Can a midwest girl survive and thrive in Seattle?

[Biciclista]

considering how many different walks of life we have in Seattle, including people from dozens of different countries, I find it really tough to swallow that Seattle is not a friendly place. coming here from NYC, you will find us downright smarmy; but if you live in a town of 2000 i'm sure you'll find us a bit chillier, since we don't know your name. Having said that, i've been to plenty of small towns that treated me like I had a scarlet letter on my forehead.

Many people that move to Seattle give up after a year. They can't take our grey dark days, and they really miss "a real" summer. I've seen many people come and go. And some of course, stay.

[ilima]

The thought of a dreary Seattle winter sends shivers down this native Clevelander's spine.

Yes, the summers are glorious in the PNW. But there are plenty of places that have wonderful summers without a sunless, gray winter.

[salsabike]

That's what makes this all interesting. I don't find Seattle winters in the least dreary--I find the weather pretty energizing. And it really isn't "sunless". It's grey often, but sunny days get interspersed in there. I like it a little cool, and I hate humid heat and relentless sun. So it's all pretty idiosyncratic---one person's dreary is another's pleasure.

[dex]

I moved to Seattle from Tennessee *because* of the weather. I like cool, grey, misty/rainy days. And I love sunny days that don't involve ridiculous heat or stifling humidity. Those two things make Seattle pretty much perfect for me, and after being here for almost nine years, now I can't imagine living anywhere else.

I don't think it's that Seattleites are "unfriendly" so much as they are a bit guarded and hard to get to know. It can be difficult to make really good friends here, but not necessarily difficult to make friendly acquaintances.

Also, to be completely fair, Seattle does have a reputation for having a ton of passive-aggressive people. (I'm socially stunted enough that I don't notice this very often, but I hear about it all of the time.)

[GLC1968]

I can't speak to Seattle, but I did just move to Portland from the east coast. For comparision sake, I've lived in the following places: Milwaukee (WI), Boston (MA), Lewiston (ME), Detroit (MI), Poconos (PA), Tampa (FL) and Greensboro (NC).

I was really afraid that the long rainy grey winter was going to do me in. In fact, I had long exchanges with everyone I could find who lived in this area before we moved here to pick their brains. I was worried.

I don't mind the cold and I hate heat. My husband loves heat and hates the cold. Portland was our compromise - not too hot for me in the summer, not too cold for him in the winter (except this year ). While I have heard that Seattle is a little more consistantly grey than Portland (I don't know if that's true or not) - it's really not that bad. Today, for example, is about 45 degrees and it is alternating between pouring rain and blazing sun about every 45 minutes or so. Yes, it rains, a lot. But, it's really not always overcast. The sun does shine in the winter. While you can't plan something like painting a house where you'll need a solid week of sun, you certainly can steal and hour of sun here or there. In fact, I was worried how our plants would work in the greenhouse, and they are kicking butt. There is plenty of sun...it's just not constant.

And yeah, the summers are spectacular. Truly mind-blowing.

I also have to say that the people here are WAY cooler/nicer/easy going than any other place I've lived. Maybe it's because I fit in with their style, but people here seem 120% less judgemental than other places I've lived.

We've been here a year this week....and we both LOVE it. Love it.

[ilima]

That's what makes this all interesting. I don't find Seattle winters in the least dreary--I find the weather pretty energizing. And it really isn't "sunless". It's grey often, but sunny days get interspersed in there. I like it a little cool, and I hate humid heat and relentless sun. So it's all pretty idiosyncratic---one person's dreary is another's pleasure.

Oh, yeah, definitely. When I lived in Montana I knew a woman from Alaska and she missed the really short days of winter. I thought she was crazy!

[salsabike]

Yeah, funny. During our winters, I don't really mind the grey. But I REALLY mind the short days. Just to entertain ourselves, a few years ago my best friend back in hometown Albany NY and I compared our winter solstice sunrise and sunset times (in deep winter, it's fun to quantify your suffering sometimes). And we found that Seattle's shortest day was over an hour shorter than Albany's, and that we're way farther north than upstate NY. Don't know why I never thought about that before. The upside is that our summer nights are really long--you can still see a little twilight at 10 pm in high summer. Love it.

[sgtiger]

I kept hearing about the thing that Seattlelites tend to be standoffish, but that's not been my experience. I was able to meet and get to know many cool folks there. There's definitely a broad range of the types of people in the area which IMO made it a fun place to be. I have Seattle friends that are very conservative and others who are anything but that. And of course, everything in between. It makes for some very interesting social gatherings.

As for the weather, for me, the overcast (With no rain BTW. I like rain!) days in the winter did seem to drag on. But we lived in a convergence zone so that may have been the difference. Comparing notes over the phone with friends, it always seemed like Downtown Seattle, the area south of it, and the area north of where we were had way fewer cloudy days. Also, the last two winters of the three we spent there were colder than normal from what I heard from long time residents. I do remember that the first winter we spent there was pleasant.

Politically the Pacific Northwest in general is a little weird. It's such a mixed bag of views that sometimes things do take forever to get resolved. A bill may pass one election and get repealed the next. Seattle, in my experience, is probably the worst so I do agree with what tc1 mentioned earlier.

[salsabike]

considering how many different walks of life we have in Seattle, including people from dozens of different countries, I find it really tough to swallow that Seattle is not a friendly place. coming here from NYC, you will find us downright smarmy; but if you live in a town of 2000 i'm sure you'll find us a bit chillier, since we don't know your name. Having said that, i've been to plenty of small towns that treated me like I had a scarlet letter on my forehead.

Actually, many of us transplanted New Yorkers also find Seattleites to be somewhat reserved. I consider New Yorkers to, in general, be friendlier--by my definition of friendly. Polite (Seattle) and friendly are not really the same. However, that said, I have made many good friends here, and I think people everywhere are friendly. They're just more reserved about it here in their approach. It's more of a style than substance difference, I think.

[papaver]

Seattle sounds like Belgium. Not too hot, not too cold... and sadly not too sunny either.

People get really depressed by the end of winter. And sometimes we don't even have a summer. But the advantage is, when it gets beautiful the people are really upbeat and happy...

[sundial]

As a former Texan, I'm gonna throw this out in light of the current state of affairs.

Texas has it's own power grid. They also refine oil. Some of the top medical researchers come from Texas. They can secede from the nation. They believe in gun rights. This is something you might want to keep in mind in determining where you will move to.

[cobalt]

We are thinking of going to Austin in July and renting bikes just to see what it's like at the hottest. Seems like a good plan.

We have 2 frequent flyers to try Seattle. Not sure when. Exciting stuff!

Thanks

[Aggie_Ama]

I think you eventually acclimate to the heat but remember we have sun 300 days a year. It was 85 in February, we have no winter and some northerners find this unbearable. August is actually more miserable than July some years.

[sundial]

August is actually more miserable than July some years.

August is the hottest month for us. Last year we had the dangerous heat (heat index of 120 F) in the first part of August.

[Biciclista]

Seattle average high temps and average rain

Month Avg High Temp Avg Rain (inches)
January ------46------- 6
February -----50------- 4
March-------- 53------- 4
April------- -- 58 ------- 2
May --------- 65 ------- 2
June --------- 69 ------- 1
July---------- 75 ----- 1
August ------ 74 ------ 1
September --- 69 ------ 2
October ----- 60 ------- 3
November---- 52 ----- -- 5
December ---- 47--------- 6