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Out of the 3, I've only been to Vancouver so I don't know. But I will say, I was in Vancouver in July a couple years ago and the weather was amazing. It was close to 80 deg the whole time with a nice constant breeze coming from the water. Beautiful city and weather (at least at the time of the year I was there).
Vancouver gets a lot more snow than Seattle and Portland, although Canadians think it's a tropical paradise. But it averages 15 inches/year compared to about 5 in Seattle and 3-4 in Portland.
Vancouver gets 1900 sunshine hours compared to 2100 in Seattle and 2300 in Portland. Portland's percent possible sunshine is also over 50% annually, the other two are not.
Seattle actually is in quite a bit of a rain shadow because of the Olympics, gets only about 38 inches of rain a year. Both Vancouver and Portland rain more, Vancouver gets over 50 inches and Portland over 43.
Seattle summers are nicer than Portland, although less hot, the reason being the summers are less humid than Portland. Portland also gets more ice storms in the winter.
So far the responses are right on the mark, though humidity is not an issue in any of them. Humidity is higher in Seattle year round due to the marine setting. While Portland has warmer summers than Seattle and Vancouver, they also experience more freezing rain especially in the northern city due to the Columbia River outflow during certain conditions. Seattle and Vancouver don’t usually get extreme heat due to the maritime influence. However an occasional east wind from Eastern WA/OR can create scorching temps in all three cities but usually last about 48-72 hours at most.
Vancouver gets a lot more snow than Seattle and Portland, although Canadians think it's a tropical paradise. But it averages 15 inches/year compared to about 5 in Seattle and 3-4 in Portland.
Vancouver gets 1900 sunshine hours compared to 2100 in Seattle and 2300 in Portland. Portland's percent possible sunshine is also over 50% annually, the other two are not.
If you look at the month-by-month, Vancouver has more overcast in the late-fall and winter. I ski. That's snow at Whistler, the premier ski resort in the Pacific Northwest. Assuming the Lion's Gate Bridge doesn't have a traffic jam (departing at 5am), it's 90 minutes from downtown Vancouver to Whistler. The "best weather" from US Thanksgiving through the end of March is a powder day.
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