It's starting... (Portland, Bend, Ashland: transplants, unemployment, school)

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Have you ever noticed how "thinking about moving to Oregon" threads pick up in frequency around this time of the year? People who've been through long winters in the East or Midwest and people who are starting in on a long hot summer in the desert Southwest or the Deep South are toying with the possibility of relocating to the PNW. There's some of that all year, of course, but it'll hit a peak over the next three to four months. In December and January you see the same thing on the Arizona and California forums.

[delta07]

I think you see that in most parts of the country. People with kids or new graduates are just getting out of school and it's a good time to move.

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm expecting the, "Does it ever stop raining?" threads. I just tell the transplants, "What you see is what you get." We are into a cold, wet phase of the PDO. The last time we went through one, we had some tremendous ice storms, and one year that summer never came, when it didn't dry out until September. We had about six weeks of dry weather in the fall, then it started raining again.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Also these type of posts:

Why do they do that in Oregon?
That's just crazy!
Back where I come from they do it this way..........

[FVWinters]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

I'm expecting the, "Does it ever stop raining?" threads. I just tell the transplants, "What you see is what you get." We are into a cold, wet phase of the PDO. The last time we went through one, we had some tremendous ice storms, and one year that summer never came, when it didn't dry out until September. We had about six weeks of dry weather in the fall, then it started raining again.

I mentioned this very thing in another forum. We are in the begining stages of a very strong negative PDO ("negative" means cooler and wetter for the west coast between 40 and 60 degrees N.). Climatologists generally put a 20 to 30 year lifespan for each phase on a PDO so we have an additional 15 or more years to go before entering the warmer phase.

We haven't had a decent spring since 2004 and this one just ended was the worst three month period I have ever seen for unending rain and lack of sunshine. Since I moved out here in 1969 there hasn't even been a winter that was this sunless and I don't think there was one with as many rainy days though several winters and even a few springs have seen more total rainfall. We haven't been all that warm, either but there have been spring seasons that were cooler - believe it or not.

For migrants looking forward to our gentle springs and moderate and sunny summers, I'm afraid the news isn't going to be very good for a while. We probably won't see a spring this brutal for a long time but there will be many that will come close and what summer we do get will generally be brief, cloudy and cool

[delta07]

Originally Posted by FVWinters

I mentioned this very thing in another forum. We are in the begining stages of a very strong negative PDO ("negative" means cooler and wetter for the west coast between 40 and 60 degrees N.). Climatologists generally put a 20 to 30 year lifespan for each phase on a PDO so we have an additional 15 or more years to go before entering the warmer phase.

We haven't had a decent spring since 2004 and this one just ended was the worst three month period I have ever seen for unending rain and lack of sunshine. Since I moved out here in 1969 there hasn't even been a winter that was this sunless and I don't think there was one with as many rainy days though several winters and even a few springs have seen more total rainfall. We haven't been all that warm, either but there have been spring seasons that were cooler - believe it or not.

For migrants looking forward to our gentle springs and moderate and sunny summers, I'm afraid the news isn't going to be very good for a while. We probably won't see a spring this brutal for a long time but there will be many that will come close and what summer we do get will generally be brief, cloudy and cool

I'd never heard of PDO, so I looked it up. I sure hope we don't have 15 more years of a negative PDO, but it does make sense. In the 3 years I've lived in Oregon, I haven't experienced a good spring. They have all been really cold to me. I don't think I can handle 15 years of cool summers. I might have to start one of these posts on another states forum!

[Bandon]

Originally Posted by Brenda-by-the-sea

Have you ever noticed how "thinking about moving to Oregon" threads pick up in frequency around this time of the year? People who've been through long winters in the East or Midwest and people who are starting in on a long hot summer in the desert Southwest or the Deep South are toying with the possibility of relocating to the PNW. There's some of that all year, of course, but it'll hit a peak over the next three to four months. In December and January you see the same thing on the Arizona and California forums.

Ugh..NO MORE PEOPLE, please.

It used to be you could actually go to the coast during the winter and have it almost all to yourself, no more. And the same with other favorite places that used to be nearly deserted. Trying to find peace and quiet here now is like finding a needle in a Haystack.

The ONLY positive outcome I can see from this rainy/cold ongoing weather is that hopefully LESS people will want to come here.

I wish McCall would come back and put that billboard (was that real or just urban legend btw ?) on all 4 corners of this state. I think it said something like "You're welcome to visit, but please don't stay" or something like that. I LOVE the idea lol

[PNW-type-gal]

Hmm, well, it's after Memorial Day and we're back to the "every third vehicle on Hwy 97 is a north-bound RV" thing. I do wonder where they are all headed this year. Crater Lake rim road won't be open for weeks yet, maybe into July this year.

[Smiled]

A look at the NWS climatology page predicts a warmer than average summer. So, never fear... in two months, all the TV news folks will be talking about a horrible fire season. All this spring's fuel, you know...

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by Bandon

Ugh..NO MORE PEOPLE, please.

It used to be you could actually go to the coast during the winter and have it almost all to yourself, no more. And the same with other favorite places that used to be nearly deserted. Trying to find peace and quiet here now is like finding a needle in a Haystack.

The ONLY positive outcome I can see from this rainy/cold ongoing weather is that hopefully LESS people will want to come here.

I wish McCall would come back and put that billboard (was that real or just urban legend btw ?) on all 4 corners of this state. I think it said something like "You're welcome to visit, but please don't stay" or something like that. I LOVE the idea lol

Yeah right like that is ever going to happen.

At least I have fond memories of Oregon before it became so trendy to move here, and was, in quite a few peoples opinions, ruined.
At least most of the new people move to the Willamette valley, along the I5 corridor, or places like Bend and Ashland.

Newcomers and wannabes, you may go ahead and start flaming me now, I've heard it all anyway.

It doesn't matter because most of you will be gone in a few years because of the weather, or the fact that Portland or Oregon didn't live up to the hype you believed in, or you're moving on to the next trendy place to live.



"We want you to visit our State of Excitement often.
Come again and again.
But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live.
Or if you do have to move here to live, don't tell any of your neighbors where you are going."

That's what McCall said, I don't recall a sign saying that.
I am starting to believe McCall adeptly used some reverse psychology there to jump start Oregon's poor economy at the time.
I think unemployment was over 13% when he said that.