No more pretty pics...What Seattle is REALLY like (Vancouver: renting, selling a home)

[kmfseattle]

Sure it's beating a dead horse, but I figure I'll throw my two cents in just because I can.

One Seattle adage always comes to mind when reading these posts - 'you can always tell a tourist apart from the locals in Seattle. The tourist is the one carrying the umbrella.' This seems, to me, to sum up this and so many other Seattle weather threads. Theres a few ways to interpret this, the first being that Seattlites are simply used to the rain and don't mind getting wet.

The second way, and the way I prefer, is that the locals don't see clouds and automatically assume rain as many out-of-towners do. As has been mentioned so many times before, our rainfall numbers aren't all that abnormal. Rather, the clouds are what give the city it's dreary reputation. More often then not, it'll just end up being a gray but rain free day. Sure there are exceptions to this (January of 2006 comes to mind...), but this seems to be the general rule.

Even so, it's all a matter of perspective - I tend to come out of my shell in days similar to the photos starting this thread, much more so than I would if it were 110 degrees out with 80% humidity. And if the rain bothers you in the winter, theres ways to beat it - drive 45-60 minutes east(ish) and you're at Snoqualmie pass, Crystal mountain, Stevens pass, White pass, etc. There's definitely no lack of winter activities in the area. But to each his own, I guess.

Did I stray off topic? I think I did. Just saying, there's much more to this city than the weather - shouldn't count it out simply because it gets cloudy 300 days a year.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by kmfseattle

it gets cloudy 300 days a year.

I disagree. It's sunny 71 days, partly cloudy 93 days and cloudy 201 days
In Miami it's sunny 74 days, partly cloudy 175, cloudy 115
Pittsburgh is worse than Seattle - 59 sunny, 103 partly cloudy and 203 cloudy

[kmfseattle]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

I disagree. It's sunny 71 days, partly cloudy 93 days and cloudy 201 days
In Miami it's sunny 74 days, partly cloudy 175, cloudy 115
Pittsburgh is worse than Seattle - 59 sunny, 103 partly cloudy and 203 cloudy

Technically speaking, I COULD make the argument that a partly cloudy day is still a cloudy day, in which case I was really only 6 days off.

But I won't.

[CityGirl72]

From what I know - my husband told me before I moved up here - that Seattle is also the only city he knows of that has the words "Sun Breaks" as a weather reference!

How sad - when we get excited that we get a SUN BREAK!

[geometricdisaster]

While no longer puzzled or surprised to see it, I'd like to just comment on the fact that Seattle is one of those cities where people feel the need to go gather statistics on how it's not the rainiest, cloudiest, etc, city.

Just personal observation:
Western WA summers tend to be clear, they can actually get hot for days to weeks at a time -- by hot, I mean mid to upper 80's -- rare to see it break 90, but it happens.
Western WA, from September through April/May or so looks monochromatic regardless of whether it's raining or not.
Often, you don't even notice the rain; sometimes, one's reaction is "oh, it rained" when seeing that the ground's wet.
The greenery thrives here, but the overcast skies tend to make much of the year seem gloomy -- this affects some people's moods more than others.

While some complain about the weather, I'm more inclined to roll my eyes at the compulsion local people have to turn the topic into a statistical argument than to worry about the weather itself that much.

[SaltyDawg]

I never said anybody was 'disloyal' or anything else. All I was pointing out that in order to get an accurate picture of what the weather actually is like, you'll need to not get all of your information from people who can't stand it, as jenbear, sirroco, geometric et al clearly can't.

Hating the weather here doesn't make you disloyal at all - it makes you hate the climate, which is fine. It doesn't make you an accurate reporter on the weather, however, and the original post was, as my earlier post pointed out, as disingenuous as the chamber-of-commerce crystalline photos.

Just like people who love the weather in Phoenix say "but it's a dry heat!"... and the people who hate it say "It's like a furnace"... you'll need to get a bit more perspective than either extreme will provide you.

[geometricdisaster]

Originally Posted by SaltyDawg

I never said anybody was 'disloyal' or anything else. All I was pointing out that in order to get an accurate picture of what the weather actually is like, you'll need to not get all of your information from people who can't stand it, as jenbear, sirroco, geometric et al clearly can't.

Hating the weather here doesn't make you disloyal at all - it makes you hate the climate, which is fine. It doesn't make you an accurate reporter on the weather, however, and the original post was, as my earlier post pointed out, as disingenuous as the chamber-of-commerce crystalline photos.

Just like people who love the weather in Phoenix say "but it's a dry heat!"... and the people who hate it say "It's like a furnace"... you'll need to get a bit more perspective than either extreme will provide you.

Bewildering complaint about lack of modern HVAC -- I'll lay claim to that one; however, have you seen me bemoaning the rain? You bring that up and then splice the two together to try to make it sound illogical, when, really, you're taking a cross section of multiple people's opinions.

In fact, I prefer fall-spring because it's actually comfortable and I don't mind the rain -- what I don't like about Seattle has more to do with social attitudes (such as the need to argue so vehemently that Seattle's ecotopia, love it or leave it, that some people have).

Anyway, what gives? Are you hoping more people move to Seattle so you can make more friends?

Or, what I think is more likely, to some people, a move to Seattle is supposed to show a level of personal discernment and capability to pick "the best place" to live and any chinks in that illusion are seen as an affront to one's decision making ability -- sound right?

Just wondering.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by geometricdisaster

Bewildering complaint about lack of modern HVAC -- I'll lay claim to that one; however, have you seen me bemoaning the rain? You bring that up and then splice the two together to try to make it sound illogical, when, really, you're taking a cross section of multiple people's opinions.

In fact, I prefer fall-spring because it's actually comfortable and I don't mind the rain -- what I don't like about Seattle has more to do with social attitudes (such as the need to argue so vehemently that Seattle's ecotopia, love it or leave it, that some people have).

Anyway, what gives? Are you hoping more people move to Seattle so you can make more friends?

Or, what I think is more likely, to some people, a move to Seattle is supposed to show a level of personal discernment and capability to pick "the best place" to live and any chinks in that illusion are seen as an affront to one's decision making ability -- sound right?

Just wondering.

Oh jesus christ here we go.....

[geometricdisaster]

Back on topic: it rains here, no, Seattle's not the rainiest city in the country; sometimes Seattle looks like pwright's pictures (in the summer, especially); sometimes it looks like the pics on this thread. Neither set appears faked in any way. Anyone who's looking to get an idea about the variances of
Seattle's weather should look at both.

Big deal.

[seahawksweetie]

Not to interrupt the current banter going on, just wanted to comment that the pics on the gray/rainy days are as beautiful to me as the sunny/clear sky ones are. Climate preference is a very subjective thing and I am personally glad we all have different ideas of what the "perfect place" is. Otherwise, we would all be living in the same city on top of each other, eek!!!