How Far North Is Too Far North?

[dianne9106]

We are in the Army and will get our assignment list in a month or so. We are currently getting ready to go fulltime locally in our 5th wheel (we are in Monterey, CA). We are curious how far north is too far north to comfortably survive the winter with 3 girls living fulltime in our 5er for the next few years. We have been spoiled by the mild weather here in CA and feel a little out of touch with what real cold weather and snow would be like. We know we want to stay south - like AZ, So Cal, AL or FL, but we are curious if somewhere like Fort Belvoir or Fort Eustis (both in VA) would be to far north for a milder winter. Thank in advance for your help and advice!

Dianne

 

[SeilerBird]

You should pretty much stick to southern California, Arizona and Florida unless you like cold weather. RVs and cold weather do not belong in the same sentence.

 

[dianne9106]

Those will go to the top of our list depending on which assignments are available. Fort Eustis is near VA Beach and there is a TT in Gloucester which would be better than the higher crime of the Chesapeake area even with a 45 min drive for DH to work. I have no desire to put our rig through the sadness of snow nor put my sanity to the test of young children stuck in said rig during snow! We do plan to have a back up plan and keep some stuff in storage just in case we have to move to a less than desirable winter weather area. Would TX be an option for better weather? How about TN? We were at Fort Campbell for 6 years, but the weather was somewhat mild while we were there with less than 10 inches of snow pretty much the entire time. But I know back east got some nasty weather last winter. I wish we could stay in Monterey, but there is the needs of the Army....

 

[BoomerD]

You should pretty much stick to southern California, Arizona and Florida unless you like cold weather. RVs and cold weather do not belong in the same sentence.

We lived in a cheaply built Fleetwood 40' RV for several years while chasing construction. Included in those years was western Wyoming...at -50, SE Idaho...at -30 or more, and eastern Washington at -15.
Is it the most comfortable way to spend a cold winter? Hell no...but it can be done with a bit of care and work.

As for me...I H-A-T-E cold and snow...yet, for some stupid reason, we moved to western WA...where it got down into the single digits last winter. :brr: Fortunately, that's rare here...as is more than an inch or two of snow.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The Gloucester area of Virginia is nice and safe enough - I'm there now in an RV park and have a niece & a sister-in-law that live there. Winters aren't too bad, but there will be more than a few very cold nights and several cold days, and even some snow now and then. The Carolinas are similar.

RVs don't do well at temperature extremes, either hot or cold. They aren't all that well insulated (thin walls), have more windows & skylights per sq ft than residential housing, and no matter where you are in an RV, you are very close to an exterior wall or window. Plan on spending a lot of heat and cooling. VA, SC and eastern NC are all very hot and humid from mid-May thru mid-September, then chilly from late Nov thru April. Folks accustomed to the drier air of the southwest often underestimate the effect of high humidity on comfort. Westerners tend to think 40% is high relative humidity, while Easterners would say the same was dry.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

South Texas is certainty reasonable and I'd say as far North as Dallas is doable. In fact, I think you could draw a line East/West through Dallas and say any place at an elevation of say 1, 500 ft. or less was definitely ok. North of that, look at the weather history for the area.

Ernie

 

[NY_Dutch]

Last January we were in an RV park near Wytheville, VA off I-81 where the temp hit -4 deg F during the night. Our then '95 coach handled it well though, and kept us warm with no serious pipe freeze ups.

 

[Oscar Mike]

Westerners tend to think 40% is high relative humidity, while Easterners would say the same was dry.

Yep, at 40% relative humidity we call that a monsoon...

 

[dianne9106]

Awesome! Thank you all for your replies! Hopefully we will get an assignment list soon and hopefully it has good things on it. Then fingers crossed the Army likes our choices - lol! I guess we will roll with what we get from there.

 

[RVRAC]

I spent some Christmas in Norfolk navy base when my son was serving and weather was a piece of cake. I never saw snow. When it came it did not stay for long according to my son. For us who are from WI, it was nothing.

I now spend winters in south TX, no problem.

 

[kjansen]

You might want to stay away from Minnesota!

 

[Bob Maxwell]

El Paso Ft Bliss, Sierra Vista, Ft Huchaca has good winters too. Cloudcroft NM at 8k'+ is 90 min away for summers if you can get a lot, Silver City NM is farther but very temperate as well. There is our forum Patri-Matriarchs in Sierra Vista selling their home, mh hanging up the keys and moving back to main. They are quite elderly and loved, Fred & Daisy Thomas. He was Navy.

 

[arch7]

Haha you guys are sissy's. I was just talking with a guy who lives in a Toyota motorhome near Fairbanks Alaska. Been doing it for 2.5 years and loves it. He should chime in here.

 

[SeilerBird]

Haha you guys are sissy's. I was just talking with a guy who lives in a Toyota motorhome near Fairbanks Alaska. Been doing it for 2.5 years and loves it. He should chime in here.

He will chime in but currently he is frozen solid. We are waiting for him to defrost.

 

[Tom Hoffman]

In 12-13 for 3 months over the end of the year we were in Max Meadows VA 10 miles from Wytheville VA and temps dropped to the teens quite a few nights plus up to 4" snow and lost power 4 different times for up to 3 days.  We ended up buying a generator and it was miserable. 

 

[Mopar1973Man]

Even living in my old 1976 Dodge Jamboree motorhome in Riggins, ID with winter temperatures above 0*F most of the time... It was still miserable. 20# propane bottle lasted about 3-4 days depending on how warm the thermostat was set on the furnace. The fact of waking up one nigh and having my hair frozen to the wall sucked. (Yes, I have long hair). Having water line freeze up or better yet having holding tanks freeze up.