Does it really rain all the time in Seattle?

If it rains 50% of days, that means the ground is almost always wet, and the sky is almost always dark and cloudy. To most people, that is rainy weather. Furthermore, the air is often misty and wet, but would not be measurable precipitation.

I'd love to see a similar analysis of sunshine. I did find on most days in the Seattle winter, the sun would peak through for a few hours, though usually too low in the sky to promote much Vitamin D production.

Seattle has amazing natural beauty, and sometimes the weather can be excellent even in the winter. Summers are flawless. However arguing that it doesn't "rain all the time" in the winter in Seattle might depend on whether your definition of raining is as meteorologist, or on whether you have to wear waterproof shoes and carry an umbrella.

The fact is, during non-summer, almost every day is without sunshine. So much so that the local news will report the consecutive number of sunny days during the summer. During the winter, getting any kind of sunlight is such a big deal that the local forecasters use the term "filtered sun" to describe cloud coverage that is thin enough to allow light through. Having grown up on the east coast, this was a novel term to me.

I've lived in Seatle a number of years now, and it has a lot going for it, but the weather absolutely sucks. I'm not at Microsoft anymore, but when I started, they asked if I'd be okay with the weather as it is apparently a major problem for them with people not being able to handle it (not sure if this was specific to my recruiter or a company-wide thing).

If you grew up in a Sunny place it might be difficult to live in Seattle area.

So why does Seattle get the rainy city tag? I think it is because here in the Seattle area the rain is usually the worst thing we get. No one is going to talk about rain in Buffalo, for instance, when that rain came with 10 feet of snow.

Question for my fellow Puget Sound area residents--do you use an umbrella? The rain is light enough most of the time that it doesn't soak through my jacket, so I just wear a hat to keep my hair and glasses dry.

Well, I suppose this is all true, but it doesn't change how depressing this is. After living in the PNW for 22 years, and then moving to Florida, I understand a lot more about how bad it is. Sure, it rains a lot more in Florida. In fact, I'd be willing to be there are more rainy days here. But, you don't spend all day waiting for that small break. You go outside, enjoy the day, and then the sky dumps several inches of water over an hour. Afterwards, the clouds are gone and the sun is back.

Gone are the days of walking through the fine mist of rain, which just seems to hover in the air and somehow soak you to the bone despite your waterproof coat. No more constant drizzle which have lasted the entire week.

The pacific northwest is a wonderful area. Beautiful scenary, wonderful hiking, amazing summers, and for the most part interesting people. But there is just something just wrong about it. Maybe it's the rain, or the overcast, or something, but now that I don't live there, I am happy.

In any case, while it doesn't rain 'often' it's certainly almost always overcast. I recommend to everyone (especially those moving from California) to pick up a bottle of vitamin D supplements.