Seattle Weather: ‘the Rain Stays Mainly in the Plain’

I’m just plain tired of the stereotypes about Seattle weather. Ask your typical American what the first thing is that comes to mind when you say “Seattle” and, you guessed it, the answer is “rain.” Well, guess what? Seattle gets about the same amount of rain as New York. If you don’t believe me, check out the facts in the chart below.

Seattle had an extraordinary summer (we’re still in the middle of it, actually). We had a record 62 days in a row of 70 degree plus days. Many of those days were above 80 and a few were over 90. One day, we set a record of 96 F! Doesn’t sound like Seattle, you say? Maybe you need to make some adjustments to your first imressions of Seattle. While our weather this summer was unusually hot, I maintain that every summer here is gorgeous. Very little rain falls in summer (from July through October). The sun shines most days and often from sunrise to sunset. There is very little humidity and only a few days of rain through the entire season. In fact, I prefer a Seattle summer over almost any other climate in the U.S.

Our rain when it falls is usually fine and steady. It almost never pelts like the monsoon rains I remember back in NYC. Most of our rain is packed into the months from November-June with very little during the summer. Sure, winters here can be dreary (though the past few have been gorgeously sunny by comparison with other winters). Rain is consistent and sometimes constant and there isn’t enough sun for my taste. But our temperatures rarely go below 40 F in winter. That’s more than can be said for all of you living back East or in the Midwest.

Seattle-New York Weather Chart

So I guess what I’m saying is be better informed about Seattle and its weather before you go bashing us for never having sun and always having rain. It’s just plain false-advertising.