Anyone move from California to WA, if so what are your thoughts? (Seattle: sales, rent)

[Glenview94602]

Originally Posted by xPlorer48

Apparently you weren’t here in 1997 where in NW Washington we received 4’! Or, a few years ago when Seattle stopped cold stranding our daughter at the Greyhound bus station as people were petrified to drive on I5 so abandoned their vehicles thus blocking ramps. No taxis so I had to reach my sister stranded at a downtown office to meet her at night. Most of us natives or Midwest/Back East folks know how to drive in the snow so it must have been the Californian transplants.

Seattleites have some crazy fascination with snow. There is a faction who loves snow and want it to snow non stop (There are Seattle weather sites in which they get depressed if it doesn't snow but that's obviously an extreme that I don't consider). There is another section who hate it. The last third of people are ambivalent because they are from a snowy place like Spokane or back east. When I lived in SnoCo, whenever there was a chance of snow 5-7 days out people would hold the breath and rejoice or panic and go shopping.

Those who worship snow don't know how to drive in it and get into an accident. Those who hate snow stay home and the town shuts down. Those from elsewhere fall into that third group and shrug, enjoying a day off for no real reason.

I fall into the second group, but I tolerate snow (and sometimes even enjoy it when I'm not shoveling) more now that I live in the (real) East Side of the state. People here know how to drive in it. I work from home so I prefer not to drive in it, but if I must, I feel confident knowing that someone isn't going to try and do 60 when the road is covered and going downhill.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I was definitely there in 1997, but don't recall 4' of snow. It's even rarer that it snows in Seattle enough to be measurable in feet, but it does happen. I remember one winter having to walk home to the Northgate area from my job at the UW, because the bus service had given up on trying to navigate the 2-3 feet of snow. Students were skiing to school, and the Russian members of the faculty (I worked in Slavic ) all would break out their fur coats on such days. I loved it, but I didn't own a car, so didn't need to worry about snow/ice driving.

But those are very rare and exceptional winters (as your comment implies, because '97's winter stood out in your memory), and the snow only lasted one week out of the whole winter. It's not like other parts of the country, where that's the norm most of the winter. I don't want the OP to get the wrong impression, and think that just because Seattle is close to Canada, that it's snowy. Even Vancouver isn't snowy.

First, agree on your snow opinion, we don’t get it they often and when we do we’re ill equipped.
‘97 and I was in B’ham for that storm. It hit hard all the way down. There were quite a few collapsed roofs from it including a Ballard Marina.

[leastprime]

OP.
Just do it.
Going on an adventure.
Leaving on a jet plane.
500 miles, this a-way.
Tears in Heaven
Bye Bye Bye
Goodbye Hello, Hello Goodbye

We used portable air conditioning for 5 days, normally 0 days. Put the beast away in August.
Except for this year's exceptional 5-7 days of hot weather, late June, you can go outside even in the afternoons.

Many years ago I was visiting my sister and cousin in the Bay area (we all grew up in OR) in the height of summer, June. I was quite surprised and depressed to see a early sundown and late sunrise.
As the fall solstice is Tuesday, the BigDark, will accelerate to just 8 hrs of day light, on a non wet day.

[rkcarguy]

I grew up here, and just like spaghetti night when I was a kid I am getting more and more tired of the rain/gloom 6+ months of the year the older I get. Late spring and summer is nice, but August (peak vacation season) has been ruined by everything from super heavy traffic coupled with road construction(always in late summer it seems), and/or wildfire smoke. I also like those cold, clear, yet sunny and even snowy winter days but those are few and far between. Out of all that, there is maybe 3 months out of the year that the weather is likeable for me. Long term, I will not be staying in WA.
We already have a large ex-California population, and some implants don't like it and end up moving back. Out of the Cali neighbors adjacent to where I live now, two left and moved back(house prices and taxes on those evaluations have increased ~50% in the past couple years which I'm sure played into that decision). Two are only here from about April-Sept and head south for the winter, and the remaining one that is here all the time is very much a grumpy curmudgeon and obviously not happy for whatever reason.

Winter weather wise, its seldom to get a lot of snow south of Whatcom and Skagit county on the west side, but at times the whole PNW will get blasted if conditions are right. Whatcom county is special because we can get cold arctic outflow from the Frazier river, which effectively blast-freezes everything in it's path. I'm talking 80mph northeast winds and temps into the NEGATIVE TEENS with wind chill, like the winter of 07/08. Our wood stove and furnace ran wide open and would only keep the house at 64*. Relief came when the house drifted in about 4' deep against the north and east sides, and about 5am the next morning the winds finally subsided. The neighborhood was littered with those little foam plugs for foundation vents, and many neighbors had frozen and cracked plumbing.

Also, leastprime is correct, our winter daylight is SHORT. Bellingham for example, on Dec 20th is sunrise at 8am and sunset at 4:15pm.

If you are interested in the area, spend a week up here during the poor weather and see if you can tolerate it or not. The "good" part of the season is a no brainer, but the rest may be a deal breaker for many.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

First, agree on your snow opinion, we don’t get it they often and when we do we’re ill equipped.
‘97 and I was in B’ham for that storm. It hit hard all the way down. There were quite a few collapsed roofs from it including a Ballard Marina.

Bellingham had a dry spell for snow for several years prior and had sold all their snow removal equipment. I remember that well, along with a good portion of the Ballard Marina collapsing and taking many boats with it.
Some boats in Anacortes also built up too much snow weight and rolled over in the marina.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Bellingham had a dry spell for snow for several years prior and had sold all their snow removal equipment. I remember that well, along with a good portion of the Ballard Marina collapsing and taking many boats with it.
Some boats in Anacortes also built up too much snow weight and rolled over in the marina.

Dumb. Very dumb. Unbelievably dumb. Do what did they do, buy new equipment? Is the city so broke, they can't afford to keep idle equipment around for a couple of winters?

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Bellingham had a dry spell for snow for several years prior and had sold all their snow removal equipment. I remember that well, along with a good portion of the Ballard Marina collapsing and taking many boats with it.
Some boats in Anacortes also built up too much snow weight and rolled over in the marina.

I was one of the few guys that made it in to work, spent the day on B'ham Cold Storage clearing roofs and that night clearing the parking lot.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Dumb. Very dumb. Unbelievably dumb. Do what did they do, buy new equipment? Is the city so broke, they can't afford to keep idle equipment around for a couple of winters?

I think it had been 6-7 years since we'd had any appreciable snowfall in Bellingham. Couple that with what is mostly outsiders from the south that seem to rotate through city gov't, a lot of dumb happens here.
The 96/97 snow storm completely buried my car in the driveway. A week later when we finally started getting some help with plows and such, they plowed the road to the county line and then stopped, leaving an even bigger wall of snow where the plow stopped and left us stuck for 2 more days while everyone 2 blocks away was able to get out.


Dec 30th, 2017, Lynden Ice Storm. Was the worst damage we've seen to the power grid since the 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_agKvrC1S0

Feb 14th, 2019. More snow and arctic Frasier River outflow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t26-_oF2Rb8

Jan 2020, about 50 seconds in, Frasier River outflow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWuMMb31jJA&t=79s

Jan 15th, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRmB8fhhxcw

Feb 1st, 2020. Following the melt off of Januarys snow along with a "pineapple express" heavy rain, we saw bad flooding. The river overcame the levee and flooded Everson, Nooksack, and so far north that it flooded Sumas, joining the Sumas river near the Canadian border. While there have been several "100 year floods", Such a flood hadn't been seen since 1917 where one could travel from Everson to Sumas by canoe if they wanted.
I made an offer on one of the houses in that flooded cul-de-sac in this video, glad I didn't get it lol!
For some reason the preview doesn't show for this one but the link does work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJv99PWaeSc

[Ultrarunner]

Lacey WA and area building continues and prices may Shock locals but often a bargain to those from the Greater SF Bay Area.

I don't find WA to be inexpensive but everything is relative.

Biggest concern of mine is WA property tax... in 15 years WA property tripled whereas SF Bay Area property up 50%

I do like western WA bountiful water and lack of forest fires where I am but it is getting very dry too at times.

One thing I have noticed is people I meet seem to be more law abiding especially driving...

It's not called the Evergreen State for nothing.

Often many you meet will have some tie to California if you dig deep enough...

[MechAndy]

One of my Washington neighbors also lives down the road a bit from me in California.

We still keep CA tags on our cars and still have the 925 area code and are constantly asked what part of California we are from because the person asking was also originally from CA.

Washington is plumb full of ex Californians.

One odd thing I found was that most Californians think Washington is dirt cheap.
I’ve been asked more than once if I paid “what like a 100 grand?” for my Washington place .