Is Portland Warm at winter ? (Beaverton, Hillsboro: fit in, house, unemployment)

[Egyptian2009]

Hi

I see Portland have all what i seek but i wonder if it is warm at winter or it is subject for snow and heavy showers??

other thing , is it generally tending to be affordable or expensive ??

finally , where in it would be most safe specially for middle eastern Muslim like me

Thanks a lot

[sandlinjames]

1) it is generaly middle of the road year round (1 month of 100 temps in teh summer & 1 week of < month in winter). other than those 2 months, it is perfect temps year round.

2) cost of living vs income level is in the worst 10 in the nation. i make 2x the salary & have 4x the house for the same price in Texas. However, I cannot step outside & see the beauty of Portland here in Austin.

3) In the east side you shouldn't have any problems.... even close in. You hit the Pearl district or anything west of that & you are talking white yuppies. I love the Lloyd Center area & Hollywood districts.

[davefr]

Winters are characterized by temps in the 30-40's , rain, showers and overcast. There's also occasional ice and snow and periods of <30 temps w/strong winds.

Wages tend to be low and unemployment is sky high. Cost of living tends to be high.

As a Muslim you'll fit in fine.

[sandlinjames]

Originally Posted by sandlinjames

1) it is generaly middle of the road year round (1 month of 100 temps in teh summer & 1 week of < month in winter). other than those 2 months, it is perfect temps year round.

2) cost of living vs income level is in the worst 10 in the nation. i make 2x the salary & have 4x the house for the same price in Texas. However, I cannot step outside & see the beauty of Portland here in Austin.

3) In the east side you shouldn't have any problems.... even close in. You hit the Pearl district or anything west of that & you are talking white yuppies. I love the Lloyd Center area & Hollywood districts.

correction: 1 month of 100 deg F in summer & 1 month of < freezing in winter

[pw72]

It's all relative. Portland is warm in the winter compared to the midwest and northeast, but still chilly when compared with anyplace in the southwest or south.

Ice storms are more frequent in Portland than other NW locations due to the Columbia Gorge, allowing cold air to funnel into the Portland area from east of the Cascades.

[mdvaden]

I've never experienced a month of 100 degree temps near Portland, and I've been around here for over 40 years in the suburb Beaverton.

Seems that the average July and Augst temps average near the low to mid 80s with occassional 90 to 100 degree range days. And obviously occassionally cooler days to fix that average. Rare 100 +

Compared to the mid-west and east coast, we are relatively warm in winter.

Moist too.

Don't let anybody spin a yarn about our climate. Find a climate summary for Portland, Oregon

[Raelyn28]

Actually it isn't too bad in the winter. You are going to see very mild temperatures. It doesn't drop below 40 very often. I lived there for six years and it snowed twice and melted very fast. I actually liked the winter but then when Spring came around I couldn't wait for it to warm up and turn sunny. Sometimes it didn't turn sunny until the middle of June and then it was back to rain at the end of September. So I would say that the winters are different, not very cold but dreary, overcast and rainy (misty type of rain). It's definately different but beautiful indeed...

[Raelyn28]

Davefr must have lived east of Portland by Mt. Hood. I lived West close to Beaverton, Hillsboro and it doesn't get as windy or chilly on that part of the city.. The closer to the mountain the colder it gets. My mom used to call Oregon "God's Country". One look out of the window of an airplane as you descend into the Portland airport will explain why. After you pass over Mt. Hood it is so beautiful from the air and if you are descending as the sun sets it is overwhelming!! The sunset's in Hillsboro are breathtaking... I miss it.. but then again there is that thing called the weather and I didn't do well with it...

[Brav989]

I'll chime in since I disagree

Depends what type of weather you like, are used to or can tolerate. For me it's terrible weather about 8 or 9 months out of the year. Trickling rain is annoying and the cold in the fall/winter is a nuisance as well. As for 'rarely' in the 30s, that's not true. The average nightly low is under 40 in the winter..so again every night will be in the 30s more or less, in Dec/Jan. Here's a link to the weather channel for Portland avgs.

Average Weather for Portland, OR - Temperature and Precipitation

EDIT: Saw the thing about snow twice in six years. Out of the last 4 years there have been 3 (think it was 3?) 'ice storms' where the entire area was basically disabled from ice/snow for about a week. Our last one was just last Dec, week of Christmas