Living in Bend, Oregon (Portland, Eugene: school rankings, camper, safe) - (OR) -Deschutes County - City-Data Forum

1sunny · 10-10-2013, 01:44 PM

I'm thinking about moving my family to Bend. I was raised in Oregon and have settled down in Texas. The Willamette Valley is too overcast, so Bend is the only other "Oregon" option I'm considering.

Does anybody living in Bend hate to be cold? If so, is the weather tolerable, or are you miserable most of the year? I'm banking on the fact that a wood stove and the sunshine would make the coldness bearable.

Are all of the k-12 schools decent, or are there schools that I should avoid? Are there any "bad" parts of town?

Any advice or info is helpful. Especially the coldness. A friend told me she was colder in Eugene than she ever was in Bend because Bend is dryer and sunnier. Do you agree?

Thanks so much!

BendLocal · 10-10-2013, 03:14 PM

Bend is on the colder side during the fall, winter, and spring due in part to overcast days. July - September is very sunny. The fall and spring seasons feel very short while winter feels very long. Summer is entirely too short for my tastes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Yes there are a ton of Chamber of Commerce sites that claim various places in Oregon get 300 days of sun a year. It is a flat-out lie. Nowhere in Oregon gets 300 days of sun, not even close -not even if you use the "the sun peeked out for 30 seconds" rule.

Most weather sites agree to the following number of days of sun (90% of the sky clear) or part sun (40% of the sky clear):
Portland: 144
Bend: 162
Medford: 198
Klamath Falls: 218 (haven't seen an Oregon city with more days than this)

note how wide that "part sun" definition is. But, to me, if there is an hour or two of sun/part sun, I am a happy camper. It's continuous days of overcast I don't like.

VirtualErik · 10-11-2013, 08:01 AM

its almost 7am as i type this, its 28f outside and its early october, there were some flurries up in the higher elevations the other day and the mountains are snow capped, lol so winters are cold but i can get hot in the summer to. It is bearable in my opinion as when i first moved here last december I cycled all winter long early morning and late evening hours.

It is very charming and beautiful here, there are no real "bad" areas that i've come across though there are some areas that are more shady than the others.

It has been pretty cloudy with the temperatures changing but we do have nice clear days and the nights are so full of stars its breathtaking.

Bend is a very active and lively place to settle.

BendLocal · 10-11-2013, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1sunny

Are there any "bad" parts of town?

Related threads

http://www.city-data.com/forum/bend/...elocation.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/bend/...end-hoods.html

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http://www.city-data.com/forum/bend/572108-bend.html

Copsgirl73 · 10-11-2013, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1sunny

I'm thinking about moving my family to Bend. I was raised in Oregon and have settled down in Texas. The Willamette Valley is too overcast, so Bend is the only other "Oregon" option I'm considering.

Does anybody living in Bend hate to be cold? If so, is the weather tolerable, or are you miserable most of the year? I'm banking on the fact that a wood stove and the sunshine would make the coldness bearable.

Are all of the k-12 schools decent, or are there schools that I should avoid? Are there any "bad" parts of town?

Any advice or info is helpful. Especially the coldness. A friend told me she was colder in Eugene than she ever was in Bend because Bend is dryer and sunnier. Do you agree?

Thanks so much!

We have lived in both Portland and Eugene. I was raised in Bend years ago and am SO glad we moved back. We absolutely love it. So much better than the valley. Not as gray, not nearly as much rain.
It does, however, get cold. Mornings are in the upper 20's lately but its not a big deal, to us anyway. I agree with your friend, I thought it was colder and more miserable in general in Eugene than in Bend. When its raining in Eugene it keeps raining and stays gray and wet, sometimes for days. In Bend it can rain and be gray for a bit but a coule hours later the sun is out and you would never know it rained. I also like that in the colder months the precipitation is in the form of snow and not rain.

The schools are really good. You can look on the great schools link and see for yourself what they are graded but I havent heard of a really "bad" school here.

People consider the east side of Bend the "not so desirable" part but I dont consider it bad and not really undesirable either. Its Bend after all. There are older parts and newer parts. But i havent heard of any area that is unsafe or awful.

Bottom line for us is Bend is a great place to live and raise kids. Its gorgeous here, there is so much to do and we havent looked back.

BendLocal · 10-11-2013, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Copsgirl73

In Bend it can rain and be gray for a bit but a coule hours later the sun is out and you would never know it rained.

Sure that can happen. Then again we can get weeks on end of nothing but overcast skies with no sun at all especially when we get slammed withe inversions.

Snownut · 10-12-2013, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Sure that can happen. Then again we can get weeks on end of nothing but overcast skies with no sun at all especially when we get slammed withe inversions.

I have been closely tracking Bend sky for almost 20 months, haven't observed anything even close to that, must only be in certain years? you have lived there a long time so you would know what years that happens?

The inversion days I have observed in Bend are sunny or partly sunny at Mt Bachelor, maybe next time your are "slammed for weeks on end under the grey overcast" you could take a short 20 minute drive and see the sun?

I can't do that around here. Love the micro climates out there, change is never too far.

Oh and when is the last time Bend had over 6" of rain in 12 days, like we now have had in VA this month?

kapetrich · 10-12-2013, 01:35 AM

Inversion just is not an issue in Bend as it is in other "front range" areas like SLC, etc. Do we get it? Sure. If you want to escape it, as snownut mentioned, go drive 15mins up the road....To mention inversion layers as if they have any sort of significance is pretty funny, IMO- other locals will back me up here.

Snownut, that's because weeks on end clouds doesn't happen either. A week, maybe a week and a half at most.

Can we please just be reasonable with our weather complaints. PLEASE. Yes, we have long winters and they're not as sunny as people are led to believe. Also, our springs are regularly more winter-like than spring-like.

If you don't like winter, winter sports, etc. I would not advise moving here.

Someone with legit weather complaints is Delta, the rest seem to beat a preset narrative.

Dry Side · 10-12-2013, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Then again we can get weeks on end of nothing but overcast skies with no sun at all especially when we get slammed withe inversions.

Been in Bend ten years and can't recall any year where the wx was what you describe for weeks on end. If anything Bend has very dynamic weather. Can be sunny, cloudy, sunny all within 15 minutes. I do agree the "cold" seasons last longer then the brief warmth of the summer. Every year has been different with the amounts of snow fall on the SW side of town. For anyone who likes outdoor activities I find Central Oregon wx ideal.

BendLocal · 10-12-2013, 09:24 AM

I guess I should have said days on end instead of weeks. It feels like weeks because the inversions are so unpleasant. But the point is that there are many days in the winter that are gray even without inversions. And to say just get in the car and drive 20+ miles to Bachelor doesn't really help. Bachelor is over 30 minutes for most Bend residents. How can the average person do that during the work week? And most of the time gray skies in Bend means that Bachelor is covered in clouds too.

This quote is one of the best summaries I've seen on the weather.

Quote:

Originally Posted by delta07

I live in Bend, and have so for almost 4 years. The clouds are a dominant factor in the sky, to me. Of course, the precipitation is the biggest difference. Bend is dry. But it seems to have the same sky pattern as most of the PNW, dominated by clouds/overcast skies in winter, and bright, sunny days during the 3 months of summer. When I tell people that I'm tired of the clouds here, they always come back with, "oh, but Bend is so sunny!" When you look at the hard data, it does not appear to be. And, from my perspective of almost 4 years, it certainly isn't with the exception of about July-September.