R.J.
Yeah... it rains more than 6mo a year here (150-200 days a year on average)... is *completely* overcast apx 226 days per year and *partly cloudy* (aka 50% or more, we're not talking blue skies with puffy white clouds, but pockets of pale blue viewed through clouds) apx 86 days per year
rain: 155 (low)
white skies (completely overcast): 226
partial overcast: 86
_____________
300+ days of "ugh" per year
We DO have blue skies and puffy clouds for maybe a week or two in the summer. Those aren't counted in the list. Right now the sky is at least 50% occluded with clouds, and it's not "counting" because there is actual sunlight and pale blue sky in the other 50% it counts as a 'sunny' day here.
Movies and TV almost NEVER get the rain 'right' here, however. Haven't seen The Killing, so I don't know if they do or not. Shooting on sets they do pouring "normal" east coast or midwest rains (greys anatomy cracks me up... we only get 'pouring rain' maybe once a month tops, sometimes for as much as a day or two... but every time they show rain on Greys Anatomy it's pouring. Over 1 season they've spaned something like 3 years worth of pouring rain instead of 3 months). Twilight Series gets it right... the perpetual damp drizzle that just isn't heavy enough for an umbrella unless you'll be walking for 15 plus minutes (you just don't SEE umbrellas here in Seattle except occasionally. Maybe 1 person for every 100). Plus the drizzle is so light that umbrellas are fairly pointless. Drizzle blows around like snow. There's no way to escape it. HOODIES are prevalent here (regardless of age) as are hats, because they're the only way to protect your hair. Same token 'long' styles never catch on... because the ground is wet most of the time and anything long ends up soaking you from the bottom up. ROFL... transplants are often blown away by our PLAYGROUNDS... because they're empty. We don't go shell out $500 a year for our kids to wear gortex and play at the parks. We go when it's sunny. Our parks are empty the *vast* majority of the time. We DO go to indoor play places at the zoo, community centers, McDonalds. Ditto we don't "hang out" with neighbors (over the fence type) that you see in every other area of the country. It's because it's so wet. We (as a city) go from house, to car, to building, to car. Some do it via bike... but no one stops to chat when it's drizzling out. It's one reason why coffee caught on so huge here: Warm, dry, brightly colored (to combat the perpetual grey outside), place to meet your friends in the daytime and talk. Seattle is ALL about "dates". We meet up with people INDOORS because outdoors is too iffy. June is as likely to be 50 and raining as as it is 70 and sunny... and at least once or twice a week in July and Aug the temp drops and rains on us. Birthday parties ALWAYS need an alternate indoor venue, even in the middle of summer.
Our weather is also almost impossible to 'predict'. In some areas of the country you can say with certainty down to the expected HOUR... with us it's always a "chance of". It's the mountains and ocean and sound. Weather blows around and through us in a way that's almost impossible to predict. If it's not raining it'll be raining soon... and we rarely have more than 3-4 days of sun (regardless of time of year). Over a week worth of sun makes the news.
Yeah. It rains a lot here.
Stupid weather.
