Humidity in Seattle? (rental, new home, retirement)

[SPOKENFOR]

Originally Posted by allforcats

SPOKENFOR, thanks for the compliment, and my bill is in the mail.

I wish you a joyful move, and a merry, delighted new experience!

Thank You.

You are more than welcome. I am really looking forward to this huge change, it will do me just good. To not feel the sun beating on me almost everyday at high temps, is marvelous. Not to mention how beautiful the state of Washington is overall.

( and the check is in the mail, as we speak..., you deserve it)

[SPOKENFOR]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

Your sunny summer will be about 6 weeks long - not long enough IMO to compensate for the rest of the year

PS - we are going to be in Florida next week - and it sounds like Heaven

lol! I am leaving Florida for good next week, Seattle sounds like heaven. Funny how different strokes for different folks makes the world go round in more ways than one.

[ariabozorgi]

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed all the comments in this forum so informative. My wife, I and our 3 years old son are also thinking of moving to WA state. As obvious we heard lots of good things about the state. We have lived in FL, VA, NC (both the mountains and beach sides). Of all these places, we loved NC the best, especially the mountain sides. We love four season climates and I personally love the snow so much especially when its falling. Now, of all the states we have lived in, FL seemed to be the cheapest to live and since it doesn't have the state tax, we always have extra money left in the bank. NC on the other hand, has state tax and we find it pretty expensive state to live in; what i mean by expensive, is what one earns ratio to what it cost to live (buying a house, groceries, and etc...). We used to live in Asheville, NC, a very beautiful place to live, but the job opportunity wasn't that good, pay was to low, and state income tax deduction was well felt each payroll. On the top of that when we wanted to build our dream home in Asheville (a 2080 Sqf house without any special upgrades or luxurious add-ons), we were quoted around $300,000 a the minimum.

Having said that, My wife and I were looking for a place where we can have 4 seasons, mountains, oceans, no state tax and good pay jobs, all in one place and after searching around, WA state came on the top of our list. However, the two concerns we have are:

a) we heard WA state is a very expensive state to live in, buy and/or build a house;

b) We don't know which city to live (Bellevue, Issaqua, Bellingham, or Sudden Valley);

I understand that WA doesn't have the state tax and it has better job opportunity that pays well which i think should balance the expenses.

I will really appreciate if some one can give us some info regarding our concern which definitely will help us in decision making. ow, one last question is the summers in the WA hot enough to enjoy water sports and does it snow in winter?

thank you so much and looking forward to hear and read your comments.

[CrazyDonkey]

This thread is seven years old and not related to the subject of your post. To get responses, you should start your own thread. Since you're asking about both the Seattle and Bellingham areas, you might consider posting in the Washington forum, or you could ask about the Seattle area in the Seattle forum and the Bellingham area in the Washington forum.

[pnwguy2]

Seattle is one of the most humid cities in the US.

Yes, and I can understand most will go..."What?"

The truth is Seattle has high humidity from November to April, and sometimes into May. So this is simply a situation where humidity is a prime factor in a northern city in their winter. I don't think Seattle is alone with this in the world.

Humidity is uncomfortable on two levels. Warm and Cold. Both are uncomfortable. So Seattle is on the cold side, But it exists. For better or worse.

[bloom]

Seattle has very very little effective classic summer type hot humidity.
East coast has a lot of that, and even SoCal (San Diego) is starting to get increased humidity.
In non-summer rainy season, I think rain may count technically as humidity but along with the cooler temps at that time, it doesn't "feel" classic humidity at those times.

[CharlesRamon]

The actual humidity levels are high in this state. It's usually not accompanied by extreme heat like in the midwest or the East Coast so a lot of people say it's not humid here but it is. That's why mold is a big problem. Rain, drizzle, and fog mean humidity. Washington also has rainforests though not of the tropical variety.

[Canamlian]

Weird that this thread got bumped for no good reason.

Regardless, I’m going to leave some facts because I laugh every time I hear that Seattle is humid in the summer (which I do hear). What contributes to uncomfortable humidity is the dew point, not humidity % (warm air can hold more moisture than cool air, so humidity % means different things at different temps). Rule of thumb is that a dew point greater than 60 degrees feels humid, great than 65 feels muggy, and greater than 70 feels oppressive. On average, less than 5% of days in Seattle’s summer feel humid and 0 days feel muggy or oppressive.

For comparison, at their peak humidity times (generally mid July to mid August):
- 50% of days in NYC and Chicago feel muggy or worse (25% feel oppressive)
- Almost 100% of days in Miami feel oppressive
- 85% of days in Atlanta feel muggy or worse (40% feel oppressive)
- 50% of days in Phoenix feel humid or worse (25% feel muggy). That’s particularly in August, when monsoon conditions develop. Yes, you read that correctly, PHOENIX FEELS MORE HUMID THAN SEATTLE IN THE SUMMER. Relative humidity might be lower but that’s because it’s 100 freaking degrees there and the air can hold a lot more water.
- 50% of days in LA feel humid (less than 10% feel oppressive)

[pnwguy2]

So you are just repeating what I was saying. Seattle is humid, as a condition of moisture in the air, and it can be oppressive on the "cold side" as my Seattle example explains. If you understand the word "oppressive" it means undue hardship, which occurs both in warm and cool weather.

I said, Seattle gets an occasional humid day in the warm season, but it is pretty weak compared to most areas east of the Rockies.

Is Seattle humidity a problem in the summer? No. Is it a factor in winter? Yes.

[homesinseattle]

Sure, I guess by definition Seattle has humidity. I can tell you though that in the classic sense of the word (I'm a born and raised Miami boy living 28 years in Seattle now), it isn't an issue. Maybe a few days in the summer, but that's it. In general, Seattle is a very comfortable climate, never too hot or cold. Truly the best summers in the country, winters pretty mild. It only snows a couple times a year yet there is plenty of it in the mountains for winter sports. I go back to Miami and I'm sweating bullets within 5 minutes. I don't miss that for a second.