DD was accepted yesterday. Yay! So now the real questions…
DD is a native Texan - tropical SE Texas…(I am a native northern “snowbelt” Ohioian I “get” snow and cold).
honestly I wish I could give you an answer about the weather from Nov-Mar but its mainly sunny, random snow and rain. As far as outdoors, a vast majority of Colorado and Boulder especially is environmentally centric, so they might feel a bit out of place but im sure there are people in the same boat as others.
Just curious, why does your daughter want to go to CU Boulder OOS if she is “not an outdoor enthusiast”?
I can’t speak to CU Boulder students, but Boulder is consistently named one of the fittest cities in the nation, primarily because residents are outside running, walking, hiking, kayaking, skiing, rollerblading, etc. etc. in the great Colorado weather. And it IS great. Best winters ever (sun 300 days/year, even in winter) compared to the dull grey winter skies of my NH upbringing.
@textbooked…because they have a very well regarded psychology department that is nationally ranked. Academically it is a good fit for her. They have a coed cheer team. She is athletic, just not mountain sport oriented.
We moved to Colorado a few years ago from the hot & humid Southeast. We were not outdoor enthusiasts… especially out daughter. That certainly has changed. The weather here is incredible! Before we moved here we were told “it will snow one day and the next day the sun will be shining, snow has melted, and it will be 60 degrees.” We thought we were simply trying to be “sold” by our new employer. It’s no joke. What I just described is November through March/April. Our windows are open 90% of the year. The desire to be outdoors is almost contagious. Over the last few years we’ve seen our non-outdoorsy daughter take up skiing, hiking, and camping. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the dry air- it’s hard on your skin… but every day is a great hair day lol. Good luck helping your daughter with this decision- our daughter is looking forward to being there in September!
@labegg Boulder gets more snow than Denver or Longmont but it melts fast. Boulder is a very good city for classical music , with Boulder Phil, Boulder Chamber, and a lot of guest artists coming to campus, both Grusin Hall and Macky Auditorium. The Conference on World Affairs is located on the CU Boulder campus in April every year. Boulder
is very Buddhist, with lots of different types of meditation, and eastern religions being practiced, but lots of regular synagogues, churches, etc. Boulder Chautauqua is modeled on the New York State concept, of education and music under a “tent”. I like the Dairy Center live theatre, and University Theatre and there are operas on campus as well. Fine arts are also good. Boulder is not just for hikers at all. Its got plenty of lectures, a world class law, science and business library, and kids who want to be indoors will have a ton of fun. The independent book stores
are FABULOUS! One is completely focused on Left Wing politics, the three story Boulder Bookstore on Pearl Street
has an entire floor focused on Buddhism, (top floor) and there are a lot of climate scientists in Boulder, studying weather, climate, cloud formation, ice formation, and all the biology that goes with climate change research.
Did I mention the used book stores?!! And the kite store? And all those mineral and rock stores? And the funky used women’s clothing stores?
Museums too! Did I mention the Boulder Farmer’s Market which starts in April and is more or less a festival? OK that one IS outdoors!
I will not go over all the foodie places, and bars, but there are plenty, mostly indoors, but outdoor dining is popular.
I hardly think of Boulder as an outdoor place, as clearly I am not really that into the outdoors, but yes, there is hiking
if she wants to try it.
@labegg I know this will be hard to believe, but kids raised in Colorado almost never wear WINTER COATS. They throw on a fleece and walk to school. OK a few days do go well below zero, but thats like one week in January and its done.
However, it gets VERY cold in the middle of the night. As soon as it gets dark it is colder.
It can snow three feet, but very very rarely does it snow that much.
Our mountains get a lot more snow. The dry weather in winter makes it SEEM a lot warmer than it actually is.
We get the most inches of snow in March by the way. Some years it can rain in November. Its highly variable weather. We have winters where it just does not snow much , within the last twenty years. Thats a problem
as we drink snow runoff. We do not drink aquifer water, there are few wells left here. We drink snow melt
and if it does not snow, then there can be droughts.
@Coloradomama my 14 year old sons rarely wear a coat in Wisconsin! It has to go below zero to get them in a coat, and even then they protest. There was a student on the UW-Madison campus a few years ago that only wore shorts and a t-shirt all winter. If it got below zero he would add a hat and gloves.
It can get dangerously cold, even in Boulder and especially at night, but younger people seem to have a way to keep warm internally. i guess the Texans who are used to very hot weather, may have an adjustment though! The sun does help in Colorado, it seems to keep everyone in a good mood, but I would say that Colorado can get very cold
but its not windy in the winter. Colorado winters feel better than Boston by a long shot and its like a whole new definition of winter compared to say upstate NY. The winds we have are Chinook winds and they blow in March, but they are WARM feeling winds, and they can gust to 80 miles an hour. The wind really whips around everything some years, and then other years it seems to be quieter.
@Coloradomama We loved the Boulder Bookstore and Pearl Street when we visited. It was great to see so many locally owned businesses and restaurants. Boulder definitely has the most to offer college students IMO.
Also, since you know the area, how do students get to the Denver Airport during breaks? Does the university offer shuttles, or do students take Uber?
@stardustmom all students get a free pass to use the Denver bus system. It works everywhere in Boulder as well as in Denver. The students can catch a bus right at the UMC on campus and it goes right to the airport- for free.
Free? Not quite. It’s part of student fees.
Weather in Boulder is whatever you want it to be, you just have to wait for the time of day when YOUR weather will arrive. Layers are a good idea. One thing people from other places aren’t used to is the 40-50 degree temperature swings in the same day. One year I had my nephew but I needed to return him to Steamboat. We left Denver and it was 98. Drove into the mountains and it was noticeably colder, about 70. Another half hour and it was 50, then 40. By the time we got to Steamboat it was 30 - and snowing. It was July 2.
Ha, I have my July Steamboat Springs snow story too! It was in July of 1993?? or 94 !! We were at a Glider camp at the airport and there it was, snow in July. Boulder never ever gets snow in July, but don’t make rules about Colorado weather, they will be broken ! . We are at 5000 feet above sea level in Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins. so storms come in rapidly, and snowstorms can be white out conditions. May snow is the rule in Boulder, but its not that disruptive. Students without a car, will grab a coat, and shed it by noon, and still wear shorts that day, maybe.
I can remember a New Years day of 75 degree weather in about 2005 or 06.
We have upslope storms that come in from the east as well. So most of the snow coming from the west dumps in the mountains and then runs out of snow and
we miss those storms. Snow from the east is pretty wicked ! We get rainbows every day in the summer, rain every single day, for about five minutes, at about 5 pm. Sailing in Colorado is a rush, because of those summer storms, wind blows, sail boats go over and we start again. Steady does not describe Colorado summer breezes.
My daughter applied for the exact same reason (Psychology Dept). We are from Dallas! CU is the only school we have yet to hear from…
High’s in Boulder average mid 40’s during winter. For myself, if the conditions are sunny and no wind, a light jacket suffices for me if temps are in the mid 40’s. If temps climb into the 50’s with the same conditions, its shorts and t-shirt as you can literally feel the sun like you have never felt it before due to the altitude and dry air. The average is in the 40’s but you don’t regularly see that, its more like high is in the 20’s due to a cold front/winter storm followed or preceded by highs in the 60’s due to a warming wind from the southwest.