One last thing. You've all mentioned that it does occasionally snow
here. Does anyone have a ballpark figure for how often that occurs? The
reason I'm asking is that one of the apartments I'm looking at in
Bellevue is at the top of a rather steep hill. If it snows a lot or ices
up on a regular basis in the winter, my car is definitely going to have
trouble with that slope. Is that something I should be concerned about,
or is it a rare enough occurrence that I shouldn't worry too much
about it?
Thanks again,
Rohit Patnaik
On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:55 PM, Rohit Patnaik <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Wow, so many good responses from everyone. This thread has
definitely been useful in helping to reduce the guesswork in
preparing for winter. Now I'm really looking forward to meeting you
all in person in September.
Thanks again,
Rohit Patnaik
On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 6:52 PM, Mike Orr <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Randolph:
> Anything that doesn't get dried will stay wet through the
winter and, probably start growing mold.
Keep furniture and boxes an inch away from walls That'll prevent
trapped moisture and mold from growing behind them.
According to my friend who's a third-generation Seattlite, in
the
1950s there were routinely 5' snows every year. I've never
seen more
than 1', once in the 70s, once in the 80s, then not for a
long time
until 2008 and 2010 (or give or take a year, whenever the
snowpocolypses were).Some years it snows for an hour or two
and is
gone. Some years there's a couple inches on the ground for a
week, but
it's always gone in three weeks. Temperatures hover around 32
degrees, so it melts in the daytime and refreezes in the
evening and
causes trecherous ice. That's why there are so many car
accidents and
thus why most people stay home when it's on the ground. Seattle
never
had snowplows until recently and it still only has a few. Both
snowpocolypses led to the non-reelection of the mayors, so
there's now
a street map and transit map of which streets will be plowed.
So on
Capitol Hill here, it's Pine Street and Broadway.
Temperatures may get down to the 20s or 10s for a day or two,
but not
for several days. The ocean winds keep the temperature
stable. One
interesting phenomenon is that the ocean winds drop all their
rain and
snow on the west side of the mountain ranges, so the east
sides are
unusually dry and warm. This occurs on both the Olympics and the
Cascades and the Bitterroots. Seattle is kind of medium in
terms of
storms/rain/snow because the winds are partially diverted
around it
through Everett and I think Olympia-ish. Portland gets cold
winds
from the east through the Columbia River Gorge gap in the
Cascades.
For summers, you're experiencing it. The northwest has been
described
as the land of the long Springs and Falls. The sun comes out
intermittently in late May and becomes more reliable in mid-July
till
the end of August. It may last intermittently through
September and
October up until just before Thanksgiving. So the farmers'
markets are
generally open May-November.
Winters expect rain or clouds most days, with occasional
clear cold
days that may last for a half-week or a week. In December and
January
the sun comes up after 8am and goes down before 5pm, so
you're going
to work and back in the dark.
--
Mike Orr <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
