Missoula Winters Are Brutal in Their Own Way. Here’s How to Cope.

Like the title says, the winters here can be brutal. Anytime I slip on the ice or I'm sprinting to my car as bone-chilling winds are blowing in my face, I remind myself of the silver lining to our cold season— at least it scares people away from moving here. But even that fact isn't enough to get me through to spring, so I use other strategies. Here's a few ways to cope with Missoula's brutal winters:

Comedy

A live show is a great way to shake those winter blues, and our stand-up comedy scene is strong all year round. One weeknight it was so snowy and windy I thought the show would be completely empty, but I opened up the door of the VFW and place was absolutely packed. Both the Revival Comedy Instagram page and the Revival Comedy Facebook page publish a list of comedy events in Missoula each month.

Dance

If you want to boogie to some country or rock music, maybe visit the Sunrise Saloon or The Union Club. Or if you'd rather bop to some electronic dance music, The Badlander is the place to be. I'm always on the lookout for events at The Wilma and The Top Hat too.

Winter Sports

Sure, it's not something most of us can do on a daily basis, but it's nice to have something to look forward to that you can only enjoy this time of year.

Read

The Missoula Public Library has these things called books. Books can teach you things, entertain you and they don't even need batteries. Crazy, right?

Learn A Skill

It's challenging but it's also rewarding. If you're trying to improve in any activity winter is the best time to do it, because warm weather can be distracting.

Video Games

If I'm going to be honest here, I lean on Fortnite more than is probably wise. The important part is that I don't care what it's like outside when I'm chasing the almighty dub.