snownut

Many of the beautiful towns (Like Jackson) in the rockies there just is not enough culture or economic diversity ( good paying jobs ) I've met three people over the years that lived in Jackson, they all said the town was too small. One guy (actually a horse rancher here now) told me he got tired of his guests / visitors spending much of their visit being altitude sick. LOL Gorgeous places to visit and see for sure.

Great video captures the landscape well. The scale of things in the west is hard to capture on video or in photos. It has gotten pretty damn expensive here too but I have heard places like JH and the resort towns in CO are insanely expensive.

Really cool map. Maybe that is why the PNW snowpack seems so durable and long lasting. Dense and thick ( see photo from 1 week ago at 8,000') there will be snow at that spot well into August. Noticed flying over the intermountain west in the summer that most of the summits are melted out while Cascades hang on. Washington State seem to always have a nice solid snow cover much of the year. Anyway, very dry February out here so getting nervous about fire season??

Gotta move to Turkey. LOL https://weather.com/storms/winter/video/houses-buried-in-20-feet-of-snow-in-turkish-village?pl=pl-the-latest

Colorado is awesome!

Sorry such a crappy year there in the MA, painful reading the threads. I still have lots family and friends there who are sad for such a low snow winter. Lower than normal snow pack here in Central Oregon for this time of year. The consistent storm tracks have been into Washington and northeastern Oregon. Of course, a bad snow year in the Cascades is better than a great snow year in many places. Different perspective living in a big snow pack area than my memories of Virginia. I'm totally happy now if it doesn't snow at my house. It makes walking the dogs, life and work easier and there is always snow nearby. I remember many winter drives to Canaan Valley to get into the snow and they are even having a crappy season. February has been dry and sunny here but the skiing is great for now. Photo from this afternoon with 10,300 foot South Sister in the distance.

After 47 years in the MA I am living proof you can uproot life, start a second career and move to a better place. Lot’s of great towns with much more snow. The economy is strong now, go for it! Life is too short to not enjoy what you love.

Awesome ! Yes, good bye Stephens City. My oldest brother still lives there on Whyte Avenue. Spent many summer days on the lake as a kid and wired many of the homes there.

Totally get that. Colorado is loaded with ski options! Colorado was on my relocation list, my wife wanted easy drive to the ocean coast. Not much coastline in CO. haha Mt Bachelor basically it for skiing here. 21 mile drive from my house, so I can go for a few hours in the morning or afternoon and work the opposite. Hoodoo & Willamette Pass are pretty close but I have not been to those to ski. I am too old for any crazy skiing and prefer the warmer winter temps. Spring skiing can be amazing in late March through May, still have deep base, more sunshine and almost no people. We get a bunch of Washington State ski tourists here. Couple years ago there were huge numbers of CA skiers. Snow here is more consistent, CA has had very poor snow seasons. Mount Hood is a pretty big ski area but the snow there is almost always heavy wet snow. We get way more powder storms here being farther from the coast.

Steve, Lived in the Mid Atlantic for 47 years then move to high desert of Central Oregon almost 6 years ago. Love it here, ironically summer is now my favorite season because the nights are always cool, the humidity is low, endless sunshine and bright blue sky with lots of outdoor recreation right out my door. The other crazy awesome thing, there are almost no bugs here, my pets have never had flees or ticks since moving here. (Some mosquitoes around the lake shores and right on the snow melt line ) Don't even need window screens and I do not have AC in my house. There is literally always snow or snow fields in the mountains. Goes down to very little in late August, September but I have never not seen snow on the high Cascades. So it can get really hot on the summer afternoons but it is always dry and then cools of to jacket weather at night. So topping out at 65 you'd probably need to be very high elevation or coastal areas? No floods or earthquakes here so biggest risk are wild fires. Had one summer with bad smoke in August and another with moderate smoke. Last summer was perfect with zero smoke more scattered thunderstorms than usual. Most of the summer had high in the 70's and low's in the 40's Think you'd like the PNW or Idaho / Montana or Wyoming ? Good thing here, our town is growing fast and has lots to offer for it's size. check it out, come spring ski and golf the same day in April even May . https://www.visitbend.com/

Where is that?

Mount Bachelor here (I can see out my window) has had 247" so far this season. My hunch it will be a 350" season?? They average 350 - 450 in a normal year so nothing special this year. In 2012-2013 season before I moved here they had over 828" in one season. The next year, when I moved here (2014-2015) season they had the least seasonal amount in their entire history! Only 182" for the season. I think I brought the Mid Atlantic jinx with me . ha ha .. here is a link to the interact totals through 2017 season / which was a nice year . https://www.snowpak.com/oregon/mount-bachelor/snow

The PNW has been "OKAY" Washington State has been more in the storm track than here in Central Oregon where I live. I am below average for snow and it has certainly been above average temperatures through out the winter. December was unusually dry but January got the mountain snowpack back near normal.

Cascades are awesome! I think just the 3rd day this year with sun in the higher Cascades? My kid had semester break today so nice skiing in this morning on a rather balmy day. Pretty warm season out here but snow pack is pretty normal above 6000' . LOVE spring skiing out here from late March into mid May. Photo of the summit ski bowls today.

Come visit the Oregon Cascades. Up to the roof now at Crater Lake https://www.nps.gov/crla/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm Mount Bachelor has had just over 9 feet of snow since January first. Only one day this month it has not snowed. Spring skiing here is amazing. https://www.mtbachelor.com/live-cams/

Some snow porn photos from out west in Oregon. Mt Bachelor has had 75" this week with several more feet on the way through this weekend. Snowshoe hike with my dogs yesterday. Posted a July photo of the Farewell Trail sign to show how deep it is. The dogs were swimming in the deep powder.

Certainly below normal snowpack in the Cascades except the very high peaks. (over 8000' ) I have had 13-1/2" at my house this season. Ironically it snowed and covered the grassy areas on September 28 and again on September 30th. Nice storm on Thanksgiving day. December was total crap with just a few dustings. Had squalls cover the ground yesterday and again this morning. Looks like several snow chances here over the next 10 days. Mountains had a good weekend and a lots of snow this week above 4500' . So looks like a big turn around. Last winter came late with a very cold Feb March and several heavy snow storms. Biggest issue out here are temps and elevation. I am at 3,800' "typical" snow line is 5,500' which is only 9 miles west of me. Blogger I follow posted this: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/01/massive-snowfall-and-heavy.html

Hope so. Have been under performing storms and busts on predicted snow levels. Good luck for a Feb March HECS there!

Checking in on my old home zone. It has been a lousy season here out west. Snow pack is half of what it should be and only 1400 acres open. Summit has not opened once as it needs 60" base and only 36" right now. Hoping for improvement the next couple weeks but not having a good winter here.

Normal annual rainfall here at my west side home at 3,800' is around 12" / less than 10" east of town. There are insane differences 30 miles west in the mountains where 70" or more fall (mostly as snow) The coast ranges get up to 200" of rain per year which is where the "PNW is so wet" reputation comes from? Yes, parts of the state can be extremely wet but most of OR consists of dry sunny high desert plateaus. Had first measurable rain since June 20th yesterday, a whopping .03 in the bucket. LOL. Strangely the mountains are still mostly snowless, my other years here there have been September snows on the summits. I think it snowed above 8000' last night but mountains are hidden in clouds this morning so cannot tell yet? Photo of glacier fields from a hike I took on September 20th.

Real drought here, even by high desert standards. At my home the last drop of rain was on June 20, 2018. 12 month total 7.38" / so ready for some pineapple express storms.

Jebman why were/are you away from the lovely mid atlantic???