Freakish weather

posted by Jeff | Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 11:36 PM | comments: 0

I think Seattle is celebrating our imminent departure. Sunny and 80's are on deck through the weekend. Normally, the corner would have turned and we'd be well into "jacket weather" by now. Cleveland is holding steady in the low 70's, which sounds about right.

Weather is certainly a consideration in terms of where you live, and Seattle is typically predictable. The last year (if you believe the natives) has been a strange exception to the rule, with snowfall at sea level, cold spring and summer, and drier winters compared with wetter summers. I think I buy that, because our first 12 months here seemed about in line with my expectations.

Cleveland has freakish weather by definition. The high and low swings are extreme to three digits above or double digits below. People talk about it, because people talk about weather, but it's never really unexpected. It's funny how that works. Living in Cleveland, you always know you'll get that week of 90's and high humidity in the summer, along with lake effect snow and extreme cold in the winter. You expect that weird 50 degree day in July, and the 70 degree day in February. It's just how you roll.

It's strange then to look at a place like Florida, where the weather doesn't vary a lot, and you can generally predict how it will be. Sure, you have hurricanes that shake things up a bit, and the occasional cold snap, but it's unusual in the same way that the last year in Seattle has been.

All things considered, I think the weather in Seattle is a lateral move from Cleveland. Yeah, you don't get the huge snow a few times per winter, and it rarely gets below freezing, but in the general sense it's not an up or downgrade. Long periods of gray in Cleveland are replaced by daily rain, with a peak of sun most days. It's pretty much a fair trade, though this last year has sucked without any real summer (unless you count now).


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