The Rain in Portland (sales, living, statistics)

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by wanderbygrace

In Ohio, many times (at least once a year & regular ice at least 3-4 times per year). Here, I'm not sure. I was at Timberline last weekend, and hit what appeared to be a nasty patch, but was going prudently slow enough on Timberline Road to not have it be a problem. Others weren't so wise - there were two vehicles off each side of the road, just before it ran back into 26.

You don't get real black ice up at Timberline. It's too cold.

Black ice forms when the temperatures hover right around freezing. Driving over the ice slightly melts the ice, the water pools into the low areas and freezes again. In an hour a piece of regular ice becomes smooth as glass and is much more then regular ice.

This is why Portland shuts down when we have snow, not because of the snow, but because driving over that snow turns it into black ice. Frequently the early commuters who show up at 7am are fine, it's all the people who show up at 9am that are screwed.

This is one of the reason why gravel is used instead of sand as it gives a lot more traction in these conditions. But I've even then I've seen it when the gravel is imbedded so deep in the ice that it doesn't make a difference.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Anybody notice that we are well into December and still have not had a hard frost in the Portland area?

My prediction is that will happen at 12:12am on 12-12-12.

[doggiemama]

Yes, it hasn't been very cold at all yet.

As for the rain, I would describe it as not usually all day, and the rain is 90% of the time "intermittent windshield wiper" and 10% "low windshield wiper." If I turn my wipers on low it is really coming down for Portland. (in contrast to Houston's or Miami's giant rain sheets where high level windshield wipers don't help your vision at all and you wait it out under an overpass)

[JSAN]

I will sum up weather in Portland like this, we have 70 sunny days per year. Most of them come in week stretches. The rest of the time it's the 'Grey Blanket' cloudy all day until it gets dark when it clears off. The rain is like nails on a chalkboard or a rat gnawing on your ear while your hands are tied. Sorry to sound so bad but it really is a dreadful place for sun lovers.

[sorupaa]

the rain makes portland clean and so green

[danwilsonbsee]

Originally Posted by JSAN

I will sum up weather in Portland like this, we have 70 sunny days per year. Most of them come in week stretches. The rest of the time it's the 'Grey Blanket' cloudy all day until it gets dark when it clears off. The rain is like nails on a chalkboard or a rat gnawing on your ear while your hands are tied. Sorry to sound so bad but it really is a dreadful place for sun lovers.

Thank goodness U-Haul and Budget rent trucks. It makes it so easy to move.

[Beenhere4ever]

Yeh, I don't think I'd ever move to Portland because of my love of sunlight. But with so many alternatives that are practically all sun all the time, Portland really doesn't have to compete for that. Seems like Portland might be a number one choice for lupus victims. Oddly, my sister is one and has spent most of her life in Portland.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by JSAN

I will sum up weather in Portland like this, we have 70 sunny days per year. Most of them come in week stretches. The rest of the time it's the 'Grey Blanket' cloudy all day until it gets dark when it clears off. The rain is like nails on a chalkboard or a rat gnawing on your ear while your hands are tied. Sorry to sound so bad but it really is a dreadful place for sun lovers.

70 days?

Yeah, yeah. Keep up the misinformation. Care to cite a source proving that fake statistic?

[HonuMan]

Originally Posted by khyron

Look up the thread on this forum called something like "did anyone move here BECAUSE of thee weather." You'll find some empirical arguments, using data, showing just how exaggerated some emotional claims are that people make about "the nine months of never seeing the sun" or the "XX days of constant rain," etc. Many of those claims are disingenuous, and either come from transplants whose perspective is skewed by wanting everywhere to be Southern California...or from long term residents here who have the "Portland is all full up, don't come here" attitude backing their responses.

I agree. Granted, if you crave constant sunshine and are depressed by rain and cloud cover in general, then you shouldn't move to the PNW west of the Cascades. Some of the posts I read on here, however, give the erroneous impression that Portland doesn't see the sun at all for nine months, and that it oftens rains steadily, 24 hours per day, for weeks on end. In reality, we get partly sunny days, or days with sun breaks, throughout the rainy season. There are more of them during the spring and fall shoulder seasons than during winter. Many of those spring and fall days are gorgeous, with spectacular cumulus clouds against blue skies. Think of the Cloud City scene at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.

During the rainy season, the rain usually is intermittent throughout the day, ranging from nothing at all, to a light mist, to a few drops, to a steady drizzle, to an occasional heavy downpour. Today is a "rainy day," but as I look outside my window, no rain is falling at the moment. I walk my dog every morning and evening, and I rarely need to use an umbrella. Often, it's raining when my alarm clock goes off, but by the time I actually take my dog outside, the rain has stopped. But it is true that there are more gray days than not during the rainy season, and things stay pretty soggy.

[HonuMan]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Speaking of ice, what ever happened to the really good ice storms we used to get?

According to weather forecasters in an Oregonian article last month, we could see ice and/or snow in January. La Nina has been receding, and El Nino shows no signs of developing. The last time we had such conditions was in 2008, when we had "Snowpocalypse." But the forecasters cautioned that it was still too soon to tell for sure what January will be like.