Comparing living in Seattle (Eastside) or Silicon Valley (SFBay Area): Part 2 (Weather)
Continuing the thread comparing living in Seattle (Eastside aka Bellevue-Redmond-Kirkland) versus Silicon Valley (San Francisco Bay Area aka Mountain View-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara-San Jose)
3. Weather. Advantage: Bay area
This is a no brainer, but there is more to the rain city than is immediately obvious.
Seattle:
Here is what weather is in Seattle and around is like,
- 3 months of summer with most weeks with highs in 80s and some in 90s (F),
- 4 months of winter with most weeks with lows of 30s-40s and highs of around 55, the winter months have also a lot of rain (imagine downpour India style on many days)
- 5 months with mild temperature (50-65 range) with a fair chance of showers or clouds for most of the days.
Finally the nights are longer in winter (sunset at 3 pm for many months) and days are longer in summer (light till 9:30 pm.) And what does the weather imply.
- Winter: With the rain and low temperatures, most people stay indoors. Since it is in the 40s F in the evenings, a single fleece jacket is not enough and the car steering wheel is so cold, you need gloves. Forget about evening walks. The daylight(note, not sunlight) is about 8 AM-3 PM(7 hours) and there is lot of rain. In 2005, there was 30+ days on continous rain, that meant no sun at all for all of those days. And it snows maybe for 5-10 days which brings life to a standstill for typically a day or two. The overall winter weather does have a negative impact on general mood and energy.
- Summer: The days are warm and people tend to enjoy it like Bay area people enjoy winter. Run away to holiday spots, enjoy it while it last. The daylight(and mostly sunlight) increases to 6 AM-9:30 PM(15.5 hours.) The hottest time is from 5-8 pm and due to the late heat, it also means if you have no A/C houses cool down by 11 pm.
- Other impact: The weather does has some good impact. The area is overall pretty green partially due to zoning and other building laws, but also due to the rain. There are lots of hiking areas, very close by. There are 7+or so areas within 5 miles of our house and 50+ within 20 miles in just one direction (I-90 towards Snoqualmie where the Alpine lakes area is) There is 1 skiing area within 45 minutes and 2-3 within couple of hours. The rest of months have that beautiful NorthWest mornings with the mist in the Evergreen trees which is breathtaking.
The last word on Seattle “non weather” from the fabulous Seattle PI cartoonist David Horsey:
Bay area:
Soon my memory of bay area weather will fade away even more, but here is what I remember:
- Summer: 6 months of summer with mostly highs in 80-90s F, every 2 years or so, there is a hot spell which means 5-10 days of 100-105 F. Sunset at around 8 pm.
- Winter: 3 months of winter with some weeks with lows of 40s, rest of time with 50s. Minor showers for maybe 30 days, sundown at 4 pm.
Summary:
One can say Seattle has all seasons in proper intensity, while the Bay area has more of a long summer. Spring and autumn come to both area with great colors.
An analogy comes to mind of having a life with multiple phases(happiness, sadness and everything in between) or with one dominant phase(happiness with only little of rest.) An argument can be the former gives a more allround experience, while the latter gives a fun only experience. And that is the choice.
One does has to get used to the varied ups and downs on weather in Seattle and make peace with their reduced lifestyle and take the gifts of the region in return.
Image sources:
Seattle PI for the cartoon, Joseph Robertson for the NorthWest Mist and Ian Fuller for the Santa Clara Library & Park.
The other article in this series:
