Weather/Living in Tri-Cities vs. Wenatchee (Seattle, Spokane: homes, employment, buying)

[aggiegirl92]

My husband and I are considering moving back to Washington in a few years to be closer to family. He lived in the Seattle area for 32 years and I lived there for 7. We know that we will not move in that area again because the rain and the clouds started to get to him. But, we are considering either the Tri-Cities or Wenatchee. As we were speaking to a friend today, he commented that he thinks Wenatchee gets less rain than the Tri-Cities which, if true, would be a bonus. I love the fact that the Tri-Cities has tons of wineries around. (Oh, how I've missed Washington wineries.) However, I think Wenatchee would be the more picturesque place where many of my friends still in the area go to on weekends (either there Leavenworth or Chelan). So that would be cool. But, we are planning to explore the areas we are considering by taking a trip or two and checking out each city. Would love any feedback/thoughts from everyone.

Currently, we work from home so commuting is not an issue. God willing, it will still be that way in the next two or three years.

[PS90]

I would recommend posting this in the Washington forum - since you're asking about Wenatchee as well, you might get more responses than just the Tri-Cities forum.

Wenatchee and Tri-Cities are very similar in precipitation amounts - I think Wenatchee gets 10-12", and Tri-Cities gets about 8". Neither place's climate is even remotely similar to Seattle's climate.

I think Wenatchee has more outdoor activities in the immediate area, whereas Tri-Cities requires a fair amount of driving to get to any significant mountains for skiing or hiking, etc.

Wenatchee itself does not have a lot of wineries, but Chelan is a resort-y area about 30 minutes north of Wenatchee, and it is quickly becoming a wine "hot spot".

One thing about Wenatchee - which you may not mind if you have friends from Western WA, but gets REALLY old if you're a Wenatchee local - is the ever-increasing wave of coasties that flood the Wenatchee area every weekend in the summer. Traffic gets much worse, gas-prices go up, and everything just gets more crowded. That was one of the things I absolutely did not miss when I moved to northeast Washington.

[M3 Mitch]

While you are working from home now, depending on what you do, probably Tri-City area has more employment possibilities. The climates are similar, actually Wenatchee has higher temperatures frequently in the summer. It is closer to Seattle of course.

From the Tri-Cities in good weather, you can easily get to Seattle in 3 hours.

For that matter, if you are OK with a snowy winter most years, Spokane is not much further from Seattle than Tri-Cities is.

[aggiegirl92]

Our goal is 3 1/2 hours or less from the Seattle area which is where family is. Spokane doesn't meet that threshold, though we have thought about it in the past.

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

[jaguar3030]

With such low precipitation amounts, have there been any water shortages or water restrictions?

[509]

Last year Wenatchee's total precip was 4.5 inches. Most of that falls as snow. My daughter was almost two before she finally saw rain and we were in Seattle when it happened.

As mentioned by PS90 the downside to Wenatchee is all those people from Seattle. It is bad on weekends. Currently, 35% of the homes in Chelan County are owned by coasties. People from Seattle are now buying homes IN Wenatchee as second homes. So your going to find Wenatchee much more expensive than Tri-Cities for housing. Wenatchee is running out of land for development so it will soon be unaffordable for many people. The Government does not show any interest in controlling our mountain passes from mass migration from Seattle.

Utilities are much cheaper in the Wenatchee Valley. In fact, the utility district in Douglas County bills every other month since the bills are to low to bother with a monthly bill.

Tri-Cities is shunned by Puget Sound types since they don't like people that glow at night. So you get lots of great outdoor places in Idaho and Oregon to explore. Plus Montana is fairly close if you sneak in the back door.

The Wenatchee Valley (along with Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Pend O'rielle counties) has the best high tech infrastructure in the nation. You can get 1 Gig internet as a business. Residential internet is at 100mbps. Most residents have had access to fiber for over 15 years since it was put in by the local PUD's. Don't know if that matters for your home business.

Tri-cities in the past has had the best educated and best paid workforce in the state of Washington. So the question is do you want a high tech workforce or infrastructure?

For jaguar3030 there are a few people dependent on local rivers like the Wenatchee and Yakima, but most of the water comes from the Columbia. And that river is not running out of water anytime soon. Even with the drought in Washington the Columbia flow is just over 100% of normal. Here is the link for the Columbia River watershed....notice it includes part of Wyoming:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columb...iarivermap.png

[StealthRabbit]

You like WINE? Vancouver, WA gets you within 3 hrs of Seattle, and very close to Columbia Gorge wineries (west gorge / Maryhill / Hood River),Home* |* Columbia Gorge Wine Country as well as Willamette Valley. Regional Map : Willamette Valley Wineries
Wine, Wineries and wine tasting in Northern Oregon

Vancouver will have equivalent weather to Seattle, so you would need to go east (White Salmon, WA) for better weather.

There are a lot of advantages to being near Portland. Especially the great airport!!! and no soles tax and 20+ colleges.

I would choose Cashmere (Wenatchee) or Camas (Vancouver)

YMMV

[pnwguy2]

While it is easy to lump Wenatchee into Eastern WA weather, there are some differences. First during the winter, Tri-Cities is warmer. This is simply due to geography as Tri-Cities is at a lower elevation east of Wenatchee, while both are on The Columbia. Summers can be more equal, but still Tri-Cities is warmer on average.

Wenatchee is closer to Stevens Pass and of course, Mission Ridge for winter recreation. The closest ski area to Tri is Bluewood, about a 90 minute drive.

As for other aspects of life in these two areas, Tri-Cities is a regional shopping/restaurant area, Wenatchee less so.

[pnwguy2]

Upon further review, let me correct my above post. The elevation of the Tri-Cities is not significantly lower than Wenatchee, just 300 feet or so. I guess the better point would be that Tri-Cities is in a more "high desert" climate than Wenatchee, as in less distance to the Cascade Range. For this reason, Wenatchee will typically get somewhat cooler weather year 'round, and somewhat more snow. I apologize for the error.

[509]

Tri-Cities weather is moderated by the winds coming up the Columbia Gorge particularly in winter. Wenatchee tends to have more inversions for longer periods of time.

The weather in winter really changes once you cross over to the Royal Slope. Funny, how such a small set of ridges can have a dramatic impact on the local weather on some days.