Western or Eastern? I Need Help Deciding Where to Move in Washington ! (Seattle: sales, houses)

[Lovezkaybaybe]

Okay so I'm currently living in Long Beach, California, and I want a scenery change. I've lived in California for 15 years and Arizona for 2 so I'm getting really tired of the heat !. I moved to Kentucky for about 6 months but I couldn't take all the tornadoes and stuff over there, and I read that Washington is cold and rainy but doesn't have many hurricanes or tornadoes which is great !! I want to be in a place where its cold/rainy/&snowy because I love that type of weather, I just don't want to be smothered by it so i would like to have all four seasons but not where summer is extremely hot like it is out here. So basically what I'm looking for is a diverse place to live in a city with a lot of big amenities, I'm originally from Los Angeles, so I want to be in a city with lots to do, and public transportation, friendly, and safe. I would really like to gather a lot of information before I take a trip out there so I would know where to go to look at houses and things like that. Please! Please! someone help me who lives or have lived in western and eastern Washington !

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Lovezkaybaybe

Okay so I'm currently living in Long Beach, California, and I want a scenery change. I've lived in California for 15 years and Arizona for 2 so I'm getting really tired of the heat !. I moved to Kentucky for about 6 months but I couldn't take all the tornadoes and stuff over there, and I read that Washington is cold and rainy but doesn't have many hurricanes or tornadoes which is great !! I want to be in a place where its cold/rainy/&snowy because I love that type of weather, I just don't want to be smothered by it so i would like to have all four seasons but not where summer is extremely hot like it is out here. So basically what I'm looking for is a diverse place to live in a city with a lot of big amenities, I'm originally from Los Angeles, so I want to be in a city with lots to do, and public transportation, friendly, and safe. I would really like to gather a lot of information before I take a trip out there so I would know where to go to look at houses and things like that. Please! Please! someone help me who lives or have lived in western and eastern Washington !

You should do your research. Western WA is the more "cold and rainy" side, whereas Eastern WA does get hot in the summer, being more on the Desert/dry side. You're more likely to experience snow in Eastern Wa than Western Wa which normally rains a lot and has the humidity to make it feel colder.

"Diverse place, City with lots of big amenities... and public transportation, friendly and safe" That's pretty much the Seattle area. Other cities in WA does not have as much amenities, public transit, et. c to offer-- but may still fit you. You'd have to visit the city to see if it fits. Other cities to check out: Bellingham, Spokane. Vancouver is a Portland suburb... in which perhaps you could include on your list.

[sll3454]

You have the right question. West or east is a good starting place. Here are comparisons of average/record lows/highs and average precipitation:

Seattle and Spokane (Ignore the "Mount Vernon.")
Climatology Comparison for Mount Vernon, WA - weather.com

Long Beach and Spokane
Climatology Comparison for Mount Vernon, WA - weather.com

Long Beach and Seattle
Climatology Comparison for Mount Vernon, WA - weather.com


Summer in Spokane is as hot as in Los Angeles. It just doesn't go on and on and on and on, and it doesn't visit in January. Of course there are other possibilities besides Seattle and Spokane; I just picked one western city and one eastern.

I suggest you do a lot of reading in the different Washington subforums to get some ideas and to refine your questions.

[Hemlock140]

Spokane is the only eastern WA city large enough for the amenities you want, and while the summer heat period is shorter than S CA it does have 4 seasons but also much more snow than W WA. In W Wa Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and to a lesser extent Vancouver and Bellingham are the larger cities with amenities but have less of a 4 season feel and rain over more months of the year. Of those, I agree that Vancouver is a good choice as it's right across the bridge from Portland with more amenities and no sales tax. We have fall color and spring sprouting here but the weather can be much the same from late October through late May. That is, sold and wet, with a chance of snow. We normally get snow 2-4 times a year and doesn't always stick, but we have gotten enough to cause havoc with commutes as late as April.

[NW-to-SE]

Western Washington gets very little snow. You have a short summer without too much heat. The fall is cloudy, windy, rainy, but beautiful with the scenery. The winters can vary from VERY cold (think 17 degrees and a windchill making it colder) and dry, to 50 degrees and rainy for 4 months straight. Very little snow, and when it does snow, it's either VERY cold at the same time, making it pretty but hard to go out in, or just a sprinkling of snow. Some years it doesn't snow at all. Spring is rain, rain, rain that can last until the beginning of July, with just a few sunny days sprinkled throughout. You get four seasons, but they're not all enjoyable.

Eastern Washington gets a lot more snow, and a lot more heat. Less rain. The fall starts later and the temperatures are warmer than in Western WA. The winters are colder more regularly, and the snow sticks around much longer. The spring can be wet, but since you're on the other side of the mountains, you get less rain than Western WA. Summer starts earlier and lasts longer- with much higher temps on a regular basis.

Better seasons? Eastern WA. Better weather? Eastern WA. But I don't like living in Eastern WA because there just isn't a lot to do! I don't love any of the cities in Eastern WA... If you have a choice, I'd much rather live in the Portland area of Oregon.

[OGTSO]

Originally Posted by Lovezkaybaybe

Okay so I'm currently living in Long Beach, California, and I want a scenery change. I've lived in California for 15 years and Arizona for 2 so I'm getting really tired of the heat !. I moved to Kentucky for about 6 months but I couldn't take all the tornadoes and stuff over there, and I read that Washington is cold and rainy but doesn't have many hurricanes or tornadoes which is great !! I want to be in a place where its cold/rainy/&snowy because I love that type of weather, I just don't want to be smothered by it so i would like to have all four seasons but not where summer is extremely hot like it is out here. So basically what I'm looking for is a diverse place to live in a city with a lot of big amenities, I'm originally from Los Angeles, so I want to be in a city with lots to do, and public transportation, friendly, and safe. I would really like to gather a lot of information before I take a trip out there so I would know where to go to look at houses and things like that. Please! Please! someone help me who lives or have lived in western and eastern Washington !

I moved to Spokane, Wa from Orange, Ca in January 2010. I had a job lined up here before I moved. Spring is nice around here. Fall is also pretty nice. Summer can get hot, but it always cools off substantially at night. Winter is a little rough. It is one thing to go skiing in the mountains and say you can handle snow. It different to live and drive in snow/ice for 4-6 months straight every day. I am getting acclimated to Winters here slowly, but it is a slow process. The hardest part is that you never know if it is going to snow a little or a ton. The weather forecasters have no idea either and are no help. Overall I am happy I moved to Spokane and do not regret the move.

[xboxmas]

If you are tired of the heat, then I wouldn't recommend Eastern Washington. It isn't uncommon to have many days in a row in the summer with 100+ temperatures. I personally like the hot weather, but I think the Western Washington weather sounds more like what you are looking for. Seattle sounds like what you are looking for-Spokane is nice, but it lacks diversity big time.

[PS90]

I would agree with all the posts above. It sounds like Seattle may be your best fit. The one thing that I would like to point out, however, is that you mentioned wanting to experience four seasons - and it is sometimes hard to derive something like that from weather charts and figures.

To me, Western WA doesn't really have four seasons at all. I lived on that side of the state for 5 years, and found that I really missed spring and fall. You get a nice, not-overly-hot, short summer and then a long wet season that has fairly minimal temperature changes. There will be a lot of days in January, for example, in which the high and low temperature vary less than 5 degrees. Furthermore, I think the average low in January is only a couple of degrees lower than the average low in October.

Eastern WA, on the other hand, has four distinct seasons. I'm not sure if that's good or bad for you, since you also mentioned that you didn't like the heat. Although the specifics differ depending on where you are in Eastern WA, everywhere on that side of the state is going to get hotter than Western WA, and will also get much colder and snowier - but you also get a very nice (although often short) spring and fall.

[NW-to-SE]

I think "heat" is all relative, though. My husband is from California, and the heat here in WA (East or West) is nothing like the heat in California or (GAH!) Arizona. My sister moved from WA to Arizona, and yes- that's some heat! Sure, you get more heat in Eastern WA than in Western, but it's not 117 degrees of desert heat.

[restless in woodland wa]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

You should do your research. Western WA is the more "cold and rainy" side, whereas Eastern WA does get hot in the summer, being more on the Desert/dry side. You're more likely to experience snow in Eastern Wa than Western Wa which normally rains a lot and has the humidity to make it feel colder.

"Diverse place, City with lots of big amenities... and public transportation, friendly and safe" That's pretty much the Seattle area. Other cities in WA does not have as much amenities, public transit, et. c to offer-- but may still fit you. You'd have to visit the city to see if it fits. Other cities to check out: Bellingham, Spokane. Vancouver is a Portland suburb... in which perhaps you could include on your list.

i have no idea why you Inkpoe and so many others on here always want to refere to vancover as a suburb of portland when this is not the deal are the thruth.
instead the truth is that vancouver is acutaly fairly large city of its owen in the state of wa as well as it has allot of derveristly like seattle as well as it has an up comming down town full of derversity like seatle.
vancover also has a pretty thriving night life now days.
further more or has its owen suburbs as does wa so there is no need for people to keep saying vancover is a suburb of or when it is not.
with this sad i agree on seattle for the west side and spokane for the east side to answer the o.p.s question.
lastly i understand we all are owen opionion and this is just fine and i have no problems with this.
restless in woodland wa
instead thruth is vancover is not a suburb of portland.
instead or state has its owen smaller towns that are suburds of portland