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It's a little unusual for it to be this mild and sunny in the PacNW. But apart from upper New England's unusual barrage of back to back snowstorms, it's not that strange for the NE to get a good amount of cold and snow. My point was that it's not as depressing as people outside of the region make it out to be, and certainly not the suicide capital of the country. 50 and overcast sounds a lot worse than it really is, and I certainly wouldn't let your drizzlephobia prevent you from making the move. It happens, but not nearly as much as you've apparently been led to believe.
FWIW, averages don't really tell the entire story, either.
The drizzlephobia is a pretty big deal, though. Days of endless grey and even bigger deal. Combine the two, and for many it's a deadly combo.
It's actually people from within the region who make it out to be bad. As a single example, on this site, people who ask how PNW winters really are overwhelmingly told how depressing it is. It's like this all over the internet. Trust me, I have searched and searched and asked questions, spoke to my friends in the PNW. The only time anyone says that it isn't bad and that it's sunny and mild all winter are those who are trying to win some sort of contest, like in this tread. Getting a good amount of snow isn't the same as the weather being wet and drizzly all the time. The difference is that in typical years, it snows, the city cleans up, goes back to being sunny.
The drizzlephobia is a pretty big deal, though. Days of endless grey and even bigger deal. Combine the two, and for many it's a deadly combo.
It's actually people from within the region who make it out to be bad. As a single example, on this site, people who ask how PNW winters really are overwhelmingly told how depressing it is. It's like this all over the internet. Trust me, I have searched and searched and asked questions, spoke to my friends in the PNW. The only time anyone says that it isn't bad and that it's sunny and mild all winter are those who are trying to win some sort of contest, like in this tread. Getting a good amount of snow isn't the same as the weather being wet and drizzly all the time. The difference is that in typical years, it snows, the city cleans up, goes back to being sunny.
I remember one summer it rained for like 10 days straight, possibly more, where I live. Not always a steady rain, but sometimes nonstop drizzle and overcast-ness. We didn't see the sun at all for 10 days. Legitimately one of the most depressing times of my life. At the time, I remember feeling the lack of sunlight, what it does to you and how it makes you feel.
The Northwest, as a result of the drizzle, is green virtually year-round.
The Northeast is not. Every facet of a Northeast winter is depressing. The bare trees, the brown snowbanks piled up, the brown diarrhealike slush, the cold temperatures, the snowfall. It just looks gross and depressing.
At the least Upstate, its ****ing unbearable. The sun has literally been out 12 times since November 12th. I counted on WeatherUnderground. Its been out 40 times in Seattle during the same time.
Right now its -9 degrees with a windchill over -20, and theres no sun in the forecast until Tuesday. Snow literally every day.
I've been to Seattle during ****tier times, and it sucks, but I was out in a t-shirt in the drizzle, and with the green, it actually looked nice.
The green is whats important, not always the sun sometimes.
Being able to be outside is the goal at this point for me. I was out tonight for the first time in months, and pretty much everyone agreed. Almost every conversation involved someone trying to relocate.
Brain drain. This place will be tough to keep young educated people around.
Super-depressing place job wise, let alone the weather. It sucks the life outta you.
Idk if the NE is anything what i am used to but i know that the PNW sounds like heaven... the wind isn't painful, its not a chore to just simply walk out the front door, you aren't shivering so much you feel like screaming... the only uncomfortable feeling is stepping in a puddle.
Friend is actually up visiting from South Plainfield, and he wants me to move back down to Jersey since hes looking to get a house. Visits probably every other weekend cause his family is still here. From Queens, moved to Utica when he was 10. Went to Utica College and moved to Jersey after graduating. Shakes his head everytime he returns, which now is more frequent, but him and I are very familiar with Upstate weather and Jersey weather. We ALWAYS compare them. Hes been there since 2007. I was there 2006-08 and then 2010-11. Nearly moved back down two weeks ago but can't justify the cost anymore.
Jersey doesn't get as much snow, and ive entertained the thought of moving back down, but im tired of the cold in general now. Anything under freezing I don't want. The difference in temperature and sunlight between Upstate and New Jersey is insane. Always 10 degrees warmer and sunnier.
Im a supporter of NJ since you have NYC and Philly, the Poconos and the shore, but the cold weather keeps me away. The cold and snow up here is literally ridiculous. Your typical forecast is honestly 6/7 days of snow from November to sometimes March.
I always felt bad for the Syracuse college kids because Syracuse is honestly one of the worst weather cities in the country.
Boston's recent snowfall is all over the media, but most don't realize that the snowfall there is average for Upstate, and gets no media coverage at all. The polar vortex that sweeps down doesn't get any media until it hits NYC, Boston and Philly. You can bet it was probably frigid in the interior Northeast much earlier than that.
Its a combination of the endless grey- everything, the trees, the sky, the ground, the clouds and the bone biting below zero cold. It lasts for months. I think if you look at annual sunshine we are close to the PNW in average sunny days. But I didn't realize they were so much warmer.
When we were in Myrtle Beach I noticed that "partly cloudy" and "cloudy" days meant different things in different regions. They would call for a partly cloudy day so we'd p[an to go shopping only for it to be a bright sunny day with occassional large clouds blocking the sun. Happenned often enough for me to realize partly cloudy meant it was fine for us to go to the beach. Here partly cloudy means you might see the sun but mostly- youre going to see clouds.
Thank you for this thread where we can vent. Saves me from doing it with my family and dragging them down with me.
There's nothing pleasurable about driving on ice and fearing for your life every morning, or shoveling three feet of snow a week, or standing outside for no longer than 5 minutes because of frostbite.
I go outside every day in those conditions and I enjoy it. It's called "winter clothing."
This poll question is a good one. I live in one of the colder, snowier areas of the northeast, I generally like the climate here, and I love the PNW having travelled to Seattle/BC many times. I've always considered the worst weather to be cold & rainy, which is the image (maybe not reality) of PNW winters and is pretty common here normally for late winter/early spring.
This winter has been brutal for the past month, mostly subzero temps, have seen ~-30F twice this past week. And I've been monitoring Seattle weather and, as others stated, it's surprisingly sunny quite often. What is amazing to me is how little the temperature varies there, generally 55 +/-. Anyway, seeing as the northeast is experiencing a rough winter now & Seattle's been pleasant, the poll will likely be skewed. I think you'd have to have lived in both areas for years to answer accurately.
In my travels to Vancouver, which I loved, I generally found natives to have that "the weather here sucks" mentality while transplants (generally from Ontario) absolutely loved it there, as I did. That's pretty much what I observe just about anywhere I've been.
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