How do the "gloomy" months compare to the northeastern US? (Seattle: homes, living)

[fluffydelusions]

Originally Posted by Haakon

Seattle is worse, far more cloudy, gloomy, dismal in the winter and marginally better for 1 month in the summer. You won't see as much snow in Seattle, just day after day of drizzle.

New York City:


Seattle:

The whole summer here was WAY better than NYC. The temps were basically perfect. A few hot days but overall amazing. NYC in summer is hot and humid. If you don't have an AC you'll be miserable. I won't even mention how horrible it is going into the subway on super hot days there.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by fluffydelusions

The whole summer here was WAY better than NYC. The temps were basically perfect. A few hot days but overall amazing. NYC in summer is hot and humid. If you don't have an AC you'll be miserable. I won't even mention how horrible it is going into the subway on super hot days there.

But the winter days in the PNW are heavily overcast, thick clouds that can block the sun for days. And it's fo far north the days only last eight or nine hours in December, getting dark by 4:30 p.m. The combination can make people truly miserable forcing them to flee to sunnier locations.

[mishigas73]

Originally Posted by Seacove

But the winter days in the PNW are heavily overcast, thick clouds that can block the sun for days. And it's fo far north the days only last eight or nine hours in December, getting dark by 4:30 p.m. The combination can make people truly miserable forcing them to flee to sunnier locations.

It gets dark by that time in the northeast as well.

I'd take overcast and gloomy over bone-chilling cold any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by mishigas73

It gets dark by that time in the northeast as well.

I'd take overcast and gloomy over bone-chilling cold any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

No, the days are shorter in Seattle than they are in Portland, Maine. We are very far north, our days in December and January can start as late as 8:00 a.m. and end as early as 4:30 p.m. This tends to really get to people, depression, SAD, they can't take it and if they've spent a lot of money moving to Seattle, they have to spend a lot of money to leave. People should consider this seriously before moving here.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Seacove

But the winter days in the PNW are heavily overcast, thick clouds that can block the sun for days. And it's fo far north the days only last eight or nine hours in December, getting dark by 4:30 p.m. The combination can make people truly miserable forcing them to flee to sunnier locations.

It gets dark at that time in CO winter, too.

[mishigas73]

Originally Posted by Seacove

No, the days are shorter in Seattle than they are in Portland, Maine. We are very far north, our days in December and January can start as late as 8:00 a.m. and end as early as 4:30 p.m. This tends to really get to people, depression, SAD, they can't take it and if they've spent a lot of money moving to Seattle, they have to spend a lot of money to leave. People should consider this seriously before moving here.

Ugh.

Yes, our days in December might be shorter than in NYC- by as much as *gasp* 20-30 minutes on either end.

Seriously. 20-30 minutes. Not enough to make this an "OMG" issue for people moving from the NE.

The difference that I've personally seen is in the overall sunlight, not in the total amount of daylight hours.

Because, yes, the sun does, in fact, set at 4:30 in NYC in December.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by mishigas73

Ugh.

Yes, our days in December might be shorter than in NYC- by as much as *gasp* 20-30 minutes on either end.

Seriously. 20-30 minutes. Not enough to make this an "OMG" issue for people moving from the NE.

The difference that I've personally seen is in the overall sunlight, not in the total amount of daylight hours.

Because, yes, the sun does, in fact, set at 4:30 in NYC in December.

Seattle's latitude is 47 degrees while New York City is 40 degrees. I went to timeanddate.com and looked up NYC vs. Seattle. Seattle in late December starts at 7:56 to 4:21 for a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes. New York City starts at 7:15 to 4:30 for a total of 9 hours and 15 minutes. We're talking about almost an hour a day. I'm trying to save lives here. You don't want to move to Seattle and get depressed do you?

[mishigas73]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Seattle's latitude is 47 degrees while New York City is 40 degrees. I went to timeanddate.com and looked up NYC vs. Seattle. Seattle in late December starts at 7:56 to 4:21 for a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes. New York City starts at 7:15 to 4:30 for a total of 9 hours and 15 minutes. We're talking about almost an hour a day. I'm trying to save lives here. You don't want to move to Seattle and get depressed do you?

LOL-- as someone who has actually lived in both places for extended periods, I thought I'd put my two cents in.

NYC can be a cold, dark and gloomy place in December as well.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by mishigas73

LOL-- as someone who has actually lived in both places for extended periods, I thought I'd put my two cents in.

NYC can be a cold, dark and gloomy place in December as well.

Our cloud cover is oppressive in addition to the short days. The clouds hang low and dark even during the day so it feels like no daylight at all. Remember that scene in Joe Vs. the Volcano where Joe's eyes keep twitching from the florescent light? That's us in December and January. You don't want to suffer that way do you? Denver is much sunnier.

[pikabike]

If someone works a desk job, the SAD occurs whether living in a sunny state or a gray one.

Light therapy using special lamps are said to help, as does exercise. So the exercise might be done indoors when it is raining, oh well. If someone has career-related reasons to move to Seattle, it might be worth the tradeoffs to use that city to make money and later move out if they prefer somewhere else. Put up with the negatives to gain some delayed positives. No need to be stuck there forever. Happens all the time with many cities.