The North Idaho Climate PURPLE MYTH
My baby sister lives in Phoenix, AZ. She was poking fun at me for living in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho…she said I was crazy for living in such extreme weather.
Like a good brother does, I poked her back and said, “Let’s see which one of our towns has us living indoors more days per year!”
Can’t blame her…
When most people think North Idaho, they think PURPLE on the map above!
Yep, North Idaho mistakenly gets thrown into the same bunch of extreme weather climates as Alaska, the Midwest and Northeast…the purple areas!
In fact, the PURPLE MYTH is so strong, most consider the weather extremes of North Idaho to be more extreme than even Boise, Salt Lake City, or Denver.
Truth is, North Idaho has less extreme weather than all the cities mentioned above, including Boise, which has more wind (wind chill) in the winter and higher temps in the summer!
Did you know, Coeur d’Alene (North Idaho) has warmer winters and cooler summers than Bishop, California or Pocatello, Idaho?
Check this out…
Coeur d’Alene Avg lowest temp 22.1 Avg highest temp 84.8 Source:
Boise Avg lowest temp 22.7 Avg highest temp 88.1 Source:
Pocatello Avg lowest temp 15.1 Avg highest temp 87.0 Source:
Salt Lake City Avg lowest temp 20.4 Avg highest temp 92.8 Source:
Denver Avg lowest temp 17.0 Avg highest temp 86.0 Source:
Bishop, CA Avg lowest temp 21.8 Avg highest temp 97.7 Source:
Billings, MT Avg lowest temp 14.5 Avg highest temp 86.8 Source:
Casper, WY Avg lowest temp 13.1 Avg highest temp 87.8 Source:
And for those of you thinking, “Yeah, but North Idaho gets a lot of snow!” That is just another mistaken PURPLE MYTH.
Coeur d’Alene averages 45.8 inches of snow per year…that is less than four feet for the whole winter!
Compare that to Salt Lake City 59.3 inches of snow per year, and Billings, MT 58.7 inches of snow per year.
So, if you are looking for four seasons without the extremes…winters not too cold and summers not too hot…North Idaho is hard to beat!
Get more info on North Idaho here
Written and complied by: Kory Martinelli Owner/Realtor Martinelli Realty Team-Professional Realty Services Idaho