Weather in Washington

Sk8rbug · Mar 25, 2007

The PNW is great! I grew up in Seattle and love the rain and cloudy weather. I am now in AZ and can not wait to get back up to that part of the country! July and August are usually sunny, the rest of the year you will have mostly cloudy rainy days, with a few clear sky days. If I were you I would move to Seattle, but I love it there!!

Hope this helps!

ann945n, RN · Mar 25, 2007

Hi there I hope I can help. I have lived in Seattle my whole life (24 years) and love it to death, perhaps I am biased :) The weather does not differ that much from Portland to Seattle. Any difference I doubt one would notice. I would recommend the seattle area north of Tukwila and south of Everett, east to north bend and as far west as seattle (I wouldnt cross the sound) That are IMO is the nicest and safest to live, when you go farther south then Tukwila it gets kind of scummy and icky, north of everett kind of hill billy and east of north bend is the mountains. crossing the sound would mean taking a ferry into seattle which i think is a hassel and the rates are soooo high and always climbing. The housing in this area mind you is high. A 3 bed room 2 bath home is anywhere from 600 to one mill depending. If you go on the out skirts though (about an hour plus from down town) Ive seen starter homes 3 bed room 2 bath for about 300. As for the weather we have some of the best! Our fall and winter is wet but its a soft light rain, we dont get heavy down pourings just light sprinkles and everything always is green its beautiful. Our summers are great. Temps from the 70-90 and mostly all days sunny, you can really get outside and play since the temp is so nice you dont bake to death. If you are looking for areas to live i would recommend Ballard, Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, North seattle, North bend (for cheapest cost of living). If you have more question feel free to private message me!

gypsyatheart · Mar 26, 2007

Thanks sk8rbug and ann945n, for your replies. We are looking for reasonable cost of living, combined with my husband getting a job up there...he does IT, my getting a job, without a nightmare commute! :rolleyes: Maybe a tall order....? Hopefully not.

I was thinking of trying to come up on a travel assignment, just to help get us there, and then we would have a little time ot look around, get a feel for areas and neighborhoods.

Thanks again!

Halinja, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2007

I've lived in both Seattle, and Portland (and Vancouver, across the river from Portland).

I loved Seattle. If you need cheaper, you could try Tacoma, or Bothel. Yeah, it rained, but there were sunny days. I know they say its the same, but I didn't feel like it was. Portland seemed gloomier to me. More cloudy gray days. In Seattle I could go ride the ferry. See big city stuff. In Vancouver, my husband's (now ex) truck actually grew green stuff on its underside. I don't remember that happening in Seattle.

I hatched a theory that the columbia river channeled more rain up the gorge, but I'm sure the weather people would tell me I was...well...all wet. grin.

Just my opinion, I'm sure I'll have offended some Portland/Vancouver folks. But I'd take Seattle area any day. From Olympia on up. (I lived on the Redmond/Issaquah border. gosh, I can't even spell it any more)

smk1, LPN · Mar 26, 2007

Hello, We are considering a move up the coast to the PNW. We are trying to narrow down our choices...Portland through WA, up to Seattle area.
I keep hearing about the rain shadow and areas in the rain shadow getting more sun.
Mind you, I love cooler and rainy. I do not need sun all of the time. And I do not like it to be too warm/hot. That all being said, we do like some sun, nice summers, etc. we are not interested in Eastern WA. We want to stay more coastal, or closer to coast, if possible.
Any suggestions? TIA

Anything up the I-5 corridor Portland to Seattle would fit the bill. Depends upon price range and city size. Some of the other cities along the way from Portland to Seattle are Vancouver, Olympia, Tacoma, Chehalis, Castle Rock, Longview.

kat7ap · Mar 26, 2007

I grew up in Northern CA and moved to WA state as a teenager, then d/t marrying a military man I moved to TX for four years and just recently moved back to the Seattle area a few months ago. Needless to say, I miss the warmth and sunshine! If you are not used to it either raining and being overcast almost 90% of the time during winter, it is quite a change. Some people get used to it and others just never do. However the summer months are really quite beautiful. I don't think that the weather differs too much from Portland.

Captain Tripps · Mar 28, 2007

I live in Longview which is basically becoming a bedroom community for Portland/Vancouver. We call it the "Banana Belt" here, the Coast Range Mountains get the brunt of the rain and we live in the "shadow". We get less rain than Portland and sometimes it will be nice here and rainy in the Portland metro area.

Longview is a nice little city, about 30,000, some meth issues, 1 hospital, some meth issues, housing is $$$, and we have a bit of a meth problem.

:uhoh3:

Peace,

Tripps

Halinja, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2007

Longview is a nice little city, about 30,000, some meth issues, 1 hospital, some meth issues, housing is $$$, and we have a bit of a meth problem.

LOL, and on top of that, there might be a meth problem too!!!

Seriously, though...it is a cheaper place to live. We lived north of Vancouver a bit (Battleground) for a while, and it does seem to get better weather than Portland proper. 'Course, I felt that way about parts of Seattle being shielded by the Olympias.

As to the meth...in my clinical in public health one rotation was spent with foster care. We spent some time in the courthouse, and a lot of the cases had to do with meth in some aspect or another. What I gathered from that day is that meth is becoming a huge problem in EVERY county. It is like a plague that has spread into every nook and cranny, without a lot of people even knowing about it. I had NO idea until that day how prevalent it had become. Point being...I'm not sure if there's anywhere you can go and not have it be a problem.

LPNJessi · Mar 29, 2007

I grew up in North Bend and I loved it! I miss living up there. If I could afford it I would move back to Washington. THe weather is great! THe cost of living has gotten too expensive for me. I hope this helps.

gypsyatheart · Mar 30, 2007

Wow! Thanks everybody, for all the great replies.

I do wonder about how I will react to the change in climate, but, where I am now...1 climate: sun, sun, sun, Warm, warm, hot. Definitely gets old, believe me...:uhoh21:

It also seems to me that there are more employment opportunities in Wa,and the pay looks/sounds like it is a little better than Oregon. Just getting into that research, though.

Thanks everyone, again! :balloons:

Larry77, RN · Apr 2, 2007

The climate in Eastern Wash/Oregon is completely different than west of the mountains. East of the mountains there are true seasons, hot in the summer, cold with a lot of snow in the winter. West of the mountains our weather is very mild with yes a lot of rain but frequent breaks and very little hot or cold weather. I live 1 hr from the Pacific and 1.5 hrs from a great skiing area...can't beat that in my opinion.