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Yeah, I know. People say they want to retire to Florida for the warmth. When you've lived in the Deep South all your life you are sick of high humidity and heat. All I could think about as I approached retirement is getting away from it.
I took a 'hurricane vacation' in Aug '08 to get away from Gustav and traveled through parts of WY, SD, and MT and loved the whole area. Everything was so wide open. I loved the whole area.
I know reading weather data does not tell the whole story, and would like to hear from actual residents. Aside from record-setting winters, what can I expect from your average winter? I really liked a little town called West Yellowstone until the residents told me I would need a snowmobile/4-wheel drive truck just to go grocery shopping in winter, seriously.
So please tell me how you feel about living there in winter?
Well South Dakota has all four season. On the plains the wind blows it is colder than a hookers heart. And it can be blizzard prone. Central and southern Black Hills are nice and normally sheltered. Rapid City, Custer, Hot Springs come to mind. Northern hills will quite nice can get dumped on. The DOT and cities counties usually do a good job of keeping road open.
If you head to the east part of the state, it can get bitter ex wife cold. The winter storms can shut down the interstate and kills visibility. If you plan ahead, stock up and have no place to go it is not so bad. It is always my luck I have to be out in the stuff.
Well South Dakota has all four season. On the plains the wind blows it is colder than a hookers heart. And it can be blizzard prone. Central and southern Black Hills are nice and normally sheltered. Rapid City, Custer, Hot Springs come to mind. Northern hills will quite nice can get dumped on. The DOT and cities counties usually do a good job of keeping road open.
If you head to the east part of the state, it can get bitter ex wife cold. The winter storms can shut down the interstate and kills visibility. If you plan ahead, stock up and have no place to go it is not so bad. It is always my luck I have to be out in the stuff.
Averages are all too often created by extremes in SD. Now this fall in the Black Hills has been an exception to that with regular 65-85 degree temps with 30's - 50's at night. Buy this time in the Northern hills we have usually had at minimum several small snow falls of 1-6 inches that are followed with nice days and a quick melt. Halloween can be as cold as 0 and as warm as upper 70's, while a more typical one would be 30's to 40's for trick-or-treating. It is extremely rare for mid summer temps to break 100 while most winters one can expect 15-40 as a high on a typical winter day with occasional drops below 0 and a rare 60 degree day here and their. Keep in mind I am coming from the upper elevations of the Northern Hills and I will let others chime in for their areas. Also up here we see fewer extremes on temps but earlier and later freezes for a shorter growing season and 150 + inches of snow is the norm.
I saw a flock of geese cruising south this afternoon. Snow is not far behind. Custer would be good place to settle. In the winter time they get temperature inversions where they will be 20 to 30 degrees warmer than Rapid City.
I've lived in Rapid City and in New Underwood. Rapid City is partially sheltered by the Black Hills, so the wind and the drifting aren't nearly as bad as on the prairie. I love it out on the prairie, but man the winds are bad. On really cold days it feels like a knife. Blizzards on the prairie mean that there's one inch of snow on the ground and 6 to 8 feet of snow piled up against your front door.
Coming from warmer climes, you may find towns closer to the hills such as Rapid City, Black Hawk, Custer or Hot Springs to be less of a shock to the system (though still very cold at times). They also tend to be slightly cooler in the summer, as they are at higher elevations. The Black Hills do get quite warm in the summer, but there's usually very little humidity.
And because I'm a shutterbug, there are obligatory photos.
Hoarfrost in Rapid City
Snow drifts a few days after a blizzard, New Underwood
[quote=kbat;16298154]I've lived in Rapid City and in New Underwood. Rapid City is partially sheltered by the Black Hills, so the wind and the drifting aren't nearly as bad as on the prairie. I love it out on the prairie, but man the winds are bad. On really cold days it feels like a knife. Blizzards on the prairie mean that there's one inch of snow on the ground and 6 to 8 feet of snow piled up against your front door.
Yeah, I know. People say they want to retire to Florida for the warmth. When you've lived in the Deep South all your life you are sick of high humidity and heat. All I could think about as I approached retirement is getting away from it.
I took a 'hurricane vacation' in Aug '08 to get away from Gustav and traveled through parts of WY, SD, and MT and loved the whole area. Everything was so wide open. I loved the whole area.
I know reading weather data does not tell the whole story, and would like to hear from actual residents. Aside from record-setting winters, what can I expect from your average winter? I really liked a little town called West Yellowstone until the residents told me I would need a snowmobile/4-wheel drive truck just to go grocery shopping in winter, seriously.
So please tell me how you feel about living there in winter?
You want what I want-out of FL and the SE with its heat and oppressive humidity. Ahhhh, if I could just sell this place, I would have been gone by now!!!
Thanks for the down-home input, the kind of info I was looking for. And the nice pics too. I'm already wanting to schedule a trip up there this winter to check it out. I've traveled around Colorado in the winter and never got tired of the cold and the snow, although I'm sure their winters are not as severe.
Being retired and not having to be somewhere everyday (and on time), gives me a lot of options.
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ROFL!!!! That was hilarious Ryan!! 
