Location for snow story - Writers Forum

Magnatolia · 07-23-2005, 07:00 AM

Hi,

I am planning on creating a story where the main character (female) and her husband live in a small cottage a few miles from the town where it constantly snows. The husband is out collection wood and a strong blizzard forms. The female is forced to attempt to make her way back to the village.

I am looking for a suitable location (real life) that I can find photos of the types of structures and the layout of the town. I would also like to be able to use accurate details for the real life place.

The place needs to actually get blizzards and that sort of thing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jason

mammamaia · 07-23-2005, 08:37 AM

there's no place on earth where it 'constantly' snows... even the poles have a 'summer' when it doesn't snow for a while...

if you mean just in the winter, even alaska and greenland don't have snow continually... in the us, maine has very long and cold winters with lots of snow... and there are plenty of small towns with woods nearby... i lived one summer/fall/winter in ellsworth and we had a couple of blizzards...

the farthest north of either the yukon or nwt would be a suitable locale if you want this set in canada... for any real town you choose in any of those places you will likely be able to find photos and info by googling... town names can be googled for, too...

hope this helps... love and hugs, maia

Kira the wanderer · 07-25-2005, 04:41 PM

You could just set it in the winter time, a long winter. No place snows all the time that's sutible for people to live in.

Drzava · 07-25-2005, 06:53 PM

Costa Rica in a near future post apocalyptic pole reversal holocaust.

mammamaia · 07-26-2005, 10:25 AM

cute, dr z!... but, since costa rica is near the equator, a pole reversal won't change much, will it?

starr... sure, it snows all year there, but not 'constantly' as the poster specified...

from straightdope.com:

Quote:

Barrow, Alaska, for example, gets less snow than Chicago in an average year, despite having winters that average 39ºF (22ºC) colder.

Monkey King · 07-28-2005, 11:08 AM

Northern Idaho might work. Not constant snow mind you but blizzards do pop up with out warning and there are a lot of people who live in little cabins out in the middle of nowhere.

EmuJenkins · 07-28-2005, 04:48 PM

I like Maine. Just don't tread on King's toes. Also, anywhere in Quebec, but beware the French. Ontario is the land of cottages. Try Huntsville, Norty Bay, Halliburton- really anywhere north of Barrie.

Magnatolia · 07-29-2005, 05:47 AM

Thanks so much for all the fantastic replies. There's plenty for my brain to chow through. I'll definitely be googling a few of these places.

Thanks again,
Jason

Drzava · 07-29-2005, 08:23 AM

Oh oh!

Svalbard! She could be up there with her husband. I don't know about snowing year round, but there is permafrost, and the city of Longyearbyen has about 1,000 inhabitants (mostly Russians or Norwegians) and there are other smaller settlements. To give an idea of how cold it is: it was first settled in about 1600 by the Dutch, but not until the 20th century did people start living there due to coal. ie: it was too cold for the Vikings!