Tacoma Winters (Seattle, Olympia: live, activities, radio)

[Glassmonkey]

Im new to the Tacoma area I just recently moved here from southern Oklahoma and winters there are cold and super windy. Can someone give a little info on what to expect during the winter in Tacoma.

[Andy]

Wet, dark, and cold. We just entered into the rainy season which will last into Spring. It will get colder and the days will get shorter as winter approaches. We'll have a few cold snaps where it gets below freezing, but snowfall is not common. Be sure to get some good rain gear.

[Glassmonkey]

Thanks for the info Andy so are icey roads a problem and are there any freak snow storms from time to time or is snow not really a big factor at all in the Tacoma area?

[Sandy Nelson]

Snow is not a big factor. The winters are generally mild and rainy. Snow is an occasial occurence and ususally doesn't stick around long.

[Andy]

But when it does snow, this area tends to freak out. Any sizable snowfall will shut down the city. We get one of those every few years.

Icy roads are a more common occurrence. We will have occasional cold snaps that will ice things up, but it will usually melt away during the day. The local news on TV and radio do a good job reporting when roads are icy. Despite all of this, temperature wise, our winters are quite mild. Mostly drizzling rain.

[pw72]

Tacoma is statistically about the same as Seattle, but perhaps slightly warmer with slightly less snow. Key word: slightly. On rare occasions where cold air moves down from Western British Columbia, every mile south can be slightly warmer, with the exception of Olympia, which seems to be in a colder zone during the winter.

[Sobefobik]

I remember a few years back when I lived in downtown Tacoma and we got about 4-5 inches of snow. I loved it! But they had to close all the streets down because you simply can't drive on those steep hills when there's snow on them. The other posters are right, though, that this doesn't really happen that often, and when it does it usually melts the same day.

EXPECT to get a lot of drizzly, cloudy days. It's annoying as heck, but you can still do all the normal activities. The temperatures are mild, so don't worry about that too much. Sometimes it gets below freezing for a few days, but that's usually only a few days a year.