So, when does the rain start? (Portland: purchases, schools, camping)

[LivinginOC]

We moved to the Portland area in July. Of course, I expected the summer to be sunny. I was sunny and hot.

When we were contemplating moving here we heard over and over again that it rains 9 months out of the year. We've been here 4 and 1/2 months and it's rained about 5 days. Is this an unusually dry fall or is this the norm for this area? It's definitely been cold in the mornings and evenings but no rain. It's sunny, cold and gorgeous right now!

So, when does the rainy season actually start?

[doggiemama]

Well, it was pretty rainy for a few days this month. Never fear, it will rain quite a bit between now and June. And guaranteed 44 degrees and raining if you have family coming to visit.

[LivinginOC]

Originally Posted by doggiemama

Well, it was pretty rainy for a few days this month. Never fear, it will rain quite a bit between now and June. And guaranteed 44 degrees and raining if you have family coming to visit.

For about 3 days, yes. Of course, one of those days was a soccer game day. From the warnings from people when we were moving here I just expected it to be much wetter by now.

About to make some rain gear purchases for the family and trust that we'll eventually be able to use them.

[SETabor]

October was so dry you forgot about it raining 16 days in September. It's already rained 16 days this month but I don't expect much more until December.

If you were expecting heavy rains during the rainy season, you were mistaken. It's often a light, off and on rain. It gets wearisome because it's fairly constant and, like work, just wears you down.

[Deezus]

Whenever the weather gods want it to...

Basically once you get to the fall it can be hit or miss. You can have an warm Indian summer into October, you can have it dry and crisp and clear but getting a little chilly or it can be pouring buckets of rain. It varies from year to year and week to week. By late November or December though it's usually pretty grey and rainy on a day to day basis.

By January or February, it's often grey and drizzling daily---however as the high pressure system drifts off the NW coast, we'll get a sort of mild/warm and dry week(fake spring I like to call it)--often in mid-February(though I can remember a beautiful 65 degree and sunny MLK day a few years back). After that March and April often get a lot of rain, mixed in with the occaisional taste of warmer spring weather.

March to May and usually into June and sometimes up to July 4th are what I like to call the manic depressive season. We'll get a nice warm week of 70 degree weather and sun and then back to the rain for a week. The days get longer but it still can be grey and cloudy... It almost always rains on the Rose Festival parade in late May/early June(to the extent that when it doesn't it's almost a joke). Basically you learn to not get your hopes up when the weather starts getting nice after the winter, though at the same time we do get stretches of nice weather though most of the year--though this year seemed particularly dry and sunny even through most of the spring.

The best way I've found to enjoy the weather in Oregon is to not plan anything weather specific more than a few days in advance. People who make plans to go camping on a really specific weekend in June are going to be rained on--the weather gods will usually see to it that way...

[LivinginOC]

Originally Posted by SETabor

October was so dry you forgot about it raining 16 days in September. It's already rained 16 days this month but I don't expect much more until December.

If you were expecting heavy rains during the rainy season, you were mistaken. It's often a light, off and on rain. It gets wearisome because it's fairly constant and, like work, just wears you down.

I guess, from what I was warned, I expected not to see the sun much. On most of the days it has rained thus far, it sprinkled for a very short period of time while the days had a lot of sun as well. There was that 3 day or so storm (I think at the beginning of this month) where it was grey and rainy the whole time.

I never expected stormy weather or down pours. I'm just surprised to have seen as much sun as I have during the fall. I'm not complaining. It's been beautiful! I'll also try not to complain when I haven't seen the sun for a couple of weeks at a time.

[wanderbygrace]

If I recall correctly, September was the rainiest September on record in Portland. Although, most of us didn't seem to notice it, because it was usually in short downpours and we knew it was quite time for the rainy season to entirely kick in.

Still, I remember many days at soccer matches with an umbrella that month. Fortunately, not all the rainy days (nor practices), because my son usually plays on fields w/covered stands. Yay for Oregon on that aspect (Ohio schools almost never had roofs)!

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Come back to this thread in late February/early March and you will be asking when the rainy season ends!

That's the worst time of the year for me!!!!!

[rass33]

Originally Posted by LivinginOC

We moved to the Portland area in July. Of course, I expected the summer to be sunny. I was sunny and hot.

When we were contemplating moving here we heard over and over again that it rains 9 months out of the year. We've been here 4 and 1/2 months and it's rained about 5 days. Is this an unusually dry fall or is this the norm for this area? It's definitely been cold in the mornings and evenings but no rain. It's sunny, cold and gorgeous right now!

So, when does the rainy season actually start?

I agree, I've been here for about 6 months and a lot of people made it sound like it was going to be dark and raining all day every day for 9 months. Honestly, all it really does is drizzle sporadically,not even a consistent heavy down pour. If these weather patterns are what's making people depressed out here then they need to move to Hawaii because this weather out here is a piece of cake. I've been more depressed living through brutal sub-zero winters in Chicago than I have been here in Portland. If temperatures in the 30's with a little sporadic drizzle is bothersome to some people they should never live east of the Rockies in the winter time. BTW Its been quite sunny here in Portland for the last 3 days.

[urbanlife78]

I remember a few times where it rained for the entire month of November, the OP should be thankful that hasn't happened yet, but don't worry the rain and clouds will be coming and will stick around until June.