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I have an MES 40 and live at 8800 ft near Pikes Peak, CO. Mine is outside in a cabinet hubby built especially for it and my smoking supplies. I'll take a pic tomorrow and post it for you. I have no problems smoking in the wind, rain, and especially the snow! Biggest problem I have with it is when the wind isn't blowing, it has a tendency to spike the temp but I just prop the cabinet open. I've smoked at an outside temp of 25-30* and maintained smoker temps within 3-5*.
The outside of the cabinet-he put a chimney right above the smoker vent and added the hasp so I can padlock when we're not home for any length of time. (Have some problems in the neighborhood from time to time with kids)
And he gave me 2 shelves and up on concrete blocks so no back breaking bending.
Access door for the chip loader, it does have a sliding cover that is off at the moment. Smoking ribs
Mine out on the leeward side of the porch with a mutt and two guard cats protecting it. Husker has a little less than a thousand feet on me and I can report the same results. I just put a 22 hour cold smoke on some belly bacon, 14 degrees outside, snowing, burning just the AMNPS, the inside held 55-60. If it gets colder outside, I just leave the light on.
I was just wondering the same thing about keeping it outside. The smoker I have now is small and lite enough for me to carry inside and keep in the garage. But I'm thinking of getting a master built to be able to smoke larger amounts of meats. But being so large it seems like something I probably can't carry through the kitchen to the backyard every time I want to cook. Would buying a cover be enough to protect it from the elements and last the same amount of time as if I were to bring it in? The cabinet idea seems pretty cool too.