Thursday, April 07, 2011

I hate the weather here

I grew up in the greater Seattle area and I didn't mind it as a kid, but now I'm a bit annoyed by it. And what is "it" you ask? "It" is soggy weather.

It rains frequently in Seattle. You may have heard. But you may have also heard on Jeopardy or some smart-ass weatherman tell you that it really doesn't rain that much in Seattle and there are other areas of the country that get more rain. This point I won't argue.

Seattle doesn't get much accumulated rainfall but one area of rainfall I know we have everyone beat is in total hours of rainfall. It rains and drips and plops, drizzles, and showers...all different words for the same shitty weather. Seriously, it sucks.

It's been like this since November. Drizzly. Most of the time you're out in it and not even getting wet. It's just damp. Everything is constantly damp, all of the time. Little leagues and softball teams start off the season by postponing games and playing on infields with puddles. It's a bit warmer but always wet. Anything you do outside you do knowing that eventually you'll be cold and wet.

There is moss in the yard. Lots of it. The stuff is almost impossible to get rid of. If you do get rid of it in the spring you'll need to get rid of it again by the end of summer. It never totally goes away.

Intermittent wiper delay is a must in the Puget Sound region. It doesn't rain hard enough to justify having the wipers on before the windshield growls back at you as the moist blades drag across it. It's as if the wiper delay was designed by a Seattleite.

It's overcast almost all the time. No blue skies and almost no sun breaks. The winter drags on and drags you behind it. You sleepwalk through March and April and are greeted by hail storms and occasional snow flurries and more rain. Holy Crap more rain...you're sick of it but it just keeps coming down.

Then the first couple of warm sunny days arrive. High 60's and sun with blue skies and very few high clouds. The dreary skies and musty smells give way to great spring smells and you can actually hear birds. A sort of sun silliness takes over with all of the sunlight and you're tempted to forget what the last 7 months were like.

But I didn't forget. I remember what every last stupid soggy day was like. I remember all the days I wanted to do something but didn't want to wear a body condom to stay dry. If you say "The weather around here isn't all that bad really" I'm going to punch you in the face.

I'm waiting for the warm part of Spring and hoping that Summer will be warm and pleasant. If it's not then look out...I may be coming to a town near you.

2 comments:

lynda said...

i heard on the radio last night that it's been officially 6 weeks since seattle has had a true sunny day. not warm, but just sunny. february 19th, to be exact. today i think we might actually break that streak with blue skies, just in time for the mariners home opener. ;) they blamed it on el nino, nina? nino...but it is soooo depressing. but it's true, seattle gets less than two months of sunny days a year...why we are here...i suppose those <2 months are so freaking incredible we think "so this is why we live here..."

Gino said...

i was in seattle 6 months ago. the greyest 5 days i ever had. warm and humid, but still grey.
but i like overcast.

i may be back next month. :)