Oregon Rainy Season (Portland: to live, moving to, cheap)

[no one special]

I think there are some people who become depressed over the weather but the majority of us here seem to carry on with life as usual. I would think by March we are all itching for some relief but we carry on and do our thing knowing summer is right around the corner. There are lots of fall and winter activities that get people out. I also think maybe the bars get a little more crowded when it is raining but still...people come out of their homes. As stated above... the majority stays home when it snows, just a day or two sometimes three or four a year. But never for weeks or months. For me, if I get one day when I don't leave the house it is a miracle.

[ebr1974]

wallace raises an interesting question. I live in the NE now, have lived in Chicago and have spent a lot of time in Seattle and Portland in all 4 seasons. I find that people that have never been are quick to slam the PNW for being rainy all the time and citing stats on number of days with rain. IMHO you really have to first baseline your home climate - if you're coming from TX or So Cal, of course you're going to have climate shock. But as wallace points out, it's grey from Oct - May in Chicago and from Dec to April it's not uncommon for the wind chill to regularly dip below zero. In the NE it's grey most of the winter with freezing rain and annoying snow that often doesn't amount to much accumulation. This summer I watched the NE get rain almost every 2-3 days where Portland and Seattle had multi-week stretches of continuous sun. Some have cited this as a fluke for the PNW in the summer, but my expereience in past years has been that this is pretty normal. I think that the NE perception is that when it's bad for them it must be an exception in places like the PNW to have better weather than them b/c of the aforementioned assumptions I noted above. As for me, 40 and on and off rain in the dead of winter is better than 12 degrees and partly cloudy anyday.

[figmalt]

I have to agree with ebr1974. The experience will vary widely depending on each person and where you're moving from. Portland doesn't get all that cold, relatively speaking, compared to a lot of states in the same latitude. I moved from the Rockies where we had lots of sun during the winter, but frigid temperatures and mountains of snow. If you're moving from the great lakes area, where they already have a lot of gray during the winter, your only trade off is cold weather versus mild weather. Not much of a sacrifice really. Another thing about the rain is that there's rain, and then there's rain. Portland rain doesn't get more than drizzly and misty for most of the winter. It's not like midwest and mountain storms where the heavens open and water pours out of the sky in sheets. Like others have already mentioned, most people just put on a jacket (not coat!) and get on with their lives. If everything stopped for a little rain, nothing would ever get done.

[OregonDaisy]

There isn't enough rain here! I grew up on the coast and I have seen real rain......One winter it was so bad, we had 2 little ducks who moved in to our driveway, which was flooded for months. It does kind of crack me up when we get 50mph winds here and people are bracing for the "storm". Sustained winds of 100mph and gusts of 120mph are what I am used to.

[Élan vital]

Originally Posted by OregonDaisy

There isn't enough rain here! I grew up on the coast and I have seen real rain......One winter it was so bad, we had 2 little ducks who moved in to our driveway, which was flooded for months. It does kind of crack me up when we get 50mph winds here and people are bracing for the "storm". Sustained winds of 100mph and gusts of 120mph are what I am used to.

for real. I lived on the gulf coast and it rains more there in a week than here in a couple months.
Sit through a few hurricanes with sustained winds of 150+ and not too much fazes ya after that.

[LammyKerria]

I would Love to live in America, i live in New Zealand And in a Small Town Called Waitahanui, with only about 700 people it is really depressing it is about 100 miles from anyother town and it is about sunny 3 times a year, i HATE it but i cant move because my Mom wont let me and im only 13 But i want to move to LA when im older but dont Hate Portland Coz im sure it is beautiful Have a awesome life with your Husband!

God Bless you All x

[knrstz]

I've read the rain doesn't bother native Oregonians because they are used to the winter. However, I am curious to know, is it common the native Oregonians actually like the constant precip, fog and clouds or do most just tolerate it better?

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by knrstz

I've read the rain doesn't bother native Oregonians because they are used to the winter. However, I am curious to know, is it common the native Oregonians actually like the constant precip, fog and clouds or do most just tolerate it better?

FYI:
My experiences of the weather in Portland is an the same scale as the overcast, gray and precipitation as much of the northern mid-west: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and other cities close to the Great Lakes.

However, the precipitation in Portland is much more likely to be rain instead of snow during the 1st 3 months of a year.

The cloud and overcast is not all the time, there are partial cloudy days, with brief moments of sun. Portland is not, repeat not, Southern California. I would match up the Weather in Portland during the winter and spring months with Great Britain or any North Atlantic European country or city (Denmark, Holland, etc.)

In short, it really is no big deal to survive the winter in Portland, provided you didn't grow up in SoCal or the deserts of the Southwest.

Statistical data from NOAA, 40+ years averages of Clear, Partly Cloudy, and Overcast by month for all of lower 48:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...ccd/clpcdy.txt
Do your own research.

Phil

[mkray22]

We moved to Portland from St. Louis four years ago. I was raised there, my wife is from Chicago. The comments about baseline are absolutely correct. Californians and Arizonians seems to get a little bothered by the rain. But we absolutely love living in Portland and have never been bothered by the rainy season in the least. I actually suffered from S.A.D. in St. Louis because the winters were so bleak. But I haven't had the same problems here. The weather is mild and rarely dips below 40 degrees because of the Pacific ocean. And, I agree with previous posts that the rain is overstated here. Pretty much. Through most of the winter, the weather is dynamic and there are gorgeous sun breaks even on the wettest days. November and December can certainly be a bit gray and rainy, but it's worth it for the year-round greenery and the most absolutely beautiful 4-month summers in the country.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

FYI:
My experiences of the weather in Portland is an the same scale as the overcast, gray and precipitation as much of the northern mid-west: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and other cities close to the Great Lakes.

However, the precipitation in Portland is much more likely to be rain instead of snow during the 1st 3 months of a year.

The cloud and overcast is not all the time, there are partial cloudy days, with brief moments of sun. Portland is not, repeat not, Southern California. I would match up the Weather in Portland during the winter and spring months with Great Britain or any North Atlantic European country or city (Denmark, Holland, etc.)

In short, it really is no big deal to survive the winter in Portland, provided you didn't grow up in SoCal or the deserts of the Southwest.

Statistical data from NOAA, 40+ years averages of Clear, Partly Cloudy, and Overcast by month for all of lower 48:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...ccd/clpcdy.txt
Do your own research.

Phil

Nicely put. To answer a poster above, those of us in W. Oregon tolerate the Oregon winter. Very few dance with joy over two weeks of straight rain. However, we muddle along, and the beauty all around Oregon certainly helps. I agree that for others who live north of latitude 40 in the U.S. it will seem mild. Those coming from California or the desert southwest, S. Rockies, or South, will likely find it quite an adjustment. I also agree it is very similar to NW Europe, though not as bad as W. Ireland, Scotland and W. Norway. I recall in Ireland they get well over 220 rainy days per year, whereas Portland gets about 150, with notably dry summers.