Perception of the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Salem: home, school, living in)

[Seattletony]

Hey everyone in Portland, I'm just curious for those true blue pacnorthwesterners like myself doesn't it irratate you when people take one aspect about your home (RAIN) and run with it as if its the end all be all.

Not only do they run with it but you hear ridiculous statements like it rains 9 months straight out of the year or I have even heard people say we only have two months of summer first!!! am I only the only one put off by that? What you didn't recognize how green it was year round or how clean the air is compared to where you came from or the mountains or the ocean and other forms of NATURAL water. Another thing that irratates me is when people who are so called natives of here perpetuate this stereotype. Maybe its because I'm a native I never paid attention but I'm someone with perspective having lived in other parts of the country.

I love Portland like I love Seattle I just wish people would get off the climate issue and see true gems we have in these two cities and the Pacific Northwest as a whole!!! just my rant

[Clear2land]

Hi Seattle Tony:

Welcome to the Portland Forum! Weather is a hot topic here on the Oregon/Portland forums too. As one of the Forum Moderators, I have asked Steve, a very knowledgeable guy on Pacific Northwest weather, to start a post on the subject. I intend to Sticky it to the top so when new members log onto this forum and want to learn and talk about the weather, we will have it posted right at the top.

Yes, the Pacific Northwest takes a terrible wrap for inclement weather. We need to separate fact from fiction and intend to do so. As a native Oregonian growing up in Roseburg, Portland, and Salem, I was stunned to learn what miserable weather the rest of the country has to endure. Pacific Northwesters are spoiled with warm winter temperatures that rarely see snow and ice west of the Cascades.

Be sure and check back for the discussion of Oregon weather. I’m looking forward to a really great discussion on that very topic!

Dan

[mazurkr]

sshhhhh....

let everyone else think the rain is horrible.

i'll be moving to Portland next year, and as a native mid-westerner I can tell you your weather is ideal.

rain in winter = green rest of year.

ever been in LA in august? yuck!

and as i stare out my office window at the 20th or so straight grey, 20-degree day with scatterd snow flurries, i am quite envious of your weather.

[Seattletony]

Thanks I will definitely check back. I have two threads on the Seattle website about weather misconceptions. I don't think anyone can deny the wettness of the pacific northwest in the winter but 9 to 11 months give me a break!!!!

By the way I'm going to ask the moderator on the Washington board to have a picture only thread of Seattle and other parts of Washington State. I think it is cool to show the beauty of the pacnorthwest

[tiffela74]

oh boy ya it irks me too!!! And when some go on about how almost everyone in the PNW has seasonal depression and walks around glaring at everyone (through the wall of rain of course) or "walks around like zombies" - uhhhhh. okay. lol. You know, I wonder sometimes what peoples lives must be like if they honestly percieve that. Can you imagine the look on THEIR face to get everyone around them to be reacting to them like that?? Yipes.
I have off family in Texas. They had never been to Oregon. Finally came out awhile back for a visit. Oh my gosh, the questions I got before hand! It was august and they wanted to know about investing in raingear, HEAVYDUTY raingear!?!?!? They were terrified to make any plans for being outdoors for fear of the "constant rain and dark grey skies" uhhh, ya. They had heard that out of their 2 week visit, they would probably only see a day or two of sunshine. And that that was our good season! lol Needless to say, they had a wonderful time here, we spent most of our time outside, and they didnt need their raingear once. One cousin came back the next April, and where yea, it did rain, it wasnt the whole time and she commented how the rain was actually refreshing and part of it was more like being in a mister than the nightmares she was thinking it would be. lol Also, that it wasnt nearly as much/often as she had feared. she dearly wants to move here now. lol
Anyhow, its one of my petpeeves. I do hate being generalized and having my state ridiculed and put down for something that is a gross exaggeration. And not so bad for someone that is out of state and just mis-informed, but very bad for anyone who is living in our beautiful state,(either here OR Washington) and enjoynig all there is here that beautiful BECAUSE of the rain, well, thats just very very wrong and they should just go away imo. Let em live in an area where you have to have a sign out in front of a tree telling people what it is cuz its so rare. lol Or where most of your fruits/veggies come from either a frozen food isle, or you pay bucko bucks for it 4days after its been shipped over states. ugh.
Rain? Bring it on man. lol
Tiff
(happily living on the oregon coast.)

[Seattletony]

Originally Posted by tiffela74

oh boy ya it irks me too!!! And when some go on about how almost everyone in the PNW has seasonal depression and walks around glaring at everyone (through the wall of rain of course) or "walks around like zombies" - uhhhhh. okay. lol. You know, I wonder sometimes what peoples lives must be like if they honestly percieve that. Can you imagine the look on THEIR face to get everyone around them to be reacting to them like that?? Yipes.
I have off family in Texas. They had never been to Oregon. Finally came out awhile back for a visit. Oh my gosh, the questions I got before hand! It was august and they wanted to know about investing in raingear, HEAVYDUTY raingear!?!?!? They were terrified to make any plans for being outdoors for fear of the "constant rain and dark grey skies" uhhh, ya. They had heard that out of their 2 week visit, they would probably only see a day or two of sunshine. And that that was our good season! lol Needless to say, they had a wonderful time here, we spent most of our time outside, and they didnt need their raingear once. One cousin came back the next April, and where yea, it did rain, it wasnt the whole time and she commented how the rain was actually refreshing and part of it was more like being in a mister than the nightmares she was thinking it would be. lol Also, that it wasnt nearly as much/often as she had feared. she dearly wants to move here now. lol
Anyhow, its one of my petpeeves. I do hate being generalized and having my state ridiculed and put down for something that is a gross exaggeration. And not so bad for someone that is out of state and just mis-informed, but very bad for anyone who is living in our beautiful state,(either here OR Washington) and enjoynig all there is here that beautiful BECAUSE of the rain, well, thats just very very wrong and they should just go away imo. Let em live in an area where you have to have a sign out in front of a tree telling people what it is cuz its so rare. lol Or where most of your fruits/veggies come from either a frozen food isle, or you pay bucko bucks for it 4days after its been shipped over states. ugh.
Rain? Bring it on man. lol
Tiff
(happily living on the oregon coast.)

You know you hit they nail on the head. I guess ignorance is bliss. I have been all over the country living and on business and when I tell people I'm from Seattle I get the same stupid ignorant comment "oh doesn't it rain all the time" I'm to the point I say yes it does 365 days a year as a matter of fact we all live underwater in this part of the country lol

I honestly believe people in this country go off of national perception as opposed to seeing for themselves what a place is like. In regards to the west per national perception, The northwest sucks and is rainy, California especially Socal is all surf and sun, and Arizona and Nevada are paradise because they get 300 plus days of sun.

[Nea1]

Born and raised in Oregon. I moved to the Ne and was asked where I was from, when I said oregon I got three responses.

1. Dont you all still live in teepee's?
2. What , it hasnt floated away yet?
3. whats in oregon?

[tedinbed]

I've lived in PDX for three years. The weather IS awful. The cold wet windy weather starts in late october and goes on and on and on....waning in the spring. Then you get to deal with 86 degree plus weather for one month, albeit sunny and dry. The weather is depressing and disgusting.

I lived in Seattle for eight years in the 80s and 90s. We were in a different phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (see George taylor's work from OSU). It was drier. Also Seattle is often a bit warmer in winter. And it is prettier so even in the rain it is charming.

PDX is an ok city in many ways. The weather is not one of them. Outsiders are right.

[Seattletony]

Originally Posted by tedinbed

I've lived in PDX for three years. The weather IS awful. The cold wet windy weather starts in late october and goes on and on and on....waning in the spring. Then you get to deal with 86 degree plus weather for one month, albeit sunny and dry. The weather is depressing and disgusting.

I lived in Seattle for eight years in the 80s and 90s. We were in a different phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (see George taylor's work from OSU). It was drier. Also Seattle is often a bit warmer in winter. And it is prettier so even in the rain it is charming.

PDX is an ok city in many ways. The weather is not one of them. Outsiders are right.

This person is obviously either from the desert or beach Socal. Do you know why I know based on his comments it rains on and on from October for the rest of the year. Also read into the lack of insightfullness. Would you care to elaborate on where your from??? I'm going to be simple you don't get green without rain if you live in the midwest the east, and the south all these areas get rain and are therefore green. Obviously if you are comparing the pacnw to a desert which what gets two days of rain a year. Yeah Portland is wet. Does anyone ever notice how these type of individuals never complain about filthy dirty air and crappy brown geography with concrete paved over it!!!

[tiffela74]

my thought is it was either someone who is hateful and ignorant, and/or it was someone just trying to start an argument and a flurry of negative posts for their enjoyment. (some people are just too bored and dont have enough friends) What a very sad life that must be..to have that opinion of the PNW, to feel the need to be so negative. hummm
I like your comment back Tony.
You know, i was thinking this morning, I honestly cant remember the last time my kids needed an umbrella while waiting for their school bus...its been a good couple of weeks at least. So that blows the "Rains constantly" out of the water right there. Ya, its rained off and on, but sure hasnt been constant.
Tiff