Is the climate as bad as they say in Seattle? Would living (a few hours?) away right on the pacific coast be an improvement in climate?
(By the way, what's the best way to compare climates in different US cities all at once?)
(By the way, what's the best way to compare climates in different US cities all at once?)
If you are like me and dislike extremity of temperature, then you'll like Seattle. If you don't care about temperature as long as it is sunny, then you will not like it. Either way, you should at least visit during the summer! Consistently sunny, 70's, surrounded by mountains, trees and beautiful bodies of water...this is what the people who hate the weather stay for. :-)
Seriously, it's really nice here. No mosquitos (I'm from central Canada), no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no hail, no snow.
The "it always rains" thing is just a seattle meme.
I guess you could say that Seattle doesn't have distinctive weather character, but that's not really a problem, or a bad thing.
I would argue that the climate is actually quite nice.
It is, however, cloudy often. Even in the summer, you get a lot of overcast days and misty rain. Summer mornings are always cool: 13 to 16 C (high 50s F). Summer afternoons are usually sunny and hot: 23 to 28 C (high 70s F). Some people hate the lack of a "real" summer, but having experienced enough 37+ C/humid days for one lifetime, I don't take much out of that complaint.
Winters are mild, temperature-wise, but overcast. You'll only get about 10-20 hours of sun per week in the winter. For the plus side, if you look outside in the winter and it "looks" nice, it probably is (nice meaning 8-12 C). (On the East Coast, sunny usually means sub-freezing.)
It's not "always" raining but you'll probably get some rain on 2/3 of the days. Of course, some of those days are mostly sunny and have a misty rain for half an hour in the morning, and some are uniformly overcast.
It depends on what you like. If you're physically active, you might prefer it. (It's never too hot, or too cold, to run or bike.) Seattle has about the same climate as Paris, but the perceptions are totally different. In Paris, it's being compared to cloudier, colder places like Berlin and Warsaw, so it has the reputation of being a sunny, mild city. Seattle is being compared to San Francisco and Los Angeles so it has the reputation of being cold and cloudy. If you're from the East Coast or Europe, you won't mind it. I've heard plenty of Europeans move to Seattle and, because they've been told the weather is so dreadful, think they've won the lottery when they get what's actually an average winter (mild temperatures, not much sun but some, light rain).
Would living (a few hours?) away right on the pacific coast be an improvement in climate?
It would be even rainier, and it's the rain (not the temperatures) people complain about. However, if you go east, over the mountains, you get into a climate that's quite dry. One thing to keep in mind about Seattle's weather is that, if you want, you can drive 100 km and get winter sun in the desert, or drive into the mountains for snow and skiing. (Snow at sea level is rare in the Pac NW.) If you really don't like the 5-6 days per week of overcast in the winter, you can escape it on the weekends. On the other hand, if you want an actual bona fide rainforest, you can get to that as well.
I have spent 12 years in Seattle, 7 on this go round. I hate the weather here. You are wet and cold all winter. The mountains get snow, but sometimes rain, which freezes the snow, or makes the snow go away, negating the snow possibilities. The fact that you are surprised by how low the sun is on the horizon on a rare sunny day in winter, because you so rarely see the sun in the winter, is certainly entertaining. Let's also not forget the sun rises at 8:30A and sets at 4P in the winter.
The 2 months of sunny weather from July 5th are amazing. When the sun is out, this place is absolutely beautiful. But, for reference, I went for an early morning training ride yesterday and it was 44 degrees at 5:30A. In June. June!
Insofar as cost of living, this place is cheaper for housing, though the market is tight in the mid-market range for houses. Public schools are reasonably good depending on the district. Tech employers are not as voluminous as the articles would have you believe. IME, the Valley has way more tech opportunity, and less concentration in a a very small handful of large employers.
Sun-breaks, yeah. Hard to believe that those are a thing, but Seattle people get really excited about them. No mosquitoes was a huge win over New England. Aside from the tech, the mountains and the water are what brought me there. I got there just when the first wave of anti-Californian sentiment was getting going and R.E. prices were on the uptick.
Among the things that led me to leave were the absolutely horrific traffic situation in the city and eastside. It got so when I left the house to drive somewhere, it didn't matter what day or what time of day/night it was, I faced very high odds of encountering a stop & go backup along the way. I became convinced that part of this was due to the region apparently having the most timid drivers I'd seen anywhere. The slightest roadside anomaly, the most minor unexpected sight would result in brakes being slammed on and a mile-long stop&go forming. On 128/90/495 in MA we drove bumper-to-bumper at 70mph and got where we were going.
Speaking of the highways, the sight that completely blew my mind in Seattle (again, as a New Englander) was that of people abandoning their cars on the interstate highways when a few inches of snow fell. Not just stopping, but getting out and walking away.
Regarding the weather, the summers are glorious but very short. The weather is probably starting to clear up about now, but winter will be back in October. The gray is what got to me, and in the winter the gray combined with cold (30s-40sF) drizzle made it all feel much more miserable to me than 20F, blue skies and sun on blinding white snow, which, by the way, is just what we get here in Spokane. Speaking of that, Spokane weather is remarkably like New England - four seasons, fall foliage, cold+snowy winters and hot (but not humid -- very dry) summers. Alas, there's no significant software tech scene and the cultural scene is awful.
Washington has a half dozen or so dramatically different climates, it's an amazing place to live.
http://weatherspark.com/history/29735/2014/Seattle-Washingto...
Unfortunately they don't have a great way to compare cities, aside from just loading multiple pages and eyeballing.
Seattle climate seems nice if you prefer/can tolerate relatively much precipitation (though perhaps not relatively much for being in the Pacific Northwest), mild winters (lows not below freezing, on average), and decently warm summers.
EDIT: and apparently not many sunny days, annually. Overcast weather seems to be more of a problem in Seattle than rainy weather.
# Or perhaps just the warmest major city; Victoria, BC seems warmer. As an aside, certain places in the mid interior BC looks to be one of the warmest places in Canada, maybe even warmer than Southern Ontario. The Pacific Northwest has a pretty mild climate for its latitude(s), overall.
I don't mind it at all. In Missouri, the winters do have more sun, but much, much colder and snowy/icy so you don't want to go out anyway. Here I can go for a walk/run/bike/hike or whatever and it's mostly mid to upper 40's (F) all winter with a few exceptions either direction (some 70 degree days in Feb, for instance).