second is light delivery type jobs.

Third is housing. Probably should be first.

What
Where
and
How
????????????

[MrV]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

[J Miller]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

Angelo,
Thanks for the link, we'll check it out.

Now I feel embarrassed .... I live in AZ for 40 years and don't know where Green Valley is.

Ah HA ... Looked it up. Due south of Tucson on AZ 19.

Joe

[MrV]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

Angelo,
Thanks for the link, we'll check it out.

Now I feel embarrassed .... I live in AZ for 40 years and don't know where Green Valley is.

Green Valley is around 30 min south of Tucson. We have a friend that has lived there for four years and we are tired of the weather here in NJ and the high taxes and auto insurance, cost of living, strict gun laws and the politicians so we want to take a look around. We have been told about the HOT Weather, we like sunshine it will be a test in we can take the heat. Would like to spend a few months to see if it fits. If it doesn't fit we will keep looking the hardest thing moving would be not having the four season, but we are tired of the winters here in NJ.
Angelo
Don't be embarrassed I have lived in this house twenty years and don't know the people across the streets name LOL

[J Miller]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

Angelo,
Thanks for the link, we'll check it out.

Now I feel embarrassed .... I live in AZ for 40 years and don't know where Green Valley is.

Green Valley is around 30 min south of Tucson. We have a friend that has lived there for four years and we are tired of the weather here in NJ and the high taxes and auto insurance, cost of living, strict gun laws and the politicians so we want to take a look around. We have been told about the HOT Weather, we like sunshine it will be a test in we can take the heat. Would like to spend a few months to see if it fits. If it doesn't fit we will keep looking the hardest thing moving would be not having the four season, but we are tired of the winters here in NJ.
Angelo
Don't be embarrassed I have lived in this house twenty years and don't know the people across the streets name LOL

There are parts of Arizona that do have all four seasons. Some are milder than others. The Flagstaff area is absolutely wonderful in the summer, but the winders can be nasty. Other northern areas have the seasons, but they are like neither hot nor cold. Somewhere between. All of the years I spent in AZ was in the Phoenix valley area. When I moved there as a kid in 61 or 62 it was nice and warm in the summer. Mild as can be in the winter and almost zero humidity. As the Valley grew and more and more non-indigenous plants were brought in which required more and more water to keep them alive the humidity soared. Then the additional miles of asphalt and concrete created a gigantic heat sync that made it hotter. When I left in 99 the temp and humidity had gotten to me. I did want out - of Phoenix. Not necessarily out of AZ. Here the temp is lower, but in the summer the humidity never ends. It's miserable. And that's just the weather. We have the horrid gun laws and lack of outdoor recreation as well.
So I wanna go west ... to WY. Much room, few people.
I told my wife I wasn't anti-social I was just sick of people. She said: "No ... you ARE anti-social". So OK then, why not go to where I can be social with those I want to be social with and ignore those I don't?

Joe

[MrV]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

Angelo,
Thanks for the link, we'll check it out.

Now I feel embarrassed .... I live in AZ for 40 years and don't know where Green Valley is.

Green Valley is around 30 min south of Tucson. We have a friend that has lived there for four years and we are tired of the weather here in NJ and the high taxes and auto insurance, cost of living, strict gun laws and the politicians so we want to take a look around. We have been told about the HOT Weather, we like sunshine it will be a test in we can take the heat. Would like to spend a few months to see if it fits. If it doesn't fit we will keep looking the hardest thing moving would be not having the four season, but we are tired of the winters here in NJ.
Angelo
Don't be embarrassed I have lived in this house twenty years and don't know the people across the streets name LOL

There are parts of Arizona that do have all four seasons. Some are milder than others. The Flagstaff area is absolutely wonderful in the summer, but the winders can be nasty. Other northern areas have the seasons, but they are like neither hot nor cold. Somewhere between. All of the years I spent in AZ was in the Phoenix valley area. When I moved there as a kid in 61 or 62 it was nice and warm in the summer. Mild as can be in the winter and almost zero humidity. As the Valley grew and more and more non-indigenous plants were brought in which required more and more water to keep them alive the humidity soared. Then the additional miles of asphalt and concrete created a gigantic heat sync that made it hotter. When I left in 99 the temp and humidity had gotten to me. I did want out - of Phoenix. Not necessarily out of AZ. Here the temp is lower, but in the summer the humidity never ends. It's miserable. And that's just the weather. We have the horrid gun laws and lack of outdoor recreation as well.
So I wanna go west ... to WY. Much room, few people.
I told my wife I wasn't anti-social I was just sick of people. She said: "No ... you ARE anti-social". So OK then, why not go to where I can be social with those I want to be social with and ignore those I don't?

Joe

LOL, we are with you we are not anti-social, we also would like to be social with like minded folk. We face the same thing with humidity here in NJ, have had enough of that! We have looked (not to hard) at other areas of AZ, what drew us to Green Valley were low taxes and value for our dollar in (new homes). Here in NJ your taxes on a home valued at $280,000.00 on a 1/4 acre is between $8,000.00 to 10,000.00 a year, AZ same home is around 2,500.00 on the high end and open spaces around you get in your truck and go.
Take a look at this site also http://www.bestplaces.net
Angelo

[jnyork]

Well, if you are in Wyoming, you are going to get cold. In most places in Wyoming, you are going to get cold and THE WIND WILL BE BLOWING!!

We live in Lander, it is the one spot in Wyoming, AFAIK, that has very little wind. 5 miles out of town it can be a 35 knot gale and calm in town. Casper, Cody, Dubois and the I-80 corridor are famous (infamous really) for wind and I dont know how anyone can live there. (sorry, I just hate wind) Wind energy development is a really big deal in Wyoming and getting bigger all the time with wind farms springing up all over the state.

We dont get cold in the winter. We live in Lander 6 months in the summer and Yuma Arizona for 6 months in the winter. Wyoming and Arizona are among the best places to live for many reasons and the gun laws are just one facet.

[Hobie]

The Cody/Powell area claims to be Wyoming's "banana belt." Dubois has mild winters, compared to Jackson Hole, which is just over the mountains, to the West. Casper is a dirty, smelly rat hole, IMNSHO, but Douglas can be a fairly nice place. I'd keep away from the southern (I-80) corridor of the Sate, because of the blizzards and general windiness.

As I type, it is snowing outside, in Cody, but the temp is hovering just above freezing, and the snow isn't sticking to the streets & roads.

Buck,

I should say for the record that I liked Douglas. It is small, mostly right along the highway and/or interstate, and the people were all nice to us obvious out-of-towners. HOWEVER, soldiers stationed at the "fort" there really didn't like it much. To my mind a reluctant wife is going to be more miserable than even a reluctant soldier!

[vancelw]

I lived in Kimball NE for 2 years - it's about 20 miles east of Wyoming on I-80. Saw more snow and felt more wind than any other two years of my life. (Hence the return to Texas, my ancestral home) .

I use City-data.com a lot when dreaming of retirement. First stat I check is wind, which to me is much worse than cold.

I agree with Gene Hackman on "Unforgiven" who said he thought he had died and gone to Hell and found out he was only in Nebaraska It wasn't funny when i was walking to school, 8 miles uphill both ways, with snow up to my armpits. It was really only 3 blocks, but felt like it was farther.

[Buck Elliott]

The Star Valley region of Wyoming (Alpine, Etna, Freedom, Thayne, Bedford, Grover, Auburn, Afton, Fairview, Osmond & Smoot...) is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, in the Summer time. Beautiful in the Winter, too, if you like snow up to your eaves and over the fenceposts. All that snow is where the Summer's beauty comes from. The wind almost NEVER blows there, unless it's bringing in a heavy storm, and it can get down to -65 below on occasion. Twenty years of that was enough for me...

They don't close schools unless all the buses won't start...

[RIHMFIRE]

J Miller
I have been checking out Wy and MT today at lunch time....
and man is the property expensive....near towns anyway...
and at least the stuff I found on the net....under log homes for sale...
I am going to check out NM next...outside of Albuquerque
near the home of SASS...Founders Ranch
But I have the same problem as you....The Wife....its too cold...
one of these days.....Bang... zoom....to the moon

Best bet for me is probabaly in the smokey mountains....in Tn
Pigeon Ford area is great....

[Don McDowell]

Hobie, when Fetterman was manned, it was clean out in the middle of NOWHERE, and there really couldn't be a much more desolate duty station than that thing must of been. Today tho it's a wee bit different, they're even talking about a Walmart coming in shortly.

Rimfire you got a problem trying to convince your wife it won't be that cold. I seriously doubt Joe's wife would even notice the difference ,she might even think it warmer here in the winter.

[vancelw]

... they're even talking about a Walmart coming in shortly...

There goes the neighborhood Quickest way to suck the life right out of a town.

[Don McDowell]

... they're even talking about a Walmart coming in shortly...

There goes the neighborhood Quickest way to suck the life right out of a town.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one,,,,,, bigtime.

[Old Ironsights]

Well, if you are in Wyoming, you are going to get cold. In most places in Wyoming, you are going to get cold and THE WIND WILL BE BLOWING!!

We live in Lander, it is the one spot in Wyoming, AFAIK, that has very little wind. 5 miles out of town it can be a 35 knot gale and calm in town. Casper, Cody, Dubois and the I-80 corridor are famous (infamous really) for wind and I dont know how anyone can live there. (sorry, I just hate wind) Wind energy development is a really big deal in Wyoming and getting bigger all the time with wind farms springing up all over the state.

We dont get cold in the winter. We live in Lander 6 months in the summer and Yuma Arizona for 6 months in the winter. Wyoming and Arizona are among the best places to live for many reasons and the gun laws are just one facet.

Right there with ya about the wind. Biggest gripe I have about this corner of the state. I always thought that it was funny that in the winter in Lander you never had to worry about wind chill because the only way for the valley to warm up was to have the wind scoop the inversion out... (I lived on 3rd & Canyon...)

[Old Ironsights]

Joe, check out http://www.city-data.com they have info on every state and also stats on citys in the state pop, crime, housing cost, income and weather. It has some good info Hope it helps.
Angelo
I have used in because we are looking to relocate and are interested in AZ, Green Valley.

We were participating on the City-Data forums (still do occasionally). Posting is significantly slower than here, but good info is to be had.

[gak]

Someone mentioned an in-between zone in Arizona...If after examining Wyoming still having to go with the wife's druthers, you might check out the Verde Valley (Camp Verde, Cottonwood, etc). It's south of Flag 45-50 minutes or so, off the "Rim" which loses you 2000'-2500' right there and the cold weather that goes with it. Good interstate access north and south for when you want the summer cool of Flag or "amenities" of Phoenix, etc. Beautiful Sedona close by too (mostly for visiting). Some nice ranch country in and around the VV. Other choices in the same zone (but woodsier and cooler) would be Prescott to the southwest a few miles, and Payson to the southeast 75 miles or so, both piney mile-high towns, with annual dustings of snow (foot or two max...there've been a few years of more--but that's an anomaly)...and without the bitter cold Flag can see. These areas, especially Payson/Pine/Strawberry, provide great access to the Mogollon rim (right there) for fishing and hunting. Still Flag is not Wyoming in that (consistent bitter cold) department either (but can see some low ones- minus 48 no wind chill when I was at school there in 72-73, but *that* cold is unusual); something to consider. As a yearairound prospect Flag's not bad compared to some of the Wy places we're talking about.


I'd say, climate wise, Sierra Vista to the south of Tucson has one of the nicer in-between temperatures around, being higher elevation than the surrounding Sonoran (Tucson etc) desert. It can get warm in the summer, buut it's no Phoenix or Tucson. But to me, it's way too close to the boder and all the c*** that's happening. Not a fan of the Tucson influence either (traffic, crime). IMO, stay north...and that preferably means north of Phoenix as well, like the above examples. Some alternatives for you anyway. As a Phoenixite, these are the places I think of relocating if wanting to stay close in. Good luck!

[MrV]

Someone mentioned an in-between zone in Arizona...If after examining Wyoming still having to go with the wife's druthers, you might check out the Verde Valley (Camp Verde, Cottonwood, etc). It's south of Flag 45-50 minutes or so, off the "Rim" which loses you 2000'-2500' right there and the cold weather that goes with it. Good interstate access north and south for when you want the summer cool of Flag or "amenities" of Phoenix, etc. Beautiful Sedona close by too (mostly for visiting). Some nice ranch country in and around the VV. Other choices in the same zone (but woodsier and cooler) would be Prescott to the southwest a few miles, and Payson to the southeast 75 miles or so, both piney mile-high towns, with annual dustings of snow (foot or two max...there've been a few years of more--but that's an anomaly)...and without the bitter cold Flag can see. These areas, especially Payson/Pine/Strawberry, provide great access to the Mogollon rim (right there) for fishing and hunting. Still Flag is not Wyoming in that (consistent bitter cold) department either (but can see some low ones- minus 48 no wind chill when I was at school there in 72-73, but *that* cold is unusual); something to consider. As a yearairound prospect Flag's not bad compared to some of the Wy places we're talking about.


I'd say, climate wise, Sierra Vista to the south of Tucson has one of the nicer in-between temperatures around, being higher elevation than the surrounding Sonoran (Tucson etc) desert. It can get warm in the summer, buut it's no Phoenix or Tucson. But to me, it's way too close to the boder and all the c*** that's happening. Not a fan of the Tucson influence either (traffic, crime). IMO, stay north...and that preferably means north of Phoenix as well, like the above examples. Some alternatives for you anyway. As a Phoenixite, these are the places I think of relocating if wanting to stay close in. Good luck!

gak, thanks for the info on AZ. As I stated we need to spend a few months in each area to see how we fit. Not rushing into anything.
Angelo