You were here during the annual summer drought. Come back in November and then see how you feel. Many people do not like the long periods of dull and damp.

Yes, and try slightly drier (and closer to Heaven) western Oregon next time.

Thank you. That's pretty much how I feel about it, too. :)

I am going to Portland, Oregon and Seattle again in late October. Still have a feeling I would not mind drizzle and cold as much. Will see...

Portland is both hotter and colder than Seattle. It gets blasted by cold air coming down the Columbia River during winter and is not right on a body of salt water, with its moderating influence. Summer days in the 90s are more usual than up here, and the coldest recorded Willamette Valley winters are subzero - quite a bit subzero, in the case of the Eugene area, down at the other end of the valley from Portland.

In 1988 we had 3 days in a row below zero here in Corvallis. On the other hand we usually do better with tomatoes than the Puget Sound region.

If my wife would move I'd be out of the NW in a microsecond. I've had enough of the 8-9 month gloom, about 40 years of it. Fourteen years in Kitsap County, Wa and the rest in Oregon.

this post is really bringing out the negative nellies.

Natalie4b, I'm glad you enjoyed your time here in WA! You visited at the best time of year and in an exceptional year, as well. This has been the nicest summer I've experienced here. We have long, long months of cold, dark, wet days but when the sun does come out, everything dazzles!

I was so impressed with the amount of flowers all around - personal homes, shopping centers, businesses - huge fresh gorgeous flower baskets, containers - so amazing! Almost every home had a garden, was so beautifully landscaped.
No humidity was also a gift, even though Seattle is surrounded by water.
I am sure it feels different in winter - will see. We are not ready to make a move just yet, though seriously considering.
Thank you all for your responses - I appreciate honesty and different perspectives.
~Natalie

I'm glad you enjoyed your time here too! I moved here four years ago after 50+ years living in Massachusetts, always within about 30 miles of the town where I was born. I always hated New England winters, but didn't want to give up 4-5 months of snow and ice in exchange for 8 months of the unbearable heat and unrelenting sun of the South, which for a long time I thought was my only option. Then I visited Washington about 7 years ago, and knew I had found home. I can live with another 50+ years of winter wet and gloom. We don't have to shovel rain in the winter, and we don't need air conditioning in summer. I hope you like it here in October too. Who knows? You may have found home too.

Even coming back from western Oregon you often encounter a dullness that sets in as you get a ways up into western Washington. But the same climate that subjects us to this condition also spares us having to live through the overbearing weather that dominates in pretty much all the rest of the country, including much of Oregon and most of California. No Amazonian or Saharan summers here, no Arctic winters, no typhoons or tornadoes. The biggest obvious general limiting factor is the lack of adequate rain during the peak of the growing season. You either have to plant kinds that are summer drought adapted or plan on watering regularly, indefinitely. Automatic irrigation systems are frequently installed on commercial jobs and anywhere else people are thinking about this, not wanting to drag hoses.

Good, Oregon will be getting a visit in October. Plus, our tomatoes will be ripe by then.

"this post is really bringing out the negative nellies."

Sorry to 'rain' on anyones parade or be 'gloomy' - LOL.

Some summers here (I live in Puyallup, a suburb of Seattle/Tacoma) actually aren't bone dry (although this one has been), I love it when we get rain off and on in the summer to give everything a good soaking, clean the air out, etc. Also it depends on where you are in the greater Seattle area re: how gloomy it is -- it can be socked in in Seattle and be sunny in Puyallup.

natalie4b--
So glad you enjoyed your visit! We moved up here from Los Angeles over 5 years ago, and, for us, it is perfect. Everything you said is what we continue to find. Yes, there are long periods of overcast, but there are "sunbreaks" which seem magical. Yes, people complain about the weather, but they complain about too much sun and heat as well as rain and clouds. However they don't let the weather keep them from doing what they want to get out and do.
And October is gorgeous here!

Toad_ca,
you made my day, and gave me hope!
Thank you so very much.

I've been to Georgia several times including two over week long trips in summer. The difference in humidity IS huge. However you guys have over 100 days over 80* and we have less than 20....multiply the October drizzle you may or may not experience by nine months and you'll know what the weather is like here....I fully agree it is gorgeous here but even as a native the weather kills me in spring. I can hardly stand April, May and June. Last two years we had about four dry days in March too.

I agree that if you are thinking of moving here, you should visit at all different times of year. But also recognize that we all have different tastes. My husband and I don't much care for anything over 75 (in fact, 70 is pushing it), love clouds, and spring is my favorite time of year here (as a gardener and as a person).

But we all know that amphibians like it damp.

I can't find a statistic for average number of 80-degree days per year in Portland, but manually counting in my records shows 36 such days even in cool summer years with few 90s. I suspect the average is at least 45, nearly 40 of those occurring in calendar summer.

Seattle sunshine from city data.com:

Portland also follows the Seattle June notch, that month being cloudier than May.

Except the above shows a marked upswing for the second half of June, that gets well above the levels reached in May.

Interesting that if the above line is followed this year we are now going to have a brighter period start, with the first half of September being sunnier than at any point in July-August.

Published on the Oregonian weather page today:

46 Portland 2012 days to date 80+. The yearly average is 55 days.

We moved here from the plains (Omaha - AKA "flyover country") 6 years ago. My finger and toe webs are now complete. I miss the rain in July and August, and September this year :( but I can't complain about the climate after experiencing "mid-continental" for 20 years. My only complaint is that tomatoes get ripe just before blight hits!

Kathy, if tomatoes issue the only problem - I can live with that :).

Natalie I couldn't agree with you more! I just wish you could talk to my wife about how wonderful it is here... lol.
Every time I go on vacation, I can't wait to get back to the beautiful temperate paradise that we call home. So unlike the dull brown wasteland that is most of the rest of the country.