Sunny Days in Sequim? (Seattle, Vancouver: how much, house, buy)

[former Californian]

I moved to Sequim in late 2005 on the basis of data I found on this site and elsewhere on the Internet. The posters who say it is gray for most of the year are absolutely spot on. It is gray too often. I am leaving as soon as I can. Don't believe the crap you read about Sunny Sequim, altho' the area IS spectacularly beautiful. Depressing weather is not outweighed by beauty you can enjoy only 3 months yearly.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by former Californian

I moved to Sequim in late 2005 on the basis of data I found on this site and elsewhere on the Internet. The posters who say it is gray for most of the year are absolutely spot on. It is gray too often. I am leaving as soon as I can. Don't believe the crap you read about Sunny Sequim, altho' the area IS spectacularly beautiful. Depressing weather is not outweighed by beauty you can enjoy only 3 months yearly.

Yep.

For a while, back last spring or so, I was reading and contributing to a few CityData Forums ... most specifically I reacted to a couple recurring issues ... such as this "Where It's Most Sunny in Washington State" type of conversation. Washington is NOT a sunny cheerful place most of the year. It IS beautiful. It IS fun (if you can enjoy activities in the wet and gray 8 months a year). It has much to recommend it. But good weather is not its strong suit.

I pointed this out repeatedly with weather service charts ... for which I received a number of negative arguments, saying I was / they were wrong. The charts don't lie ... neither does this ex-Californian who moved over to the place that receives the greatest amount of weather fairytales told about it: Sequim.

I love Sequim and the Peninsula. But don't move there for the fabled sunshine: it'll break your heart.

Look at the charts on City-Data ... name your town ... then compare to a known sunny city in California, or elsewhere you might be familiar with. The gray, wet doesn't bother everybody ... but if it bothers you — don't bother moving here.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by former Californian

The posters who say it is gray for most of the year are absolutely spot on.

Perhaps it would be more accurate then to say that the sun shines down on Sequim 365 days a year... It's just that on some of those "sunny" days you can't actually see the sun because of all the gray clouds in the way?

[509]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Yep.

Washington is NOT a sunny cheerful place most of the year. It IS beautiful. It IS fun (if you can enjoy activities in the wet and gray 8 months a year). It has much to recommend it. But good weather is not its strong suit.

Please.....Washington State is about one-half desert east of the Cascades.

It is NOT wet and gray eight months of the year.

Please use the term "western Washington" when referring to rain and cloudy conditions. Thank you.

[eponabri]

Well, I've lived in Sequim for the past 8 years after moving from Lynnwood (the infamous convergence zone), and I know we have a whole lot less rain and more sun. It's fun to watch the news when it says rain is coming, and it goes right around the mountains and misses us totally. Even with the snow, the only reasons we got so much this year is because it came from the south. Otherwise we are in what is called the rain shadow.

So, I wouldn't say it's false advertising. But some years are drier than others and some are wetter. One thing we do get a lot of is wind.

[eponabri]

You'll find gray weather most anywhere on the northwest coast (Washington and Oregon) in the winter.

But I don't agree with it being overcast most of the year. Maybe you are just comparing it to California.

Originally Posted by former Californian

I moved to Sequim in late 2005 on the basis of data I found on this site and elsewhere on the Internet. The posters who say it is gray for most of the year are absolutely spot on. It is gray too often. I am leaving as soon as I can. Don't believe the crap you read about Sunny Sequim, altho' the area IS spectacularly beautiful. Depressing weather is not outweighed by beauty you can enjoy only 3 months yearly.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by 509

Please.....Washington State is about one-half desert east of the Cascades.

It is NOT wet and gray eight months of the year.

Please use the term "western Washington" when referring to rain and cloudy conditions. Thank you.

Right ... Washington is not wet and gray eight months of the year ... western Washington is ... and eastern Washington is just gray, but with far less rain.

My point stands: Washington is a wonderful place for many people for many reasons ... weather is not one of its strong points — if cheerful sunshine is important.

Very few people looking into moving to Washington State have interest in eastern Washington ... it, too, has much to recommend it ... but, other than a hotter summer than west of the mountains (and colder winter), weather is not high on the list.

And for those wanting to claim how sunny eastern Wash. is, I once more suggest that you do your own comparisons from the weather data charts so nicely provided by City-Data. Compare any eastern Wash. town to any other well known sunny locations in other parts of the country.

Sun isn't everything ... but for many people considering a move, it IS an issue of importance. I simply hate to see people misled. Don't take anybody's word for it ... including mine ... do your own research to compare.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by eponabri

Well, I've lived in Sequim for the past 8 years after moving from Lynnwood (the infamous convergence zone), and I know we have a whole lot less rain and more sun. It's fun to watch the news when it says rain is coming, and it goes right around the mountains and misses us totally. Even with the snow, the only reasons we got so much this year is because it came from the south. Otherwise we are in what is called the rain shadow.

So, I wouldn't say it's false advertising. But some years are drier than others and some are wetter. One thing we do get a lot of is wind.

And I say it IS false advertising ... no offense, but the only people who would find Sequim a "sunny" climate are people from even grayer areas of the NW; for instance, as above quoted, from Lynnwood, which is in the infamous convergence zone that gets more rain and gray than even Seattle only 20 miles south.

Persons considering a move to Washington from other parts of the country are ill-advised to rely on anecdotal stories from Northwesterners. You all must do your own thorough research and comparisons of data. We, the NW natives, are so intimate with the color gray that any appearance of the color yellow, even from a Crayola box, however brief, is cause for excited comment.

[wendyw09]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

And I say it IS false advertising ... no offense, but the only people who would find Sequim a "sunny" climate are people from even grayer areas of the NW.

Totally agree with you, dude. Sequim boasts of it's sunny climate - and truthfully, the climate there is much sunnier than the rest of the Olympic Peninsula but it's definitely not the "sunny" that many people are accustomed to.

There are many, many, many gray, dismal days in Sequim. The sun may make a brief appearance (long enough to consider the day "sunny" evidently) but does half an hour's relief from gray equal a sunny day? WTF?

People moving to Sequim for the great sunny climate (snerk) are sure to be disappointed.

[jonandangel]

This is fantastic information as we are moving to Sequim in just a couple of months with our two small children who love to be outside. Are there things to do as a family??