Weather Wise
Like much of the rest of the country, we’ve had strange weather here in the Pacific Northwest this year … late spring snows, large temperature fluctuations from day to day, overcast and rainy weather one day, then sunny and warm weather the next. The seasons seem confused.
Some might say this sounds normal; after all, the Pacific Northwest has a reputation as a rainy, cold place. But is that reputation deserved? Overall, the average rainfall here is only 65 inches a year (although the Olympic foothills do get just a bit more rain: 135 inches annually – they don’t call it the rain forest for nothing!) And in the months of July and August (and sometimes September), we usually have a bit of a seasonal drought, with very little rain falling.
And as far as temperatures go, the weather here is, in a word, moderate. It rarely gets below 10 degrees Fahrenheit in winter, or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. And those are the extremes. We’re much more likely to see temperatures in the 30-50 degree range in winter, and in the 60-85 degree range in summer. (Hat tip: weather statistics are from the Shelton-Mason County Journal’s 2008 Visitor’s Guide)
I recently met two different women who had moved here from the southern United States. The first woman told me she planned to move back to the South. “It’s just too cold. I’ve been here for two years and I’m freezing all the time!” she explained. The second woman told me she loved it here and would never move back to the South. “I just called my mama and she told me it was 98 degrees in Alabama. She sounded miserable. I told her it was 68 degrees here and beautiful. I’ll never go back to the South.”
As they say, different strokes for different folks. I guess everybody has their own idea of perfection. But in my opinion, it’s hard to beat the natural beauty and moderate climes of the Pacific Northwest. After all, if we had only dry, warm weather here, we wouldn’t have all the beautiful green trees and meadows, or the stunning snow-clad mountains to enjoy.
