Where Are Sunnier Parts Of Washington? (Seattle, Spokane: house, neighborhoods, schools)

[NWbyNW]

Originally Posted by Uhavegotobekidding

The person who said it is not that grey from April -October is crazy. I have been in Bellingham since June of last year and It has been grey since August and it is now April. In fact we are leaving WA because it is too grey and very depressing for me. Can't speak for anyone else. Going to take more than a special lamp to keep my spirits uplifted. I too wish I could find a happy medium so we did not have to go back to Utah.

Sorry you are leaving, but to be brutally fair, Bellingham is known to be one of the cloudiest cities in the entire U.S. of A.

[freepelican]

Don't be fooled by the "sunny Sequim" brochures (and areas like Port Townsend, Whidbey Island, and the San Juan Islands) and all the talk about the "blue hole" and the rain shadow effect. These are real phenomenons from a scientific perspective. You can even see it sometimes on satellite images. However, the day to day weather effects of these weather phenomenon are totally overblown by the chamber and tourist organizations. Plus, of course, you'll find the blue hole described and touted on real estate sites for the area. Here's a picture of it from the ground by an amateur photographer with a blog about Sequim: The blue hole « Sequim Daily Photo

Here's an explantation for the rain shadow and the blue hole: What Is The Olympic Rain Shadow? | F.A.Q. | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

Keep in mind that for a day to be counted as "sunny" the sun only has to shine bright for one hour! There are many days in Sequim, and other areas within the rain shadow like Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands, where the sun shines bright for 1-2 hours and the rest of the day is extremely overcast or outright gray.... even raining... but it is still counted as a sunny day!

[bloom]

Originally Posted by freepelican

Don't be fooled by the "sunny Sequim" brochures (and areas like Port Townsend, Whidbey Island, and the San Juan Islands) and all the talk about the "blue hole" and the rain shadow effect. These are real phenomenons from a scientific perspective. You can even see it sometimes on satellite images. However, the day to day weather effects of these weather phenomenon are totally overblown by the chamber and tourist organizations. Plus, of course, you'll find the blue hole described and touted on real estate sites for the area. Here's a picture of it from the ground by an amateur photographer with a blog about Sequim: The blue hole « Sequim Daily Photo

Here's an explantation for the rain shadow and the blue hole: What Is The Olympic Rain Shadow? | F.A.Q. | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

Keep in mind that for a day to be counted as "sunny" the sun only has to shine bright for one hour! There are many days in Sequim, and other areas within the rain shadow like Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands, where the sun shines bright for 1-2 hours and the rest of the day is extremely overcast or outright gray.... even raining... but it is still counted as a sunny day!

So you are saying in general the hole is quite small and transient?
What about the indigenous cactus which is more lack of rain issue?
Are palm tree indigenous to Washington State?

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by bloom

So you are saying in general the hole is quite small and transient?
What about the indigenous cactus which is more lack of rain issue?
Are palm tree indigenous to Washington State?

It rains A LOT in Sequim, from fall to spring. It is also overcast, dark, and gloomy a very high percentage of the time. My basic point is this: to use the blue hole phenomenon as a marketing tool is misleading. I personally know people who have been fooled by this and I want to suggest to the OP and others to take this marketing hype with a grain of salt.

Also, yes, the hole is transient in that it moves around a lot so the weather 1-5 miles down the road may be very different at any moment in time. I've personally seen this many times. In the same vein, when sunny weather occurs, it often changes rapidly.

[TribalCat]

I've been checking out a live town webcam almost every day for over a year and a half, so I know in general what type of weather I can expect when I move there. That might be an idea for you to do just so you can see how "sunny" an area is all year long.

[xboxmas]

Nowhere in Washington sees sun year round like Southern California, Florida, or Arizona. Even Eastern Washington is grey a good part of the year. From late November until early March most of it is frozen, grey, and in many parts, snowy. However, in late spring, summer, and early fall its almost a guarantee it will be sunny and warm.

[rainyday666]

People talk about Sequim like it's this vast desert of sun in Washington. I'm sorry, it just is not. Maybe some years, but other years, if you moved here expecting sun, you would go into deep depression. It's still Washington. You can look at all your rain charts and weather maps and hoodoo you want, but it's Washington, and I don't care what the old reports say, with climate change, it rained here almost all winter. People are going nuts. If you move to Washington, you're gonna deal with rain. Period. The End.

[rainyday666]

Originally Posted by freepelican

It rains A LOT in Sequim, from fall to spring. It is also overcast, dark, and gloomy a very high percentage of the time. My basic point is this: to use the blue hole phenomenon as a marketing tool is misleading. I personally know people who have been fooled by this and I want to suggest to the OP and others to take this marketing hype with a grain of salt.

Also, yes, the hole is transient in that it moves around a lot so the weather 1-5 miles down the road may be very different at any moment in time. I've personally seen this many times. In the same vein, when sunny weather occurs, it often changes rapidly.

Yes, thank you. Sequim is not "Tucson NorthWest". It rains here. A lot. It's grey. There's almost nothing but old crotchety people in town on any given day. And they all drive way below the speed limit, which is generally unbelievably slow to begin with. What isn't old people in Sequim, is a particularly obnoxious brand of Ex-California YuppieHippieWealthyGranola type of person; they are demanding, unfriendly, pushy, and completely self-obsessed. Everyone else seems to be on meth, drunk, or some kind of grifter.

I would STRONGLY suggest an actual visit here before packing up to move. Seriously. It ain't like the movies folks, and no web cam or rain chart is gonna tell you the truth of a place. You have to see it for yourself.

If you can stand everything listed above, it is also absolutely drop dead gorgeous out here on the Peninsula, and even if you don't choose to live here, it's still worth a visit.

[509]

Originally Posted by rainyday666

If you move to Washington, you're gonna deal with rain. Period. The End.

Hmm...I could have sworn that Wenatchee was in Washington. My daughter was over a year and half before she saw her first rain.....in Seattle.

We are thinking about moving to Tucson, Arizona but are not sure if we can handle the Arizona rain. Wenatchee is a wet as we can handle....I think.

Wenatchee 9.09 inches annual precip..

Tucson 11.92 inches annual precip......

[mrgoodwx]

But you'd appreciate the rain in Tucson even more since it will be a welcome break from the blazing hot, summer sunshine.