Tired of Portland weather questions? Here's another one. (how much, compensation)
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I am looking for a brutal, low-down assessment of Portland's infamous rain & gloom in terms of how "most people"* up there seem to be affected by it. I have read about all the variable impressions and ways of coping, but the discussions tend to degenerate into tangents that stray from the actual weather.
I've seen the hip comments and chiding of newcomers, but I just want the cold, wet facts about dealing with gray skies and mist for such a large part of the year. The more clinical and scientific the answer, the better. For example, does walking or jogging long distances under rainy skies lighten your mood consistently?
If I get low after a week of CA overcast (Bay Area), will I be insane to even consider Portland, or does it somehow grow on "most people"* when it's prolonged and a new psychology takes hold? I'm trying to figure out if people adapt in ways that surprise them. Does it take a unique personality or does the weather itself create the personalities?
I am not a coffee drinker or pub-crawler, so my refuge would probably be outdoor exercise; "if you can't get out of it, get into it."
I know about S.A.D. and light boxes and have probably read too much on this topic, but it's hard to visit there long enough to really experience the cloud cover, so I'm left with speculation and interpolation. Maybe this is one of those impossible questions but any new insight is appreciated. I'm especially interested in opinions from people who've came from sunnier climates where they spent most of their lives,
*The sum of prevailing psychology, if that can be known by any one person.
The answer to the question in your third paragraph is yes.
I've lived here 7 years and only had a freakout last Sunday after 7 straight weeks of grey, gloom, cold, never ending rain. I literally felt I was going to go out of my mind if the sun didn't come out, and blue skies too. The only other time I "lost it" was in December 2008 when we had the Arctic Blast. I was housebound for 15 days (I live rurally-no snowplows came out here, and I didn't have chains yet).
So I would have to say that until last Sunday I didn't really understand what SAD is. I do now. You literally feel as if you will freak out and like you have to RUN. Also, you get lethargic. You don't get dressed some days. (If you're not working.) Your hygiene suffers sometimes. You just get lazy and lethargic.
I lived in the Bay Area for many, many years: SF proper, Marin, Berkeley, Palo Alto. It's almost perfect weather-wise to my way of thinking. Not going back there for different reasons. I'd think twice. If you can't stand two weeks, try 7-8 months of mostly grey weather with rain. It varies from year to year but generally speaking that's how it is. Oregon's beautiful and laid back and generally hip so people put up with it for longer than they would otherwise.
The 64 dollar question is "what kind of climate do you thrive in?" I thought I could make it here. I'm surprised I can't. That's the way the ball bounces.
I had another longer response typed out but lost it, so this will have to suffice!
PS Yesterday the sun came out and it was HOT. Now it's back to cloud cover. This weekend is supposed to be nice, but I don't believe the weather reports anymore!
I am looking for a brutal, low-down assessment of Portland's infamous rain & gloom in terms of how "most people"* up there seem to be affected by it. I have read about all the variable impressions and ways of coping, but the discussions tend to degenerate into tangents that stray from the actual weather.
{snip}.........
I am not a coffee drinker or pub-crawler, so my refuge would probably be outdoor exercise; "if you can't get out of it, get into it."
I was doing just fine dealing with my 1st Portland gray winter until the last week of last February when Portland and Seattle had 4 glorious days of super bright cloudless days in a row. When the rain came back, I got real lazy, lethargic, lost my limited sense of humor, and just wanted to sit around and read a bunch of novels. Microwave frozen meals became my diner. It took some effort, but I snapped out of it about a week later. But in the mean time, I noticed many others on the Mass Transit were also very short tempered and out of sorts. Driving across town I noticed a lot of road rage at that time (you need to understand that Portlanders are mostly polite and courteous drivers and road rage is rare. Well, ah, except in March and April.)
Oh, and from my own experience, the coffee bit is only an excuse to socialize in a public place. Its the socialization that fights the blahs of SAD. In other words, laughter. Pick your own reason to socialize: there is ball room dancing, knitting, quilt making, bowling, politics, any number of garden clubs, crafts, and many other activities. YMMV
The Vitamin D supplements (actually high end multi-vitamins) and drinking citrus fruit juices for vitamin C does help also. Don't start in on heavy greasy comfort foods, or at least just stick to small portions, as gaining weight in the gray sky will also add to the lethargic feelings. Double chocolate cheese cake with hot fudge toping and whipped cream with strawberry on top is RIGHT OUT!!!
phil's mentioning March and April moods is very true. By that time of year, people have "had it" with the winter weather and can't wait for it to be over. The reward is glorious blooms on the trees and the deciduous trees leaf out, along with blue skies and warmer weather. It's paradise. In the fall, it's paradise too. The fall colors are brilliant and truly energizing.
But Feb-Mar-part of April watch out. It's true about the short tempers and glum sulking, or snappishness in stores and such. It's not pervasive, but it's there.
It's June 25 and I'm still using the heater. I usually stop sometime in April and start back up sometime in October. So that's going to vary from year to year.
As for your comment about "adapting in ways that surprise them" - I did that. I got thick socks. I got lots of leather boots. I bought corduroy pants. I bought dozens of cheap sweaters and turtlenecks at the great thrift stores. I bought loafers. A SoCal girl in loafers! Ha! Even in SF I didn't do that. I embraced this area and everything that goes with it. Sometimes it only takes a couple years, other times it takes longer. I truly thought I would make it. But the 7th year is the year that broke it for me. YMMV.
I lived downtown quite a bit. I enjoyed the winter months. I did notice a lot of people would not go out compared to the summer, when the downtown is very vibrant and busy. At 10 pm, I was able to go out after a light drizzle, and not have to deal with heavy traffic. The city is just beautiful, and it is only amplified at night with a coat of rain to reflect off of. I would frequent bike rides though most of the city, up and down hills in the rain, but it was never a down pour, or heavy amounts enough to impair my biking. I love the rain though, and I feel Portland has a great variation through out the day of sun and clouds, and the movement of the clouds is so fast, it is a sight to see.
If I get low after a week of CA overcast (Bay Area), will I be insane to even consider Portland, or does it somehow grow on "most people"* when it's prolonged and a new psychology takes hold?
Short answer yes, you would be insane. That a week of CA overcast can cause a noticeable effect on your mood when odds are you are pretty well-stocked mentally on sunshine most of the time shows that your mood is quite light sensitive. I did grow up in a sunny climate and have to deal with SAD whenever I live somewhere far enough north with a lot of overcast skies.
Now there are a lot of things you can do to compensate and make it more manageable. It sounds like you already know about most of them light boxes, full spectrum indoor lighting, outdoor exercise, vitamin D3, tanning beds, etc. I would say though that it requires awareness and constant compensation (at least for me) and that the payoff for being in Portland would need to be big enough for you for that to make sense. And it might be, this is a very special place. Right now I am sitting on the fence about whether to stay or go largely related to the SAD issues.
After it's been gray for a long time and the sun comes out, it's as if the sun comes out in my brain too. It feels like a religious experience. And you know...it really shouldn't mean that much. It makes it clear how much the darkness was getting to me before the sunny day. It sure didn't used to be that way when I lived in places that were sunny enough of the time.
Odds are your first winter here you will not be hit that hard by this (I wasn't) - it is a cumulative effect. Think about pathrunner's seven year experience. So also to add into your equations is how long do you plan to stay?
I just experienced my first Portland winter after I had lived in AZ for about 23 years. I thought it wouldn't affect me that much because I spent most of my time in AZ hiding from the sun, but I was very wrong. I didn't think that it was any one factor that did it. Instead, it was the combination of extremely short days, the gloom, the cold, the dampness and more than anything, the sheer duration that did me in. I was managing well enough for most of the winter, but in early February, I just snapped. I felt like a raw nerve emotionally. Every little thing was affecting me way more than usual. With this unusually damp/gloomy spring, I felt much the same way last week too.
I like it here, and plan to tough it out for at least another year, but I fully admit that whether I can justify staying will depend on coming up with some way to adapt to it. I'm hoping full-spectrum lighting, vitamin D supplements and caffeine will help mitigate things. SAD is definitely a real phenomenon, and shouldn't be underestimated by anyone intending to come here.
I am not a sun worshipper so I don't mind overcast days at all. A week of sunshine and I have had enough. I did get tired of the rain this year. The worst of it for me is the dampness which is starting to play havoc with these old bones.
If you are used to sun and love it and can't live without it you may not be happy in Portland. However if you like the things Portland has to offer and indulge yourself in them, you may not notice the lack of sun at all.
SAD is a condition to be taken seriously though. If the overcast weather causes depression, medical help should definitely be sought out.
ca_north, I was reading some posts in another forum and came across another thread you either started or posted in. It seems you've been contemplating this move for a while now (two+ years?) Is it a hesitation over the weather or is it a combination of factors?
As for what PHXtoPDX and Minervah said, I thought I knew what SAD was just from reading about it. I truly enjoyed being in Portland for the first few (maybe 4-5) years. I'm not a complete sun worshipper. I like clouds, I like cloudy days, I like cold crisp air, cool mornings, cool evenings, light rain, etc. What I don't like is dampness, constant grey skies, and weather patterns that hang on like a cold you can't get rid of.
The fact is that there is no place in the U.S. that has perfect weather. Having lived in a few places, I have to say that San Francisco has perfect weather because it never gets that cold, or that hot, the air moves, the patterns change constantly, there's a lot of blue sky, there's a lot of sun, there are a lot of clouds, etc. There is variety, and it's temperate.
When I was growing up in SoCal it was gorgeous. (You know, when everybody's parents had a Fred Flintstone car ) It was B.S. (Before Smog). Orange groves everywhere, CLEAR blue skies, temperate sun, pristine beaches with intact sand dollars and beautiful sea shells, and good tidepools. It was why 1K families a week flocked there for 2 decades. Then it got ruined (long story short).
Looking at "Similar Threads" below this morning, I had to chuckle when I saw that some people in Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice Florida were tired of "the cold" in February! Now that's ironic. (Does anyone under the age of 40 know what chuckle means?! Never mind, that demographic is likely under-represented here!)
Woke up today to ongoing clouds, got annoyed. Perhaps it's because my brain has moved on and things get amplified in my head.
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geographically that is!
) It was B.S. (Before Smog). Orange groves everywhere, CLEAR blue skies, temperate sun, pristine beaches with intact sand dollars and beautiful sea shells, and good tidepools. It was why 1K families a week flocked there for 2 decades. Then it got ruined (long story short).
