winter weather (Portland, Albany: school, living in, ranked)

[cvanripe10]

Anyone from the northeast living in portland??? i live outside NYC and wondering about portland winters...

The way i see it is this. Winter weather isn't very nice anywhere you go. In the northeast we get well below freezing temperatures, lots of snow, the roads are all salty, and the sky is clear sometimes but still overcast a lot!!

In portland they say it's cool and gloomy.

In my experience, i like cloudy winter days better than clear. This past winter i drove up through new york. It was 10 degrees out, windy, and clear. I almost thought it was more depressing having it clear out. Why? Because i could see for miles nothing but an endless baren winterland.

So how bad can portland winters be in comparison?? I think id take cool and gloomy over freezing,salty,grey...

[Star227]

Just moved from DC to Portland and this winter has been awesome! Rains a lot, but we do have partly cloudy days that are around 50-degrees and this weekend it is going to be 55 and sunny!! One day it got up to 60 degrees so my boyfriend and I put the top down in the convertible and cranked the heat! ;p You will really like winters here!!

[aroseinrain]

The winters are great! I don't think many people will complain about the winter here.

The only problem people seem to have with PNW weather is that the "gloomy" cloudy skies and rain are not just a winter phenomenon, they are from October to June. Portland weather is very mild and moist much of the year, we can tell it's winter because it gets dark at 5pm. There are only 9 hours of sunlight in winter and combined with the clouds it makes for dark days.

FWIW: I lived in Fort Lee NJ for a year, so I know the winter that you are talking about.

[Fiddlehead]

We have a battle out here between cold, foggy periods and milder rainy periods. I live in a S. Oregon, so we get a bit colder. I actually like the changes through the winter. Colder periods often bring more clear skys, and occasional snow, whereas rainy periods are usually fairly mild in temperature. I roll with it and enjoy the variability. Not much sun though.

[aroseinrain]

Not much sun but it stays relatively green all year.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by cvanripe10

So how bad can portland winters be in comparison?? I think id take cool and gloomy over freezing,salty,grey...

If you like cool/gloomy over freezing/sunny then you'll like it here.

[Yankeemama]

Much less sun than NYC and New England. I never lived in up state NY but even Boston gets more sun in the Winter than Portland. Much milder temperatures in Portland and almost no snow.

[aroseinrain]

I looked it up: even Nome Alaska gets more sunny days than Portland.

[palvar]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

Much less sun than NYC and New England. I never lived in up state NY but even Boston gets more sun in the Winter than Portland. Much milder temperatures in Portland and almost no snow.

I went to school in Albany and I remember that the number of sunny days was comparable to the Pacific northwest - I think this was due to the lake effect storms we would get.

[aroseinrain]

Originally Posted by palvar

I went to school in Albany and I remember that the number of sunny days was comparable to the Pacific northwest - I think this was due to the lake effect storms we would get.

Albany, NY gets about 185 cloudy days per year
Portland, OR gets about 222 cloudy days per year
fwiw: they both have about the same number of sunny days with the difference being comprised of partly cloudy days.

Cloudiness - Mean Number of Days