What is the weather REALLY like in Bend? (Portland, Detroit: living, moving to)

[Moving on888]

I am currently living outside Ann Arbor, MI My wife, kids and I HATE the weather here. We moved here two years ago from San Jose, CA. We are looking into moving to Bend. Can a few Bend residents please help us out by letting us know what the general weather is like from Oct. through April. The winters here are way too grey and December to March there are just too many days with highs only reaching into the 20's. We can have 6-10 solid weeks of dismal grey skies. Is Bend much different???

[PNW-type-gal]

I'm not familiar with Ann Arbor, but looking at the weather on the City Data pages side-by-side, Bend will be warmer in winter (the average high in January is about 40), much less snow, and not much more sun. The summers would be about the same, temp-wise, although much less humid. The summers might feel hotter, because the higher-altitude sun has more punch.

You'd also be moving to a town less than half the size. If you're looking for San Jose-style weather, you won't find it in Bend.

[Raspberry]

If you're looking at oregon and want more sun during the winter, I believe the columbia river gorge especially the eastern parts (The dalles, goldendale) get more sunshine and are more dry/arid climates, but are pretty small towns. The nearest city to them is Portland.

[OchocoWesterner]

We live about 40 miles from Bend and love the weather here. The daytime summer temps are hot but it cools off drastically at night. Most of us don't even have air conditioning. Our past couple of winters have been very mild, but normally we have some snow on the ground from around Thanksgiving to March. Here at our house, during a normal winter, we might have anywhere from 6-10 inches on the ground for most of the winter. We live on Grizzly Mountain which is a little north and east of Bend. What makes the snow bearable is the gorgeous, abundant sunshine we have all winter long! You really can't beat the winters here....if you like snow

[Bendite]

Having lived in Detroit for one miserable year, and for several years in the San Jose area many years ago, I'd say the climate in Bend is different enough from both to make it hard to compare. It can get downright freezing here, but it is often dry and the sun is shining. There is often some snow on the ground during the winter, but outside of a few terrible days a year with icy roads, overall the driving is not too bad (this from someone who moved to Bend from Colorado a few years ago - everything is relative!) The fall here is simply gorgeous. A couple of days ago, nearby Santiam Pass got 20 inches of snow and Bend got a trace. Today, it is 69 degrees and not a cloud in the sky and the Cascade mountains are all topped with white.