Rain in Atlanta (houses, tornadoes, live)

[noah]

According to Weather.com Atlanta gets 13 inches more rain per year then Seattle. For those of you who live there, does it seem that bad (if your not crazy about rain) or does it come quick and then go away. As someone considering moving to Atlanta I would love to hear your thoughts.

[Figment 07]

We have rain, but what we don't have is constant drizzle.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by noah

According to Weather.com Atlanta gets 13 inches more rain per year then Seattle. For those of you who live there, does it seem that bad (if your not crazy about rain) or does it come quick and then go away. As someone considering moving to Atlanta I would love to hear your thoughts.

It's completely different here.

In Seattle there are a lot of "drizzle days" where it's gray with a light drizzle/rain all day, day after day, etc. Just a bit south in Portland it's similar, etc.

In Atlanta we have what some weather men like to call "rain events". You'll have several days of sun, or a week or more, and then the "event" will occur; storm system that forms around Texas, is fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and just completely blankets most of the Southeast with a constant rain for the entire day, or in some cases, two days. It's not entirely unheard of to get 3-4 inches of rain during these "events". Then it clears up and you don't see rain again for a while. In the summer there is always on the news maps a 20% chance of evening rain as daily heat and humidity build up and may cause "pop-up" showers to appear suddenly, with little accumulation (similar to the stuff they get in parts of Florida).

If you don't have pets it's not an issue. I have three large dogs so when a rain "event" hits it's a pain in the ass, as every time they go out to use the bathroom they come in soaked after 15 seconds out there, and you'll again have to deal with it for the whole day or two.

So yeah, many people are surprised when they find out that overall we do get more rain than the NW, but it just hits here heavier and all at once as opposed to drizzled and spread out.

[dlh891]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

It's completely different here.

In Seattle there are a lot of "drizzle days" where it's gray with a light drizzle/rain all day, day after day, etc. Just a bit south in Portland it's similar, etc.

In Atlanta we have what some weather men like to call "rain events". You'll have several days of sun, or a week or more, and then the "event" will occur; storm system that forms around Texas, is fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and just completely blankets most of the Southeast with a constant rain for the entire day, or in some cases, two days. It's not entirely unheard of to get 3-4 inches of rain during these "events". Then it clears up and you don't see rain again for a while. In the summer there is always on the news maps a 20% chance of evening rain as daily heat and humidity build up and may cause "pop-up" showers to appear suddenly, with little accumulation (similar to the stuff they get in parts of Florida).

If you don't have pets it's not an issue. I have three large dogs so when a rain "event" hits it's a pain in the ass, as every time they go out to use the bathroom they come in soaked after 15 seconds out there, and you'll again have to deal with it for the whole day or two.

So yeah, many people are surprised when they find out that overall we do get more rain than the NW, but it just hits here heavier and all at once as opposed to drizzled and spread out.

This is the best explanation I have heard about the rain. I recently moved here from Florida and am used to the afternoon rain, but here it doesn't rain for an hour, it rains for a day! I have two 100 pound dogs and they trash my house every time a 'rain event' happens. I am trying to find someone to put some kind of large covered deck out for them as there aren't too many houses with lanai's like Florida.

Thank you for the simple explanation, it's hard to describe to someone.

[marymel]

Wow, that's so accurate! I think weathermen on TV should be out of a job, because this description is about it. I like Georgia's "rain events" - they are over pretty quickly and then the sun comes out. You know if you've had sunny days for a week that some rain should be on it's way. The fronts move so predictably, except when a FL hurricane causes counter-rotation. I don't really think of GA as a rainy state, but if you go out west and then come back to a Georgian spring/summer with all lush vegetation, I guess that's a pretty big hint that we get a lot of rain.

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

It's completely different here.

In Seattle there are a lot of "drizzle days" where it's gray with a light drizzle/rain all day, day after day, etc. Just a bit south in Portland it's similar, etc.

In Atlanta we have what some weather men like to call "rain events". You'll have several days of sun, or a week or more, and then the "event" will occur; storm system that forms around Texas, is fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and just completely blankets most of the Southeast with a constant rain for the entire day, or in some cases, two days. It's not entirely unheard of to get 3-4 inches of rain during these "events". Then it clears up and you don't see rain again for a while. In the summer there is always on the news maps a 20% chance of evening rain as daily heat and humidity build up and may cause "pop-up" showers to appear suddenly, with little accumulation (similar to the stuff they get in parts of Florida).

If you don't have pets it's not an issue. I have three large dogs so when a rain "event" hits it's a pain in the ass, as every time they go out to use the bathroom they come in soaked after 15 seconds out there, and you'll again have to deal with it for the whole day or two.

So yeah, many people are surprised when they find out that overall we do get more rain than the NW, but it just hits here heavier and all at once as opposed to drizzled and spread out.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

In Atlanta we have what some weather men like to call "rain events". You'll have several days of sun, or a week or more, and then the "event" will occur; storm system that forms around Texas, is fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and just completely blankets most of the Southeast with a constant rain for the entire day, or in some cases, two days. It's not entirely unheard of to get 3-4 inches of rain during these "events". Then it clears up and you don't see rain again for a while. In the summer there is always on the news maps a 20% chance of evening rain as daily heat and humidity build up and may cause "pop-up" showers to appear suddenly, with little accumulation (similar to the stuff they get in parts of Florida).

What a good explanation! :-) Thank you!

We moved down here from Minneapolis, and the Atlanta area gets roughly twice as much rain during the year as we did up there (50" here versus 25" or so up there), but the main differences I've noticed are (1) the length of the rainstorms here (which explains the sizable rain gutters one sees everywhere), and (2) the fact that the pop-up storms you mention are almost completely unpredictable.

In Minnesota, you can usually see the storms coming a day or more in advance. Usually a storm front marches slowly across the Dakotas, slowly gathers strength as it crosses western and central Minnesota, arrives in the Twin Cities with a respectable amount of force, and then moves on eastward to spawn all kinds of tornadoes and havoc once it crosses the Wisconsin border.

That sometimes happens here (slow-moving fronts marching into the area from the west of northwest), but on hot humid days the storms will sometimes just appear out of nowhere. Pop, whoosh! :-) It's fun to watch the time-lapse doppler radar -- the atmophere looks like it's bubbling. :-)

Being a weatherman in Atlanta is a lot more work, methinks.

[ashvinkpatel]

Hi,I am planning to move Atlanta from Minneapolis. I hate snow, below zero temp and mudy road during snow. Any suggestion ?

[JPD]

Originally Posted by ashvinkpatel

Hi,I am planning to move Atlanta from Minneapolis. I hate snow, below zero temp and mudy road during snow. Any suggestion ?

We don't have any of those things in Atlanta, so you have nothing to worry about.

Every few years we'll get a really nasty ice storm, though. Fortunately, those rarely last more than a few days.

[Mooktheoriginal]

Originally Posted by ashvinkpatel

Hi,I am planning to move Atlanta from Minneapolis. I hate snow, below zero temp and mudy road during snow. Any suggestion ?

Probably once every 10 years does the temperature get around 0 and the snow doesn't stick around on the roads very long, not for longer than a couple of days if that.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by noah

According to Weather.com Atlanta gets 13 inches more rain per year then Seattle. For those of you who live there, does it seem that bad (if your not crazy about rain) or does it come quick and then go away. As someone considering moving to Atlanta I would love to hear your thoughts.

Rain comes in 2 forms in Atlanta. We have "winter rain"- actually I think we get most of our rain in the winter. Winter rain is rain that goes on and on and on- all day for 2 or 3 days. Frequently it is cold rain and makes you miserable until it leaves.
Then we have summer rain. It rains very rarely from March through October but when it does rain, it usually comes in the form of storms that dump 3 inches of rain in an hour sometimes- where as in the winter, you get the same 3 inches but it occurs over 3 whole days.