Help Me Move To Oregon...please? (Portland, Medford: houses, condos, employment)

[Be Right Back]

Hi there,

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in and tell you to come on out to ANY place in Oregon as far as weather goes.

I lived for two years in South Bend, IN while going to school, and THERE IS NO COMPARISON weather-wise to Oregon.

I am sure anyone who has also lived in both would agree with me here.

Although I have only lived in Southern Oregon, I have visited nearly the whole state, I would think I would have heard of any freak blizzards, etc. happening in other parts of the state.

And the summers! Forget about it. The summers I spent in South Bend were horrible. So humid and oppressive. Almost no sunshine - just hot hazy skies and humidity. Southern Oregon summers are hot, sunny and DRY. There are bodies of water in every direction to help cool you off, so don't worry about the summer temps. You will have a great series of seasons too, a very distinct fall, winter, spring and summer. There is more rain in Oregon than IN, but I bet you will be happy with the trade once you get here and compare winters and summers.

My friends from IN that have visited the west coast fell in love with mountains - not a lot of flat land for miles and miles here!

I enjoyed by time and experiences in IN, but would never choose to live there permanantly.

I encourage you to visit Southern Oregon and fall in love with its weather and landscape!

[goldpolkadots]

Originally Posted by Be Right Back

Hi there,

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in and tell you to come on out to ANY place in Oregon as far as weather goes.

I lived for two years in South Bend, IN while going to school, and THERE IS NO COMPARISON weather-wise to Oregon.

I am sure anyone who has also lived in both would agree with me here.

Although I have only lived in Southern Oregon, I have visited nearly the whole state, I would think I would have heard of any freak blizzards, etc. happening in other parts of the state.

And the summers! Forget about it. The summers I spent in South Bend were horrible. So humid and oppressive. Almost no sunshine - just hot hazy skies and humidity. Southern Oregon summers are hot, sunny and DRY. There are bodies of water in every direction to help cool you off, so don't worry about the summer temps. You will have a great series of seasons too, a very distinct fall, winter, spring and summer. There is more rain in Oregon than IN, but I bet you will be happy with the trade once you get here and compare winters and summers.

My friends from IN that have visited the west coast fell in love with mountains - not a lot of flat land for miles and miles here!

I enjoyed by time and experiences in IN, but would never choose to live there permanantly.

I encourage you to visit Southern Oregon and fall in love with its weather and landscape!

Thank you soo much for your help!
My family has narrowed our move down to either southern/eastern oregon and idaho. we still have a lot of work to do. but I was wondering if there is any severe weather in oregon and if so, what kind (tornados, floodding, etc.), and where in the state.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by goldpolkadots

Thank you soo much for your help!
My family has narrowed our move down to either southern/eastern oregon and idaho. we still have a lot of work to do. but I was wondering if there is any severe weather in oregon and if so, what kind (tornados, floodding, etc.), and where in the state.

Ice storms in the Columbia Gorge, often extending into Portland.

Moderate floods every 10 years or so in Western Oregon, annually on the coast, and rarely east of the Cascades.

Fire storms in the whole state, but particularly Southern Oregon. Three years ago the whole Siskiyou National Forest went up in smoke, burning over half a million acres. Fire contractors have announced that they will no longer attempt to save homes that do not have defensible spaces built into the landscaping. Because of the annual summer drought, wildfires are a real danger in Oregon.

Freezing weather is rare west of the Cascades, but common in the mountains, east of the mountains, and in the Gorge. In Western Oregon, I have only seen it below zero once, in December of 1972, when it reached -13 in Salem. We had a week of 10 degree weather in Douglas County about 10 years ago. I think it was colder the farther north and east you got.

Tornadoes are rare. One hit Newport once, and you see the occasional waterspout on the coast. Wind storms are fairly common, though not every winter. 100 mph winds on the coastal headlands are fairly common. We had a big storm on October 12, 1962 that flattened the whole western part of the state and killed 45 people, including two high school friends of mine, Adolph Schutz and Marilyn McManimie. A bee tree blew over, hit their car, and the hive stung them to death. Sorry, old memories. It made quite an impression on a 15 year old boy.

Generally, Oregon is a pretty safe place to live. The most common thing you normally have to deal with is the power being out for a few days. Most people own generators to keep their furnace running. Strangely enough, power seems to go out more often in cities than it does in the country. Other than that, the state is pretty benign. There are only a couple of poisonous spiders, and the rattlesnakes are not particularly aggressive.

The worst thing that happens to most people is a dose of poison oak. Poison oak is everywhere. If you turn out to be sensitive, you will be in for some serious misery. I have to roll in the stuff to catch it, and then it's just a little itchy rash that goes away in a few days. I have seen others have their skin peel right off, leaving ugly, weeping sores that itch like crazy. Your doctor can prescribe industrial strength cortisone creams and prednisone pills if necessary.

[Be Right Back]

I have to agree with Larry, in that Oregon is pretty benign when it comes to natural disasters. I lived in the Rogue Valley (areas include Medford, Jacksonville, Ashland, Talent, Phoenix) for 15 years (and visit there 6 times a year, as I still have family there) and the only naturally dangerous experience I had was a wind storm blew our old oak tree down onto our house. I wouldn't have considered that night to be tornado like or anything - just a strong wind blowing an ancient oak down.

Now the fires he is talking about are dangerous and I am hoping as time goes by, they develop better and better prevention and response tactics. It is so hard to get a raging wild fire under control. I would think though, that unless you are living somewhere pretty remote, your home and family will not be in direct danger.

I think the biggest challenge weather-wise So. OR. residents face is trying to travel to other cities during the heavy rain/winter season. I do remember a tough snowy/icy drive from Medford to Klamath Falls once and I would opt not to travel from Medford to Portland in the dead of winter either. If I had to, I could and would, but wouldn't volunteer. There is a mountain pass between those two cities, curvy and of course the semi trucks are a factor. Same with the Siskyou pass from Ashland into No. Cal. Although I do it, S L O W L Y.

Like Larry said, those kinds of things seem to happen every 10-20-30 years. If you are looking to live in a more rural area, say Ruch, Applegate, in the Jacksonville hills, Rogue River, you will want to be mindful of ice on the roads. Since they are less traveled and it does get below freezing at night in the winter (and since So. OR does get its fair share of rain) they tend to get ice patches. If you are coming from Northern Indian, I would think you know how to handle yourself on icy roads. Just use caution and you should be ok.

As for things like poison oak/bee stings/rattle snakes, well again, caution when you are out in the forest and hiking areas. You can't prevent freak occurances, anywhere you live.

One note about Idaho ~ my cousin lived there for two years, in Boise, and said drug use was really big. He loved the state though, and said he would live there, just not in Boise.

Larry, very sorry to hear about your experience as a boy and your friends losing their lives.

[goldpolkadots]

I recently found information about the "United States' most contaminated nuclear site" located in south-central Washington in Benton County (called the Hanford Site) and have read that "approximately twenty percent was once across the Columbia River in Grant and Franklin counties." This has me very concerned because I also read that the whole state of WA is contaminated because of this site.

My question is, is Oregon effected? The Columbia River runs through/by Oregon, so does this mean that northern Oregon or all of Oregon is also contaminated?

[jimg1126]

Yes, I would say that the Columbia River is very toxic. Not only the Hanford Nuclear waste dump, but up river there is the nation's chemical weapons repository in Umatilla that is right on the river.

The Willamette is considered unsafe for swimming and is generally toxic waste dump.

Even tony Lake Oswego is very toxic (and a fake man made lake) that had to be nearly drained a while back to get rid of the nasty algae and toxins.

Oregon is an illusion and has been destroyed by the Californicators.

[goldpolkadots]

Yikes, toxic waste sounds like a SERIOUS problem that has spread all throughout Oregon I wonder if Idaho and/or Utah is affected?

[freedom]

Originally Posted by goldpolkadots

Yikes, toxic waste sounds like a SERIOUS problem that has spread all throughout Oregon I wonder if Idaho and/or Utah is affected?

Oregon is not covered in toxic waste. It has some of the cleanest water in the nation. It has the purest water and the deepest lake in the nation at Crater lake National Monument. Which happens to feed the Rogue River, also one of the cleanest Rivers in the Nation.

I'd stay out of the Columbia, although the fish seem to be able to handle it just fine.

freedom

[magicdeed]

You would LOVE Myrtle Creek, Oregon. Along I-5 in Southwestern Oregon, close to larger towns (Medford to the South, Roseburg to the north). Friendly community. Beautiful, clean rivers. I moved here from NY several years ago and absolutely love Myrtle Creek!! Go to Welcome to the Myrtle Creek - Tri City Area Chamber of Commerce Online! and click on the promotional DVD. You will fall in love too!

[tiffela74]

jimg1126 has nothing but negative and rude things to say about Oregon and the people who live here. I haven't seen a single positive word from him/her. I wouldn't put too much stock in this persons opinions.
Hopefully they will move out of Oregon soon, (if they even are IN Oregon.)

There are plenty of places in Oregon that you'd probably be quite pleased with. Im not saying its fact that youd be happy here, but Id lean more to thinking you could be.
Best of luck!
Tiffany