Portland weather

[roneb]

Originally Posted by PSP2PDX

Sure there are low clouds, drizzle and lots of rain, but there is rarely any snow... The midwest and east coast have tons of snow and cold this time of year.

Here's my personal gripe with weather talk in Portland: Since when did snow and cold temps become a bad thing? Snow brightens otherwise overcast days and absorbs sound, so that even a city can seem relatively quiet. A new blanket of snow leaves everything with the appearance of being fresh and pure. When I lived in Alaska, where it truly was dark in the winter (due to overcast days and a very early sunset), people looked forward to snow because they knew things would appear brighter/lighter when it came. But "it rarely ever snows" is always given as a positive about the Portland climate! Snow on the ground for at least a month or two each winter should be viewed as a positive. It would break up the monotony of our typical fall/winter/spring.

Now I'll get off MY soapbox!

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by aalverson

Thank you, PSP2PDX; how nice it is to hear a voice of reason. Life among a bunch of malcontents can really be a drag. I notice this not only about the weather, but about life in general here in this Portland forum. I guess what I want to say is if it's that bad, move. It's a life lesson: we're all in control of our own lives so make the choice that will make you happy instead of poisoning everyone else with your unhappiness.

OK, off my soapbox now!

Thank you! This forum seems to be more often than not just full of UNhappy people! I've been accused of being a realtor because I like Portland and say so. Portland is not perfect but there are a lot of great things here and I think it's sad that so many people only come to this forum to be negative (there's the realistic crowd, which I'm not commenting about, and then there's the always negative people who have nothing good to say at all--a major difference between the two). I like to think it's because most of the happy people are out doing things rather than sitting home morose all the time staring at their computer screens

[aalverson]

haha, the realtor comment makes me laugh oldintype!! Yes, I agree....negativity is the overwhelming attitude here. And yeah I guess all the happy people are out doing something else?? As for myself, it's one of my procrastination tools to avoid what I SHOULD be doing!

[oldtintype]

Me too quite often!

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by roneb

Here's my personal gripe with weather talk in Portland: Since when did snow and cold temps become a bad thing? Snow brightens otherwise overcast days and absorbs sound, so that even a city can seem relatively quiet.

When you have to drive to work in it, and get most of the way there to discover the kids have been sent home from school because the school bus fleet doesn't have enough chains to deal with the weather. It's not the snow or ice, per se, that's the problem, it's the unpreparedness of the city/county/state AND all of the area residents, a majority of whom do not know how to drive in conditions.

Snow on a day off, on the other hand, is a lovely, lovely thing.

We had about 12" down here, but it's been melting and we've got bare patches. I'm used to the northern Oregon "Cascade cement" kind of snow, with a lot of water in it. Dunno what the actual water content of this snow is, but the day we got the most of it, I couldn't even make a snowball to whack the beloved spouse on the noggin with - the snow wouldn't pack.