Is the weather/traffic in the Vancouver area better than Puget Sound area? (Seattle: home)

[neeka27]

So curious, we have a couple places that we might be thinking to relocate.
*Vancouver area (including Battle Ground, LaCenter)
*Spokane Valley area
*TriCities
*Medford area

Right now we live in Puyallup and I absolutely hate the grey & traffic. Two questions:

*Is weather any better than up where I am? Keep in mind that Puyallup is in the mountain shadows so we get a lot more grey than even Tacoma.

*Is traffic going to be same/better/worse? I'm nervous that in 10 years time it's going to be as gridlocked as it is here since it seems to be everyone is catching on to moving to Vancouver to be close to Portland but getting out of the taxes.

Anyone from around this area that lives down there now??

Thank you so much!

[notnamed]

Traffic in the Vancouver area isn't much of a problem. Only the commute to Portland from Vancouver is a headache. So find a job on the WA side and you are set. It's kind of funny how horrible traffic is coming from downtown Portland across the I-5 bridge but as soon as you get over to WA the traffic dissipates quickly.

I live in Battle Ground and usually work from home but have an office in Vancouver off Mill Plain, only the occasional conference in Portland. The commute down 503, 72nd, or 5/205 is fine traffic wise, just a lot of lights. Main Street in Battle Ground can be bad at times largely because the high school is right off main street which causes a logjam at arrival/lunch/dismissal times.

But yeah growth in 10 years time...may be an issue. Not aware of any widening plans for main thoroughfares or anything like that for the future. But I certainly don't see it ever getting to be as bad as the Seattle metro.

This has been an unusually wet/gloomy year. Not all that much of a difference climate wise, both still in the Pacific Northwet. Official stats for sunny/precipitation days are near identical between the two.

[StealthRabbit]

Consider the weather in Vancouver area very near the same, tho rainfalls in Clark County vary from 23" to 100"+ depending on location / altitude. Gray, is Gray... PWN is gray in winter. Even Boise is significantly grayer than central UT and CO / NM (Where the winters are quite sunny.)

Since Vancouver is 'inland', and not so far west of Cascades it has quite predictable weather. (Exception is the Columbia Gorge (windy, can be clear (er), but is still gray and wet).

Traffic is not gridlock (Yet), I-5 Bridge > Portland has always been a bottleneck, and continues that way.

Consider south of Spokane Valley. Rockford, WA is a very nice small town.

Walla Walla / Waitsburg are also nice communities.

[texasdiver]

Seattle area traffic is MUCH worse. The Seattle area gets major traffic melt downs all over the metro area and often at random and unpredictable times. The greater Portland area has some major predictable traffic bottlenecks that you just know are going to be there on a daily basis (both interstate bridges, highway 26 to Beaverton, I-84 into downtown, I-5 near Wilsonville, etc.) But if you know about these and can plan around then you can generally get around decently. Vancouver is not bad at all if you are not trying to join daily commuter stream to and from downtown Portland across the freeway bridges. My wife and I both have reverse commutes across Vancouver and it is never bad or even slow.

As for weather? Winters in the Vancouver area are pretty much the same gray drizzle you get in Puget Sound. Except we get the occasional ice storm coming out of the gorge. Summers tend to be warmer and more sunny because the Portland area is further from the ocean. But it isn't going to be dramatically different.

If you want dramatically different weather go over to Spokane which has true 4-season weather with bitter cold winters and hot summers.

[missca]

Always cloudy and raining. A few sun breaks which are awesome! Some days real rain, not that mist everyone talks about. PURE rain that does not stop. But that's my humble opinion, only lived here a little over one year.

[silibran]

Originally Posted by notnamed

Traffic in the Vancouver area isn't much of a problem. Only the commute to Portland from Vancouver is a headache. So find a job on the WA side and you are set. It's kind of funny how horrible traffic is coming from downtown Portland across the I-5 bridge but as soon as you get over to WA the traffic dissipates quickly.

I live in Battle Ground and usually work from home but have an office in Vancouver off Mill Plain, only the occasional conference in Portland. The commute down 503, 72nd, or 5/205 is fine traffic wise, just a lot of lights. Main Street in Battle Ground can be bad at times largely because the high school is right off main street which causes a logjam at arrival/lunch/dismissal times.

But yeah growth in 10 years time...may be an issue. Not aware of any widening plans for main thoroughfares or anything like that for the future. But I certainly don't see it ever getting to be as bad as the Seattle metro.

This has been an unusually wet/gloomy year. Not all that much of a difference climate wise, both still in the Pacific Northwet. Official stats for sunny/precipitation days are near identical between the two.

18th ST in Vancouver is being widened near the new entrance to I 205. It will make the crummy 2 lane road in that area much better for all.

Vancouver is not nearly as large as the Seattle area. You can get to most places within minutes. There is a sort of rush hour around SR 500 and Fourth Plain, at the Mill Plain exit off I 205 and on SR 15 from I 205 to Camas. It isn't horrible though.

Our weather resembles Portland's weather. It was been unusually wet this past winter and spring.