Why Seattle should be a warm-weather resort town

Seattle is a balmy sunny subtropical paradise. Why? Seven reasons.

  1. Seattle gets less rain than Phoenix in July and August
  2. Seattle experiences warm tropical winds called the Pineapple Express
  3. Seattle has warmer winter lows than Atlanta, Georgia
  4. Seattle has never gone below 0F; even Florida has reached subzero temps!
  5. Seattle has reached 103F, hotter than Miami has ever experienced (100F)
  6. Seattle is only overcast 30% of the time during the summer, leaving many hours to enjoy the powerful tropical rays that make its lush palms flourish year round
  7. Banana trees, yo.

It is a balmy 45 degrees and raining hard, with local flood watches out, the usual suspect rivers are rising, and there are ducks afloat in my driveway. WTF are you talking about?

Those of us in cold weather climes don’t make a point of visiting warm weather resorts when it’s summer at home.

From Wiki “Many Pineapple Express events follow or occur simultaneously with major arctic troughs in the Northwestern United States, often leading to major snow-melt flooding with warm, tropical rains falling on frozen, snow laden ground.”
Ah a tourists dream. :smiley:

Atlanta isn’t exactly a warm weather resort. Key West for example averages higher lows than either average for winter highs. Now that’s a resort.

I don’t know anyone that has planned a winter getaway based on once in a century extremes. If they did, the second is still advantage Miami. After a certain point warmer is not better.

Screw Central America. I’m in! Can I get a little umbrella in my Run drink?

“Lush palms”? Where? Occasionally someone has one of those little stumpy things, but most of the time they’re half-dead.

Or 7/8th. My husband talked me into some “hardy” palms, aka the little stumpy things. I think one sends out a frond or two. They don’t like wet feet, and I’d rather waste my time transplanting madrones. (They die if their roots are disturbed. I actually have a 3 out of 4 success rate, by digging seedlings into those fiberish cups, them into degradable pots and those into the ground, maintaining their original orientation to the sun. This is more difficult than you might think, as transplanting time is in February. Which entity is rarely seen that month).

There might be some palms in the Arboretum.

Seattle could very easily become a warm-weather resort town and frankly I’m surprised it has yet to do so.

All you need to do is break off from Washington, float offshore about 20 miles, make a beeline to Central America to Panama, cross the canal (may need to inhale a bit to fit through), float up the Caribbean side of Central America to Cancun, head offshore through the Gulf to Cuba, then smoosh hard into Miami Beach. Bring plenty of sun protection; your cadaver-pale Seattle complexions will burn easily till you develop a base tan. And don’t talk your tree-hugger language down here—it’s all about boobs and blow here in the tropics.

We’ll rename your city, Florida’s French Tickler. :cool:

I run into Seattle-areaites on a garden forum who proselytize about how balmy the winters are (one referred to her location as the “sunbelt” - I guess the sun does continuously shine up there above the overcast and drenching rains).

From just a gardening standpoint it seems that the PNW climate is a mixed bag. You can grow some things with a subtropical heritage, but palms and other marginally hardy plants often do better in colder zones (in the Midwest etc.) that also have prolonged summer heat. It apparently has to do with building up enough sugars and such to allow the plant to survive over the winter.

Duck season!

Then again, there’s all those hipsters to consider…

Seattle in the summer is near perfect. I found winter visits to kinda suck.

In summary, visit Seattle in the summer. Unless you’re like, goth or some shit, and into dreariness and melancholy and whatnot.

ETA: please ignore the nonsensical subject line, which apparently is not editable. (why the hell not?)

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Stranger

Yep, this is the big misconception about Seattle. It doesn’t rain all the time. It only rains for 6 months straight during the winter. In summer it hardly ever rains. And when it rains it’s not pouring buckets. It’s almost always drizzle. Constant drizzle, for weeks at a time. During weather reports we have a special term that other places don’t–“scattered sunbreaks”. That means, it’s going to be cloudy for 98% of the day, but probably for 2% of the day you might catch a glimpse of blue sky before it goes back to cloudy. Every other place on earth would just call that “cloudy all day”.

I’m the proud owner of a genuine Seattle Stumpy Palm, 25 years old, that has reached 6’ high! It’s nearly ready to start fending for itself against the blackberries! I find it amusing that it also has moss growing on it, maybe that’s what’s meant by “lush palms”.

Lmao!

You missed a big one:

Seattle’s annual rainfall is 38 inches. That’s 44th on the list of major US cities.

Right. We don’t get more rain, we get rain longer. I’ve been in downpours in Florida that dumped more rain in five minutes than Seattle gets in a whole 12 hours of drizzle.

I was born in Seattle, but was moved to Texas (against my will) as a baby. My mother was born and raised in Seattle, and I grew up hearing from her that Washington was “God’s Country”.

I’ve been back in the Seattle area for five years now, and happy as a clam. Summers are glorious. The rain, as everyone has said, is just drizzle most of the time. People don’t use umbrellas (that screams tourist) and most don’t even cover their heads.

If you’re a procrastinator like I am, winter is Utopia. “Oh, hmm…rainy today. I guess I’ll stay in and read a book.” :smiley:

Well we’re having a rain event. The creek is up to the bridge boards. Since I don’t know where the umbrella is (if we have one) got wet going shopping in Town. 54 degrees. Raining cats and dogs and there is a poodle in my car :slight_smile:

Cherry picking. July and August are “Monsoon Season” in Phoenix. This is the season where afternoon thunderstorms occur. And it’s the time of year when the most rain falls in Phoenix.

So compare how much rain Seattle gets in a year against Phoenix yearly rainfall. ( I dare ya. :D)

J.

Nope.
Bananas do not grow on trees

The rain in Seattle doesn’t fall on your head, it falls on your soul.