Pacific Northwest for Retirement / Adjusting to the Weather?

[try2bfrugal]

I noticed many positive comments about living in Oregon and Washington in the recent thread on where people live. I think Oregon would be a perfect retirement spot for us except I am not sure about the rain. If I'd moved to Oregon directly from the Midwest and traded snow for rain, I am sure I'd love it. But I am not sure about moving from some place where it is sunny and warm most days.

I do like the home prices in Oregon and I am sure I would love the scenery and outdoor activities. But I am just not sure if I could get used to the weather.

For those of you who enjoy the Pacific Northwest, did you move from a sunny or desert climate? Was it difficult to adjust?

[JaneV2.0]

It's less rainy east of the Cascades, where there is lots of high desert. A lot of people like the Bend, Oregon area. And in a NW corner of Washington, there's Sequim, which is dry much of the year.

[lhamo]

I am a native PNWerner, so don't know what it is like for people moving to Western WA or OR. Having spent much of my life there, though, I can say that the period between November-March is the rainiest/greyest/darkest and probably the time of the year that most non-natives have the hardest time adjusting to. Dec-Feb can be particularly challenging, with limited daylight, everpresent cloud cover, and a lot of not very nice weather. BUT, that being said, at least a few times every winter a high pressure system will roll in and you'll get a few days of BRILLIANT sun. Mt. Rainier looks like a snowcone -- if you can get a glimpse of it at sunrise or sunset, it makes the whole drizzly winter worthwhile.

mid-July-early October typically have much less rain. There can be stretches of several weeks when it doesn't rain at all. Summer temperatures rarely get over 90 F, and when it is that hot it is dry -- no hot humid weather in the Seattle area at least.

[Rosemary]

We have family in both the Portland metro area and in Bend. I love Portland - it is one of my very favorite U.S. cities. The metro area is quite expensive, has a lot of traffic, and receives a lot of rain from about October through May. For those reasons, I probably would not select it as a retirement location. Bend is a small city and, as noted above, at the edge of where high desert meets the Cascades. It has everything our relatives need and they really like it (they moved there for retirement). The summer days can get quite hot, and the dry climate takes some adjustment particularly in summer, if one has not lived in desert before. The main drawback of Bend that I see is that it is costly to travel to/from, because of the small airport (in Redmond). There is a shuttle van that goes to/from PDX, which is a slighly less expensive airport to travel to/from.

[AmeliaJane]

I have a lot of family in Oregon and Washington. The description of Portland applies to Seattle also. You might also look at eastern Washington if you aren't extremely location-focused--Oregon has been wrestling with tax issues for years that have affected the budget for libraries, parks, schools, etc. The above posters are correct that eastern and western Washington and Oregon are amazing different climate-wise. The high desert gets very hot in the summer (I spent a summer there and didn't mind it because it actually is comfortable at night and in the shade) and colder in the winter. Some people find the snow and cold too much for them in winter (Bend is a ski town) but my New England born family find it moderate compared to Maine or Vermont.

[try2bfrugal]

Thanks for all the comments. We are still searching for our ultimate, ideal retirement location. We have thought of Oregon with a condo some place warmer and sunnier in the winter as a possibility.

In retirement our Social Security and pension income will be the same no matter where we live, so financially it makes sense to live some place lower cost and Oregon fits the bill on that front. Maybe the rain and cooler temps would be refreshing.

Yesterday it was over 100 degrees here in Northern Cal. My coconut oil turned to liquid inside the house because the room temperature was above its melting point.

[bae]

People from California won't like the weather here. It's always foggy, rainy, and windy. Moss grows on your shoes when you walk down the street. The locals all smell funny, and eat odd foods.

Best to move to a warmer place. Trust me.

:-)

[JaneV2.0]

Californians. They always want to pull up the drawbridge after they get here.

[bae]

Californians. They always want to pull up the drawbridge after they get here.

I was born in Maine. I just couldn't convince The Family that a windswept rocky island in the Atlantic was The Plan, so we compromised on here :-)

Plus, we have no drawbridge to my PNW location. I just changed the county code to forbid cross-ocean bridges, and the bridge over on the mainland just got destroyed by an oversized truck.

Neener :-)

[redfox]

I was born in Maine. I just couldn't convince The Family that a windswept rocky island in the Atlantic was The Plan, so we compromised on here :-)

Plus, we have no drawbridge to my PNW location. I just changed the county code to forbid cross-ocean bridges, and the bridge over on the mainland just got destroyed by an oversized truck.

Neener :-)

LOL!!

It is possible to live affordably in the PNW, though perhaps not in Seattle. Some of the smaller burgs, like Mt. Vernon, Bellingham (nice proximity to the Canadian border), Lacey (proximate to Tacoma), and other south King County towns, still with access to the Big City amenities. Bremerton, across the water via ferry, is nice. Burien, just south of Seattle, is an amazing little progressive town with a very forward thinking Mayor, great community theatre, and an easy jaunt into Seattle.

I LOVE the weather! As a gardener, the cool rainy days are fantastic for growing food. Not so much corn, tomatoes, eggplants,etc. More like greens, peas, strawberries, pippin & stone fruits, raspberries. We have a maritime climate, and what thrives in England will thrive here. We have access to islands, mountains, and desert all in under two hours drive. It's a beautiful place.

Come visit. Come in early - mid September to fall in love, and again in February to make sure you can weather the dark times. It rarely snows, rarely freezes, rarely gets too hot. Nothing to shovel in the winter! Many folks wear Birkenstocks year round here... I love it.