weather in Tri-cities, WA --the WHOLE picture please (Seattle, Kennewick: homes, allergies)

[123catlady]

I live in Az now, and came here from Pasco/Hermiston Or. area. Grew up near Mt Rainier. E. Washington had one summer with temps up to 109, one house we lived in was set up from the road and tumbleweeds would blow up into the corner of the yard. Huge amount. And I remember a few winters with feet of snow that stayed around because of freezing temps. I always thought we would go back to E Washington, but Az is growing on me. Still have wind here though. E side way more sunshine and less gray days than west, but still has winter. Why not AZ if you already come down in winter?

[wldgrdnr]

Originally Posted by 123catlady

I live in Az now, and came here from Pasco/Hermiston Or. area. Grew up near Mt Rainier. E. Washington had one summer with temps up to 109, one house we lived in was set up from the road and tumbleweeds would blow up into the corner of the yard. Huge amount. And I remember a few winters with feet of snow that stayed around because of freezing temps. I always thought we would go back to E Washington, but Az is growing on me. Still have wind here though. E side way more sunshine and less gray days than west, but still has winter. Why not AZ if you already come down in winter?

That is exactly where I am looking now...I am not thrilled with Hanford issues or having a nuclear reactor right in Richland.

Thinking of Prescott/Prescott Valley area, which was where I was looking before someone told me about tri-cities weather...

If it were not for the nuclear issues, I'd still be looking at tri-cities, but the nuclear issues ruled it out 100% for me...

Where are u in AZ? In the reasonably comfortable mountains or out int he desert?

[123catlady]

The radiation never scared us away from tri-city. Just a job change. If we didn't need a different job, we would be happily living there still. Every area has good and bad things around it.

Now we are in Sierra Vista area. We like it enough.

[pw72]

The main difference between Seattle and The Tri-Cities during winter is less rain. Both areas are cool to cold. Seattle at 45, would likely mean Tri-Cities at 35. But drier. Usually clear or foggy.

During the summer, the differences are greater. Much more sunshine from May to September, and hotter temps, with 90's common, and 100's occasionally. 100's will occur atleast once, and maybe many more days, in any given year. When I lived there in the early 90's I experienced one day at 116.

[Inkpoe]

I was just in the Tri-Cities last week... and it was interesting as you're cruising along i90. Very cloudy, damp and cold in the western portion. Clouds start "breaking apart" as you pass Cle Elum and by the time you get to Ellensburg, the air noticeably feels warmer and it's sunnier as well.

The first night we were in Kennewick, it was rainy and hard hard. The morning was cloudy but that soon fades out and becomes sunny and warm. Seriously it felt good. I don't remember if it actually got to the 90s last weekend, but definitely in the 80s and its comforting.

As we headed back, it was the reverse of what I stated in the first paragraph. As we were approaching Snoqualmie Pass, we saw that it was 52 degrees. And it sure felt it. We knew we were back in Western WA.

[pw72]

Big difference in summer weather. Seattle experiences "June Gloom", eastern WA generally does not. This means that summer begins well earlier in eastern WA, usually in May and early June. Sunny warm days are common in eastern WA during this period, and it can geniunely get hot in July and August, with 100+ temps common. However, the average high in the Tri-Cities during the hottest part of the summer is, surprisingly only in the low 90's.

[TriCitySam]

Interesting with regards to wind in the Tri Cities - some think too windy, some (like me) wish on hot days the breeze would pick up.....City-data listed the nation's 101 windiest cities. Tri Cities didn't make the list that had cities from
14.3 mph (Brockton, MA) to 10.7 mph (Denton, TX).

Pac NW Labs did a climate study in 2004 and Richland Airport recorded an annual average of 5.8 mph, Pasco Airport 5.0. Sunny days? I think quite a lot - at times we get an inversion and it stays kinda gray and morning fog, but we also have a fair number of clear blue cold days during the winter as well. Snow? Average number of days in a row with snow on the ground? 4.5

[freewest]

How would you compare Tri-cities/Walla Walla, WA to Bend/Redmond, OR. Seems like the climates would be similar. Would they be a fair comparison?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by freewest

How would you compare Tri-cities/Walla Walla, WA to Bend/Redmond, OR. Seems like the climates would be similar. Would they be a fair comparison?

Bend would probably be snowier/colder in the winter, probably not quite as hot in summer.

Bend a bit more trees.

[Sunsettommy]

wldgrdnr writes from post #1:

I read something on one forum that (one person) said the winters out there are foggy, gray and dreary (which is exactly what I do not want, I want to see the sun!)

I have been a resident in the Tri-Cities since 1964 and have a long time interest in climate.

It is true that from mid November to mid February it can be foggy ,gray and dreary but usually a few days at a time.Once in a while it can last for weeks of low clouds and fog which is boring.Other times it can be clear to partly clear skies but less often than be partly to mostly cloudy.

Except for defined frontal waves the air in the winter is usually fairly dry while the ground can be moist to dry depending on the precipitation which is about 1" for December and .90" for January the two wettest months the rest of the year is about 5 1/2" more.From mid June to Mid August it barely rain's at all with about .35" total on average.

Most of the State is going to be somewhat similar during the winter with it being wetter on the west side and colder on the east side.But the summer weather is definitely different with the west side being rather comfortable most of the time with highs not getting above the 80's much on average to the hot east side where 90's is common and DRY most of the time.The tri-cities get around 15 days of 100 + degrees in average summer and Pasco gets a peak of 95 High and 65 the low for the July average.

I've read conflicting stats also on how many days of sun...from 191 to 300...how is anyone supposed to figure it out with so much conflicting info out there?

It is around the 220 days mark that varies some by the year to year trend.It is definitely FULL sun over 90% of the time from Mid May to mid August.The regular partly cloudy skies begins to come in early September and gets quite cloudy in November that lasts to early February when it begins to taper off to partly cloudy again.

Partly to Full sun days is common from Mid April to Mid September.It is easy to grow Corn,Eggplants,Okra and other warm sunny days loving vegetables.

I did find a website that statistically addressed the wind issues, and although it does not seem great (25 mph gusts at least once a month?) , it does not sound quite as bad as some people have said in various threads on city data forums...

The wind direction is predominantly from the southwest that can reach a steady wind between 20-30 mph with some higher gusts that sometimes reach 40 mph.But that happens only about 2 times a year and usually around the 10-20 with gusts to 30 MPH is what we usually get.The amount of airborne dust has dropped dramatically from the mid 1990's due to better dust abatement requirements and use of water in construction areas windy or not.

The last time it reached 100 MPH was in January 1990 and have never been over 60 MPH since.The 100 MPH gust was exceptionally unusual and was only because it came from the Columbia gorge that time.

Anyway I really would like the true picture of weather year round. I know summers get hot, but was told by a realtor that usually the first half of the day is not too bad, it is late afternoons when it heats up badly...true? not true?

It is generally true that the morning time is fine because the high of 90 degrees is usually reached around noon to 1:00 pm and get really hot around 2:00 to 3:00 pm.Most highs reach the upper 90's except the times of the "heat wave" when it goes to 100-103 degree range starting about the 4th of July time.It is rarely ever above 105 and the all time record high is 113 in July of 1971.The heat can in July and August at night still be over 90 degrees at 9:00 pm and cool slowly during the night but that is only when the "heat wave" is around otherwise it is below 90 by then.Late June to mid August is really where most of the really hot weather shows up regularly.

Does the sun come out in winter? Can anyone describe the fog that I saw 2 posts talking about? Is it foggy early am and then clears? Is it foggy all day? Is the fog around the river areas (which would be totally understandable) but clearer if you are not close to the river?

Low cloud and fog is a rather regular feature from late November to late January.Partial clearing occurs in the late part of the day on part of those days.Some years it last for more than a week or two unchanged and can be boring in the process.

It is more the low clouds than the fog (which is often patchy away from the two rivers) that is the norm but some years there can be a lot of fog too but usually because of the high pressure ridge that compresses the air to the surface thus dropping the cloud layer lower than usual.Some of the time Fog is actually nice with the snow around and yucky when it is dry on the ground.

I did see that 5 mph winds seem to be almost a daily occurrence , which to me seems pleasant...but I'm not sure what a 25 mph wind is even like...where I live now we get virtually no wind (1-2 mph avg) except for some whopper winter storms where winds get 70-100 mph (something I totally want to get away from as in those kind of storms I sleep in the basement since we have 300 foot trees all around).

There is often some wind that rarely get above 10-15 MPH on the usual daily weather.It is very rare to get above 40 MPH on the windiest days of the year and that is usually a wind gust.

Most wind storms are in the 15-25 MPH range with guts reaching 30-35 mph range.The dust problems are now a minor component due to dust ordinances in place and followed quite well too.The wind storms often last a couple days at a time before it dies down.

So can someone give me an idea of the 25 mph winds? Does that make it too windy to do outside chores like gardening etc or does life pretty much go on but your hair blows in your face LOL I just cannot picture what a 25 mph wind is like and what types of things it would interfere with in daily living.

It does not reach that much wind most of the year.It is only when a wind storm come up that it can reach that high a wind.

You will have a lot of time to garden or enjoy the outdoors because the wind is less than 15 mph most of the time aside from fronts that is not common during the summer months.Many days at a time of stable weather is the normal in the Tri-cities.

Can someone post for me, very specifically, what the weather is like year round?

The Tri-City Herald newspaper and Washington State University have good weather data and history for you to examine.

Thank you so much...this is crucial to me, as I have spent 2 weeks trying to find out about this area and if winters are gray and depressing, I may have to look for somewhere else...but I'm running out of options for where to move LOL

Winters are commonly "gray and depressing" in the Northern states.If you really want to escape it then you move to Hawaii or the Philippines where it is ALWAYS warm and partly cloudy in the winter.No fog or low clouds to worry about.

Western Washington is generally cloudier,windier,wetter and grayer than in Eastern Washington in the winter time.