Just how gloomy is gloomy? (Portland, Bend: tornadoes, living in, stores)

[Think!]

I just searched and read through tons of threads talking about the overcast and "gloom" but found nothing that really describes the 'gloom' to someone who has never experienced it first hand.

Personally, I really like overcast days, and I LOVE the rain (especially when it's a comfortable temperature). However, I don't like prolonged periods of DARKNESS - and overcast can mean anything from "Bright and cloudy" to "Dark-as-night"... Alaska gets dark and gloomy too you know

Is it a mix of the two? I'll be visiting next month but I'm not expecting to get a real taste of the 'gloom' since it's Summer. If anyone could link to some pictures that describe typical overcast winter/spring days I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

[PNW-type-gal]

This site has some great photos:
portland ground: Portland Oregon Pictures - Fresh Images Daily - A Virtual Tour of Urban Oregon - Photos - Photography

use the search and type "rain" and you'll get all kinds of stuff

[tiffela74]

you might try youtube Oregon.

[oldtintype]

Dark as night is not what it's like...I think the issue is that it will be gray (i.e. light but no sun) for periods and during a few months of winter it's dark by 4:30. If you work an inside 9-5 job you may feel like you never see anything but darkness during that period.

The weather personally doesn't bother me as we do get a mix of weather in winter but some people can only focus on the gray days, due to biology or just a big desire for lots of sun.

I hate hot weather so our weather today (90 degrees) is a lot more unpleasant than overcast gray with 50 or 60 degree temps to me. I don't mind the gray because I enjoy doing a lot of outside activities and appreciate not having to be hot and sweaty while doing them a good part of the year. I'll take moderate weather, including gray, over hot sun any day. That's just me.

Nov-Feb it's usually (but not always--when we get a cold front usually it's bright and crystal clear which is why we rarely get snow) mostly gray but there are some sun breaks, where as in spring it can be cloudy one minute and sun the next minute with some rain thrown in a few minutes later. I don't consider spring to be the same thing as Nov-Feb as by March it's staying light later, we get a lot of days of mixed sun and clouds, etc. We also get a bunch of really nice full sunny days too and often with warm temps but for people who think summer should hit by May and be 90 degrees instantly Portland freaks them out. Our summer is usually July-Sept, though this June we had a bunch of really hot (102 one day even) days.

[scone]

This past winter, we had a La Nina event, or so I heard, that gave us even more gray days than usual. It pushed back the seasonal fruit harvests by about 5 weeks, and will probably affect the grape harvest, too. So you have to imagine, how dark it would be to keep blueberries and strawberries from ripening for more than a month.

Typically, you will get light levels in the winter that are comparable to a typical rainy or evercast day anywhere else, but it lasts basically all day, and goes on for most winter days. If you are lucky, you'll get what are called "sunbreaks" in the morning and late afternoon, as the sun pierces the cloud cover. But if the cloud cover is thick and there isn't much wind, the greyness can get intense. This is caused by winter storm systems, coming off the Pacific Ocean, from west to east, that move through in a "pulse" manner, one after the other. That's why there can be weeks or months where the storms almost overlap, and there is no significant amount of sunlight for weeks on end. These marine air masses are usually too warm for snow, maybe in the 45 - 55 degree range, and so they sit over the land masses, with rain and cloud cover, maybe some sleet, but very little snow. Except at higher elevations, of course.

The water vapor levels are increased by the "respiration" of the forest trees, especially the Doug Firs and other conifers. When there is more water in the tree than it needs, it will simply exude the excess into the air. It's quite a sight to see trees "steaming" like a horse that's been running hard. We also get "Tuli fogs" which are basically mists rising from the wet ground.

In fact, the only time we get significant sunlight in winter is with a "Chinook" wind, coming off the Rockies, from east to west. With this type of wind, the Pacific storms are pushed offshore, temperatures will drop into freezing levels, the water vapor precipitates out as snow, and the area is like Colorado-- cold and dry. You can also get this type of cold and dry weather in Bend, on the dry side of the Cascades.

If you're really worried about this, you need to come out here somewhere in the January - March timeframe. That will give you a good idea. Hopefully next year you'll see more sunbreaks.

[checar]

Thanks, Scone, for the great weather info.

[Cat_Person]

PNW type gal...many blessings for sharing that link. Wow. What a beautiful state!

The weather sounds very sismilar to Flagstaff without all the snow. The irony here is that the mid west and northeast states have similar weather (albeit more severe in all seasons) but Oregon is most known for "grey". When I lived in Vermont we prayed for grey in the winter. Sunny days meant sub zeros ahead. It's not the grey...it's what you think about it that matters. Fact is, most of the US gets much worse weather...tornadoes,hurricanes,floods, take yer pick...

[roneb]

It all depends on your perspective. oldtintype will always put the positive spin on it. But cold fronts in Portland actually bring rain here. We don't get snow because it simply doesn't get cold enough very often. The Pacific Ocean does a great job moderating our winter temps. We need colder continental air to move in from the north or east, as scone stated earlier, to get cold enough for snow. Thats counter to what the usual winter jetstream pattern will allow.

I personally find the gloom here to be much worse than oldtintype does - for the following reasons. Our rain tend to be light, so we get much longer periods of rain in order to total our approx 37 inches annual precip compared to other places. The nature of that rain fall frequently leaves streets and pavement wet/darker for longer periods. There is rarely any snow on the ground here, so it appears much darker on overcast days compared to someplace with snow. The nature of the cloud cover tends to be lower, darker, nimbostratus clouds; not higher alto ot cirrostratus clouds like you might get on an overcast winter day in the midwest, for example. I personally find it to be mentally more oppressive.

Having lived in a variety of places I feel I can offer accurate comparisons. I personally preferred the winter in Anchorage (even if the daylight hours were fewer) because the snow lightened the look of things. Maybe those midnight bike rides in the summer built up extra stores of vitamin D to last the winter! On the other hand, if your dark and gloom in Alaska experience is based on living in someplace like Ketchikan, than Portland will be heaven! But I will also add that Portland is about more than the weather, with a lot to offer; otherwise I wouldn't still be here!

[suncat]

There's a great little book called 'Rains All The Time: A Connoisseur's History of Weather in the Pacific Northwest. It should help answer your questions.

Amazon.com: Rains All the Time: A Connoisseur's History of Weather in the Pacific Northwest: David Laskin: Books

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by roneb

It all depends on your perspective. oldtintype will always put the positive spin on it.

Exactly and that's exactly what I said--it was my opinion/perspective. No reason to pick apart my weather opinions every single time I share them. I clearly stated why I feel the way I do.