The truth about the sun in Bend... (Portland: live, statistics)
BendDeschutes County
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It's raining in Bend today! Like...actual real rain, not a slight drizzle for 5 mins like it normally does when it 'rains'.
It's funny. From what I'm used to, I actually kinda enjoy the rain rain when we get it. It's a novelty here.
Oh...and I get to turn off my sprinkler system tonight!
(It's been cloudy all this midweek, too)
End of May powder day tomorrow morning on Bachelor. Watch out.
And it's also been hovering right around 40 degrees throughout the day! If the temperature drops anymore, we just might be waking up to some snow! I'd start a fire in the woodstove today if I could, but my firewood is all wet.
I don't dislike the rain (okay, I do, but only when it's raining for days on end), I just can't enjoy it when it's so cold.In fact, I really do miss those good summer thunderstorms that the southwest and the Rockies are known for. We do get a few here in Central Oregon when weather pushes in from the south, but nothing like the crazy thunderstorms I'm used to.
I'm going to definitely try to enjoy some late season powder at the mountain though. It will be a good way to wrap up the year. I just hope we get some sun this weekend too. I'm cranky now!
And it's also been hovering right around 40 degrees throughout the day! If the temperature drops anymore, we just might be waking up to some snow! I'd start a fire in the woodstove today if I could, but my firewood is all wet.
I don't dislike the rain (okay, I do, but only when it's raining for days on end), I just can't enjoy it when it's so cold.In fact, I really do miss those good summer thunderstorms that the southwest and the Rockies are known for. We do get a few here in Central Oregon when weather pushes in from the south, but nothing like the crazy thunderstorms I'm used to.
I'm going to definitely try to enjoy some late season powder at the mountain though. It will be a good way to wrap up the year. I just hope we get some sun this weekend too. I'm cranky now!
I completely agree. Rain is tough when it's as cold as it was today. I do miss warm rainy days. Even last Sunday when it was in the mid-70's and cloudy - that is strange here. Normally if it's above 70 it's pretty clear. I remember talking to my roommates over dinner about how odd it was to see it cloudy outside yet warm at the same time.
Also, I definitely miss real weather. We don't really get crazy thunderstorms often in the summer, but a few times and they're pretty tame at best. Plus, all of our other weather, save for in the mountains, is pretty middle of the road. Not much big snow storms or hurricanes either. But, I guess most people on the outside looking in would think we're crazy for saying we miss some of the extreme weather, but I think I just miss what I became used to.
Anotherrrr thing I agree with you on is how we can get cold/cloudy/unpredictable weather up till July 4th. It can be 85 one week and then in the mid 30's the next, like it did over these last two weeks. It's a grab bag and definitely keeps you on your toes (which I think is a good thing in the long run - I have a non-real theory on places that have perfectly sunny weather and no winter. How that type of 'bla' consistency filters into people outlooks on life making them....... )
Whirnot - I've only been here the last two winters. Last year we had A LOT more snow than this year and our biggest was in the begging of February where we got something like 18 inches.
Apparently that's a once in a decade storm, but I'm not really sure.
Sunriver definitely gets more accumulation than Bend. Practically every storm, but not all.
Last edited by kapetrich; 05-27-2012 at 06:26 PM..
Kapetrich, I don't recall the storm in February that dropped 18 inches? Do you mean 18 inches at the mountain? I don't think we had 18 inches dumped in town.
The first winter we lived here (2008/09), we had a storm that dumped almost a foot in Bend in December. I remember the roads being very snow packed and icy for several weeks after that, as there wasn't much sun to melt it. I was driving to the High Desert Museum on a daily basis too, which is between Bend and Sunriver and the roads were really bad. I had a Subaru, but no snow tires, and I wish I had.
Kapetrich is right too, Sunriver typically gets more snow than Bend.In fact, our friends who live just south of us in Deschutes River Woods got about an inch of snow at their house the other morning.
Delta, I think you should come spend a winter in Portland. I think then you might get why people say Bend is so sunny. The 3-4 times we've come out (granted that is a small n number) it's been sunny every day every single time (and that has covered all four seasons). I would guess were you to do this 4 season travel in Portland, odds are you would not have sun all four trips.
I can see that coming from CO, it would seem less sunny. But it's all relative. For us, it's our little "escape to CO" in Oregon when my wife is missing the high desert.
I have had a similar experience, but driving from NW Oregon to SW Oregon (we get a bit about the same amount of sun as Bend down here in Ashland). It is a notable difference, but it is not Colorado or New Mexico by a long shot!
Kapetrich, I don't recall the storm in February that dropped 18 inches? Do you mean 18 inches at the mountain? I don't think we had 18 inches dumped in town.
This guy must live near me on the Westside because I remember waking up to over 8inches and the news saying it was suppose to stop by 9am and it kept on till after 1pm or so.
I could be totally wrong, though...but it's a vivid memory since I bitterly went into work that day instead of skiing - a storm like that back east would have shut down the entire town for 1-4 days.
See if you can find snow totals for the winter of 2007/2008 - down here we got dumped on, at least a couple feet of snow in two big storms, leaving drifts about 4' high in some places. That storm may have hit Bend as well.
I have lived in Bend for more than 26 years and have experienced La Nina years, El Nino years and "normal" years. Bend is not nearly as sunny as it's hyped up to be. The same Pacific storms that dump rain on Portland produce cloudy conditions in Bend (although less rain, because Bend is in the "rain shadow" of the Cascades).
Having lived previously in a REALLY sunny place (Northern California) I can tell you that Bend is not actually "sunny." You will experience less rain than in Portland, but a roughly equal amount of cloudiness. OTOH Bend is much colder than Portland and doesn't really warm up until the middle of June.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapetrich
That said, Spring can be a tough time in Bend if you're from a notoriously sunny region, especially if you do not ski. Our winter weather seems to stick around longer than most regions of the country.
The standing joke is that Bend has four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapetrich
Obviously there were days with clouds, but honestly, can you reasonably argue that from July - January wasn't sunny.
You can't take 2011-2012 as representative. We had a very unusually sunny and warm fall and early winter this year, so much so that the ski resorts and the irrigators were seriously worried.
Year in and year out, the figure of 162 sunny days probably is pretty close to the truth. The data doesn't lie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by delta07
Spring is by far the hardest time. It really puts me into a funk when they skies are overcast and the temps are cool. I realize this is how Bend is. I can't change that. I can only change my attitude or location. I've been working on my attitude, ha, but that whole vitamin D factor really is hard to simulate.
I'm the same. But after 26 years of endless Bend winters my wife and I have decided to relocate to the Southwest. Hey, why struggle to change your attitude when you can change your latitude?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapetrich
It's a grab bag and definitely keeps you on your toes (which I think is a good thing in the long run - I have a non-real theory on places that have perfectly sunny weather and no winter. How that type of 'bla' consistency filters into people outlooks on life making them....... )
Sorry, that sounds like sour grapes to me.
Last edited by Kimballette; 06-06-2012 at 06:01 PM..
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I'd start a fire in the woodstove today if I could, but my firewood is all wet. 
