Portland weather... (Wilsonville: house, live, price)

[ErinSmerin]

I love everything I read about Portland. The vegetarian options, the eco friendly-ness... Is the weather really that bad? I would be coming from Wisconsin, where we have maybe two months of summer, so it's not like I am expecting year round sunshine. I guess I've just read too many posts about SAD, and depression due to all the grey.
Either way, I'd like to vist. When is a good time of year?

[Neal2009]

It depends on the person. Some people cannot tolerate the grey days, while others thrive in them. There are also some who have a hard time at first but then adjust after a certain period of time. I would suggest visiting from June to September if you want the best of Portland weather, or from November to March if you want the worst of it.

[Rob Allen]

"Best" and "worst" are subjective, really - a lot of us consider the 90+ degree temperatures that we have this week as the worst part of the year.

Coming from Wisconsin, you'll probably find Portland weather to be mild all around the year. In winter we have one, maybe two, snowstorms, and one, maybe two, ice/freezing rain storms. The streets are clear within a day or two in most cases. The average temperature is above freezing, day and night. In summer it's usually very dry, and we do not have the stifling heat and humidity you're familiar with. We usually get one, maybe two, heat waves of 90+ degrees over the summer. From late September to early June, we have a lot of cloud cover and a lot of showers, drizzle and mist. We don't get many thunderstorms or heavy, soaking rains. Since we're so far north (similar to Duluth), the sun goes down really early in December/January; that contributes to SAD in some people.

Does this give you an idea of when to visit?

[ErinSmerin]

Yes, thanks a lot. I have no problem with heat at all. Just wanted to know that it's not raining and grey all year! How about housing? What can you expect to pay for an average house in the city?
Thanks again!

[sayulita]

Take a look at this site. Lots of good data especially on climate.

Portland, Oregon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also I think I read recently that the median house price here in Portland was something like $320,000.

[Lunar Delta]

The weather is bone dry and scorching hot during the summer, and cool, wet, and very rainy during the winter. I actually enjoy gray days very, very much. They make me feel energetic and lively, like all is right with the world. The lack of rain or cloud cover in the summer really gets me down. I love Portland to death and don't regret moving at all, but I feel that Georgia really had much more varied and interesting weather overall.

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by Lunar Delta

The weather is bone dry and scorching hot during the summer, and cool, wet, and very rainy during the winter. I actually enjoy gray days very, very much. They make me feel energetic and lively, like all is right with the world. The lack of rain or cloud cover in the summer really gets me down. I love Portland to death and don't regret moving at all, but I feel that Georgia really had much more varied and interesting weather overall.

Scorching hot??? Bone Dry??? I have to respectfully disagree. Except for the recent couple of unusual heatwaves (we usually have two or three each summer) the summers here are pretty mild. Temps in the 70's and 80's for highs, and cooling off to the 50's and 60's at night. We also have rain in the summer. See the climate chart I posted a few posts ago.
I do agree with you about the cool gray days though. I love them!

[Lunar Delta]

Well, the definition of scorching hot varies from person to person. I am very heat sensitive, and anything above 80 is seriously pushing it for me. And we haven't had any rain at all this summer! I actually live just outside of Portland, in Wilsonville, and I don't think we've had a single remotely wet day since early June. The evil sun has been beating down consistently for months now! Makes me miss the powerful afternoon thunderstorms I knew in my youth... the kind that could drop more rain in 10 minutes than Portland gets in an entire month, even in the winter!

[Explorer Dave]

Many places get more inches of rain than Portland, thus Oregon shouldn't really be called the rainy state, the drizzly state would be more apt.! The rain is not usually as heavy and thus lasts longer than many places that get more inches of rain.

However there can be some clear crisp blue skies even in the middle of winter too.

If you need a break from the gray, you can often find it not too far away on the eastern side of the Cascades in eastern Oregon.

[cdelena]

Few like the extremes... there are times that are too hot, cold, wet, etc... but the averages which can be considered the norm are pretty wonderful. I like the weather much better than the dozen other places I have lived in the country.