Best town and weather in Idaho? (Boise, Idaho Falls: transplants, tornadoes, earthquakes)

[kevinnmelissa]

Can anyone tell me anything about Moscow,ID? The difference between there and Meridian,ID? How far are the two from each other? Any help would be greatly appreciated,thanks so much!

[Katarina Witt]

Eagle, Colorado is in the mountains and has a very harsh climate. If you're looking intp Colorado at all, either consider the Front Range, along I-25, or Grand Junction in western CO, if you want a milder climate than Indiana.

[AlleyTD]

I have to agree with those above. I just left AZ after living there for 8 years. I traveled for work and spent a lot of time in Flagstaff. Don't move there! Especially with little kids. It's an OK town, but I my opinion not a great place to raise kids. It's very transient and there is no real middle class. My observation is that there are many wealthy people who have second homes in Flagstaff. The rest of the place is very blue collar with not a lot of options.
There is a university ... but, other than that the only other real business/work options are in retail, service and tourism (Grand Canyon hotels) ... Flagstaff's biggest business comes from tourist and the fact that it is only 90 miles to the Grand Canyon.

I have two little ones (3 and 7) and after much research we settled on Boise ... we love it here. We've had just enough snow for the kids to play in, but not enough to make life miserable. It's gone in a day or two.

[jufrbo]

Originally Posted by kevinnmelissa

Can anyone tell me anything about Moscow,ID? The difference between there and Meridian,ID? How far are the two from each other? Any help would be greatly appreciated,thanks so much!

There not that far from eachother geographically, but it is about an 8 hour drive through some pretty rugged mountains. Moscow is a small college town, about 20,000 people with a college of 12,000. It's actually a really nice town, with a great (though very samll) down town. It's definately of the North Idaho influence so it has little relation to Meridian. If you want something from a big city in Moscow you visit Spokane as oppose to Boise.

Meridian is a sprawling suburb of Boise and lacks any character at all. Many large houses and big box stores. Personally I avoid Meridian at all costs, because of traffic (mostly large SUVs) plus everyone there drives about 10 under speed limit, and the fact that there realy isn't anything to do there. The schools there are hugely over crowded and they have the biggest school district in the state. Right now they're building a fifth high school (Rocky Mountain High w/ a mascot of John Denver) and it will be overcrowded as soon as it opens. If you want to live in the treasure valley then you should buy in Boise while home prices have fallen.

[4horseshoes]

Hi,

I am new to this forum.

My husband and I are looking in several different areas for a small piece of land with a house. It is much perferred to be rural, where we can have our three horses and two dogs. We are on disability and don't have a lot of money.

We love high country, near government land (so we can go horseback riding without distrurbing neighbors). My husband likes to fly fish, 4 wheel drive back trails (we have a Jeep), some hunting. We don't like hot summers 85 or less perferred. Winters don't matter much as we don't go to work.

If you know of a town in Northern or Eastern Idaho, or Western Montana please let us hear about it...
We are a conservative, law abiding couple, looking for a nice place to live inexpensively.

Thank you in advance for any responses you may give to me.

I hope you have a great day & God Bless you all.

DD

[breer23]

Whereabouts in Indiana? I grew up in central IL, but lived in Terre Haute for a spell, and still have friends around both Indy & W. Lafayette.

Having lived in the Gulf Coast, midwest, and southwestern US, I can say without absolutely no hesitation that Flagstaff has the best weather of any other place I've lived in or even had the remote chance to move to. Temps in the summer top out around 85, but with low humidity, so the nighttime temps on those days are 45-55. No more 80/80 (or worse, 90/90) days. Flagstaff's snow fluctuates in its intensity - in 2002-3 & 2003-4, the winters were actually quite mild, but in 2004-5 in snow like no one's business, and I believe it is happening again this year.

[boucinaround]

eagle can get pretty toasty in the summers

[boyersv]

My husband and I are looking for a less expensive area than So Calif to retire. We visited the Boise/Meridian area in late June 2019 and loved the area and the newer housing. The only thing I didn't love was the very high summer temperatures. Any thoughts on that? Or are there other areas of Idaho with not-so-hot summers, but also not-so-harsh winters? I think Boise winters would not be too bad (it's just the summers seem tooo hot).
Thank you

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by boyersv

My husband and I are looking for a less expensive area than So Calif to retire. We visited the Boise/Meridian area in late June 2019 and loved the area and the newer housing. The only thing I didn't love was the very high summer temperatures. Any thoughts on that? Or are there other areas of Idaho with not-so-hot summers, but also not-so-harsh winters? I think Boise winters would not be too bad (it's just the summers seem tooo hot).
Thank you

The summer heat is just a few months of the year and it actually hasn't been bad this year. One thing to keep in mind is that Northern Idaho has been getting hotter during the recent summers. Even western WA and OR have been heating up more than usual the past summers. Do a quick google search, there are plenty of news articles about the NW getting hotter, so looking for the location with the "perfect" summer temps might be getting more difficult.

Stanley will have cooler summer temps.


Wow. This thread is 11 years old.

[Sandpointian]

Originally Posted by kevinnmelissa

Me and my husband are trying to relocate to a milder climate,we live in Indiana right now which has severe thunderstorms and tornadoes,which we don't like. I've been checking out Flagstaff,AZ, Portland,OR, Eagle,CO, and Meridian,ID. We also have 3 children so whereever we decide they have to be taken into thought also. If anyone can help with any of these issues we would appreciate any input,I've been on this site alot and have read alot of different thoughts and opinions on this places.

I doubt any have lived in all four places, so take your replies with a grain of salt.

I have been to each and each is very different.

Portland is wet.

Flagstaff has snow and is at altitude.

Meridian is like Sacramento but at a higher latitude.

Eagle is in the Colorado Rockies. Eagle is also different from the other three being more isolated.

I would not relocate until you have visited at least two of these places.