Anyone move to Portland BECAUSE of the weather? (renting, townhouses)

[Sprightly]

Siamese, it is very difficult to find apartments in the Portland area with good air conditioning. Some do allow you to buy your own window unit or rent one from the complex, but that still may not satisfy your needs to keep it a stable cool temp throughout your home for your health. I'd advise looking at Craigslist or hotpads.com to rent a condo from an individual owner - condos are often built with normal central air systems and would meet your needs much better.

[Creativeguy504]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I grew up in Michigan.

If you are coming from the Midwest, than the weather of the Pacific Northwest will be SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER.

Imagine a place without 5 months of solid snow, without months of freezing cold temperatures...where it just sprinkles lightly (dont even need an umbrella)...and when it does get below freezing...it's for a day or two, and the entire city shuts down because of it.

In short, the weather of the Pacific Northwest IS significantly better than the Midwest.

Really, the mass majority of people complaining about the PNW weather are from somewhere else - usually California, etc.

I don't think you'll ever meet a Midwesterner who moves to the PNW and complains about the weather.

I respect your opinion, but disagree about the weather. Midwest weather is MUCH better than Portland weather. Yes, it freezes, but at least there is a good amount of sunshine throughout the year in the midwest.

Portland has A LOT of cloudy, dreary days. I live there about 4-5 months of the year, and even many of the people who grew up there, complain about it.

[skylar0201]

Originally Posted by Creativeguy504

I respect your opinion, but disagree about the weather. Midwest weather is MUCH better than Portland weather. Yes, it freezes, but at least there is a good amount of sunshine throughout the year in the midwest.

Portland has A LOT of cloudy, dreary days. I live there about 4-5 months of the year, and even many of the people who grew up there, complain about it.

Midwest weather might be "better" because sunny days would be more often, but if you want to consider "temperate" or "mildness", we can't be beat, and that includes southern California. We RARELY have a day during an entire year where the temp stays below 32F--even on the coldest of days, and rarely have a day where the temp stays above 75F on even the hottest of days in the summer. Fall, winter and spring, the temp is almost always 40-55F, and between 65-85 in the summer ( with low humidity 99% of the time ). Hard to beat that, don't care where one comes from. Been living here in Portland the last 16 yrs, and if there is one thing I'd miss if I ever had to live elsewhere, would be temperate, mild weather.

The people who whine about the cloudy dreary days are not often from around here, they're from CA ( where 40% of Portland's 2.4 million folks are from. )

Besides, people will complain about the weather no matter what the weather is--it is rarely windy here either I should add, but if the wind makes it up to 20-25 mph, that is "gusts" here. In the midwest, southwest, Rocky Mtn states and even spots on the east coast, that is merely a breeze.

[vaughanwilliams]

Is it a sin to envy someone else's weather? Here in Florida, (the heat index is 101 degrees right now, by the way-8:41 PM) the sun shines all the time. I dream and pray for cloudy, rainy, cold days-months and months of them. I am truly a fish out of water here.
I was born in the PNW and God willing, I'll return soon.

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Just an FYI, Portland is not by the Pacific Ocean.

The Oregon coast is beautiful but it is quite a drive from Portland to get there.

People in Portland are very pleasant and courteous, however it is not easy to make friends.

We lived there a few years ago and found it very difficult to get to know anyone.

When I visited, it seemed like I saw potential to make future friends for life. It didnt happen, but I was also there for one month too.

I dont get why people say Portland is extremely hard to make friends. I met a few people off myspace or say one who couldnt meet me while I visited, but he would another time I visited. I met someone else off myspace there who had aspergers syndrome as I have a mild case of it too. I would think myself that if you are different, you WILL fit in with the different people. Maybe if you are an average joe type, its harder or someone who might be different but totally comes off as normal. Its hard to read people sometimes. What really gives?

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by classicanne

Oh yeah, oh yeah! Me too!

Me too. Actually I would move there for the weather so count me in on this thread.

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by vaughnwilliams

Is it a sin to envy someone else's weather? Here in Florida, (the heat index is 101 degrees right now, by the way-8:41 PM) the sun shines all the time. I dream and pray for cloudy, rainy, cold days-months and months of them. I am truly a fish out of water here.
I was born in the PNW and God willing, I'll return soon.

You may take the same amount of time I will to get there to begin with.A 3-5 yr window Id say I have in the state of FL and Tampa area and then I plan to leave for either Portland or Seattle. I visited Portland thus far, didn't visit Seattle yet. I loved Portland and the variety of places to go and eat, the summer was nice despite the heatwave and I did get to feel the mist and clouds in small pockets. I am from New England so I can deal with the clouds there and I do not like FL sun and having to go to AC to AC.

[classicanne]

Originally Posted by vaughnwilliams

Is it a sin to envy someone else's weather? Here in Florida, (the heat index is 101 degrees right now, by the way-8:41 PM) the sun shines all the time. I dream and pray for cloudy, rainy, cold days-months and months of them. I am truly a fish out of water here.
I was born in the PNW and God willing, I'll return soon.

No, not a sin; this time last year I was sweltering in Florida too, counting the months until I could come to Portland and never have to live in Florida again. When we left Florida on May 1st it was just starting to get uncomfortably hot. The drive here wasn't easy, but I would have walked all the way if I'd had to. Get here as soon as you can!

[khyron]

Originally Posted by Creativeguy504

I respect your opinion, but disagree about the weather. Midwest weather is MUCH better than Portland weather. Yes, it freezes, but at least there is a good amount of sunshine throughout the year in the midwest.

Portland has A LOT of cloudy, dreary days. I live there about 4-5 months of the year, and even many of the people who grew up there, complain about it.

RABBIT SEASON! DUCK SEASON! RABBIT SEASON...FIRE!

Look this is all entirely subjective. Believe it or not, there really are plenty of people out there who are horribly depressed and annoyed by continuous sunshine, especially when it's coupled with unrelenting hot temperatures when you don't live at a beach (and note, the midwest is slightly deficient in ocean surf). It is absolutely not the case that everyone alive craves lots and lots of sunny days with no overcast skies. I know tons of people who feel this way, and no, they are not all from a backwater in Michigan and they don't all wear a pint of liquid eyeliner.

Can't we all just say what we prefer, and leave the myth of objective "betterness" to where it belongs, like the manipulative options on a FOX News web site poll?

[newtohere]

I grew up in Portland, visit often, but later lived in WI for 14 years (Milwaukee and LaCrosse). I was having some difficulty adjusting to life in LaCrosse when I first moved there, so I exercised my job benefits of X-number paid counseling sessions a year. my counselor was very puzzled to chart that I seemed in better spirits on days when the weather was rainy/overcast, until it came out that I grew up in Portland.
Those very sensitive this will complain, but I think hte criticism is overblown--other than that heart of Fall and some of winter, much of the rain is spread throughout the day, and you'll have quite a few days where it rains for awhile, and then clears off and becomes partly sunny,. and everything feels fresh. Plus, everything is almost always green as a result.

Those comparing Portland to Seattle, I've heard 2 great descriptions of the difference, one from a New Yorker who has lived in both places:

1) "Seattle is for Portland type people who want to be 'with it.' Portland is for Portland-type people who aren't with, know they aren't 'with it,' and don't care that they aren't 'with it.'"

In other words, they aren't "clueless hicks"--they're clued in, but just don't care!

2) "Seattle and Portland are similar, except Seattlites are more anal retentive about their avante-gardness." I'm not saying that to rip Seattle, a city I also really enjoy--I just thoug hte comparisons were funny and kind fo captured the point well.