It rains in Seattle.

[refugio]

And apparently there are some boaters who did not know that.

 

[Arch]

Hard to imagine. After 17 years up there, I am now happy to winter in Florida and the Bahamas.
Arch

 

[Edelweiss]

You left out the part about. . . . . rains sideways and the wind blows. Fortunately . . . I don't have to rake the leaves off my lawn now, after today's "unnamed storm," they're half way to Anchorage by now, which is many many miles away from my lawn!!

 

[Nomad Willy]

We recently lived in Thorne Bay (SE) where it rains three times as much as Seattle and it rains more than that in Ketchikan.

Most in Thorne Bay use aluminum skiffs w sufficient flotation so they don't sink filled w rainwater. Even w an engine clamped on but most have bilge pumps ... until the battery goes south.

 

[Ski in NC]

If it rains more than five days in a row in NC, I start going batty and gnaw on furniture. Could not handle PNW rain.

 

[eyschulman]

If it rains more than five days in a row in NC, I start going batty and gnaw on furniture. Could not hand PNW rain.

In Seattle 5 days in a row are common. 15 to 20 starts getting nervy. The only reason I am on the site is rain and gusts in the high 20-30 range.

 

[Marin]

Having grown up in Hawaii, I've had more than my share of unending, tedious, boring sunny weather. The more it rains here (or preferably snows) the better I like it. The only thing I don't care for is wind as it messes up both boating and float flying.

But during the winter, the photo in the original post is not uncommon in our marina. I have yet to see a skiff or dinghy actually sink, but I've seen them come close.

Most power boaters have their shoreboats on board, and the sailboaters tend to put them in the racks provided by the marina if they're not going to be around to keep them bailed out. But there are always a few that stay in the water, and they can become interesting and picturesque aquariums if the owners are absentee.

I think if a skiff or dinghy was actually in danger of disappearing under the surface the Port would pump it out. They patrol the docks at regular intervals during each 24 hour period so a swamped dinghy would get noticed.

Sometimes boaters who frequent the marina year round, as we do, will bail or partially bail out a swamped dinghy that belongs to someone on their dock. We've done it a couple of times.

 

[FlyWright]

In Seattle 5 days in a row are common. 15 to 20 starts getting nervy. The only reason I am on the site is rain and gusts in the high 20-30 range.

Ed,

Do you keep Moon River in a boat house or a covered slip?

 

[GFC]

Two things keep me from living on the west side of the state anywhere near Seattle.....
The weather
The traffic

We're on the dry side and actually lie in a desert climate. We get 8" of rain a year to offset the 300 days of sunshine a year.

We don't get earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or any of those fun things they get on the other side.

We do get a volcano every now and then, but we had one about 25 years ago so we shouldn't have to worry for another 5 million years or so.

 

[drb1025]

Seattle days with rain average 149 per year. The record for the number of consecutive days with rain is 33. Annual rainfall is 38 inches, placing Seattle 44th among major US cities. This last ranking surprises most people that live somewhere else, since they usually only hear about the first two stats.

 

[dhmeissner]

Seattle days with rain average 149 per year. The record for the number of consecutive days with rain is 33. Annual rainfall is 38 inches, placing Seattle 44th among major US cities. This last ranking surprises most people that live somewhere else, since they usually only hear about the first two stats.

Shhhh, don't tell anybody that....

There are already too many condos going up! A bumper sticker I saw last summer said it all - "Ballard welcomes its new Condo overlords"

 

[Donsan]

Seattle days with rain average 149 per year. The record for the number of consecutive days with rain is 33. Annual rainfall is 38 inches, placing Seattle 44th among major US cities. This last ranking surprises most people that live somewhere else, since they usually only hear about the first two stats.

Annual rainfall in south FL is over 60 inches per year.

 

[eyschulman]

Ed,

Do you keep Moon River in a boat house or a covered slip?

Moon River is in a covered slip at the SYC main station in Portage Bay. Tomorrow it goes out for an 11 O' clock tank top off at Morrison's fuel dock. I tend to run it at least every two weeks going into lake Washington to get engines up to temp. and flush the fresh water through the cooling SX. The covered slip keeps sun(what sun)and water off but not dirt that blows in or spider droppings.

 

[THD]

The thing people don't understand about PNW rain, and I didn't until I moved here, is that it seldom rains very hard. Certainly not like SE/Fla thundershowers. It is gernerally a misty type rain. The other thing is that everyone in Seattle just ignores it and goes on doing whatever they were doing. The PNW is an outdoors area, everybody is doing something out of doors. Rainsdoesn't even rise to the level of being annoying for most. Only tourists use umbrellas!

 

[Marin]

Rainsdoesn't even rise to the level of being annoying for most.

You got that right. I can't recall ever cancelling an outside activity, be it fly fishing on a river, boating or fishing in saltwater,trail riding (horses), hunting, skiing (when I used to ski a bit), hiking, etc. because of rain.

Wind, yes. That can shut things down some. But not rain. Rain makes the grass grow and the fish happy.

 

[Rusty]

We are lookong forward to being back in the Northwest. The rain doesn't bother me at all. Having done hard time in California now I can say that in my experience more people seem to be outside enjoying themselves in the northwest than they are in sunny California.

 

[FlyWright]

Moon River is in a covered slip at the SYC main station in Portage Bay. Tomorrow it goes out for an 11 O' clock tank top off at Morrison's fuel dock. I tend to run it at least every two weeks going into lake Washington to get engines up to temp. and flush the fresh water through the cooling SX. The covered slip keeps sun(what sun)and water off but not dirt that blows in or spider droppings.

Regular use is good for the boat and good for the soul. Living near fresh and saltwater is a great advantage. I like to move back and forth and find that what likes to grow in the salt dies in fresh water...and vice versa. Flushing the cooling system is another bonus.

My last covered slip in the Delta was in a 10 boat, 3-wall shed and spiders and muddaubbers were an issue. The weather there was much drier. sunnier and warmer than where I am now in Valejo...kind of the cusp of fresh and saltwater as well as the border between the Delta and SF/San Pablo Bay. Now it's marine layer overcast in the AM, often periods of fog and 10-20 degrees cooler than Sacramento or the Delta. Spiders and wasps are no issue here. Our region is filled with micro climates so if you don't like the weather where you are, a short drive can change it for you.

I love keeping the boat under a cover. I sleep better.

 

[Dawdler]

All of us in the Central Valley (particularly the farmers) would appreciate you praying that some of the PNW rain would come down here. Last year we got a whopping total of about 4 inches.

 

[Dawdler]

Clarification: that's the Central Valley of California

 

[Marin]

All of us in the Central Valley (particularly the farmers) would appreciate you praying that some of the PNW rain would come down here.

We've done a fair amount of work in the United Arab Emirates over the years, and they get their fresh water mostly from huge desalinization plants. In fact, their desal plants are so strategic to their wealfare that they are tops on the the official list of things in the UAE you can't point a camera at. Serious penalties if you're caught doing it.

I've sometimes wondered why the US does not make use of this technology. I would think that a few desal plants on the scale of what's used in the UAE set up on SFO bay or in the delta area pumping through pipelines to the central valley would be able to provide a major source of water to the farmers and growers out there.

The little island in the San Juans on which we have property used to rely on a pair of wells for water. Every summer, the water levels would get lower and lower to the point where pretty severe restrictions had to be put on the people who had full or part time residences on the island.

Then in the late 1980s (IIRC), the owners association approved the installation of a small reverse osmosis desalinization system. I believe it was the first one in the San Juans, but I could be wrong. That one little plant provided more water than the island needed and the wells were shut down.

More recently, as the number of people using the island has increased somewhat, a second osmosis system was installed next to the first one. And I understand there are similar systems that have been installed on some of the other islands.

I would think a very much scaled up version of the same idea could be applied to the agriculture industry in California.

We actually don't get all that much rain in the PNW in the overall scheme of things. The rain doesn't really contribute all that much to our water supply, anyway. What does is the snow pack and the glaciers in the Cascades.

Unfortunately the glaciers have been receding at an increasing rate, so both the western side of the state and the agricultural region immediatly east of the Cascades (orchards, mainly) depend heavily on the annual snowpack for their water needs.

Some years the snowpack is very deep. Some years not so much. After a pretty good winter last year, they're saying that this winter will be "not so much." Which does not bode well for either side of the mountains.....

 

[FF]

>Annual rainfall in south FL is over 60 inches per year.<

From SUMMER thunderstorms and an occasional hurricane.

AS a snow bird we see the dry season , so dry the bugs only come out at dusk.

No screens on our porch!

 

[ranger58sb]

Annual rainfall in south FL is over 60 inches per year.

Yep, but it all happens in the Summer between 3:00 and 3:15 pm every day or so... big deluge... then the humidity drops.... and the rest of the time it's bright and sunny.



-Chris

 

[jimbob]

Yep, but it all happens in the Summer between 3:00 and 3:15 pm every day or so... big deluge... then the humidity drops.... and the rest of the time it's bright and sunny.



-Chris

Which works perfect for afternoon nap from 3:00 until 4:00

 

[Dougcole]

I don't know. As a kid (I was born and raised in Florida) I remember those afternoon showers very clearly. Now they don't come nearly as often or with anything approaching the time regularity, but people still talk about it.

Now, it seems much of our rainfall comes in big events, either a once a week deluge in the summer that overflows the gutters, a tropical event or strong rains associated with a frontal boundary in the cooler months.

No idea what this means about the climate, that's above my pay grade.

 

[Ski in NC]

Our rain here in NC also tends to come in deluges. Summer thunderstorms, tropical systems, cold fronts, etc. Fairly rare to get rain that lasts more than a day or so. Most of it drops so fast that it just runs off, not much chance for it to soak in.

This summer we got some unusual multi day events, and they were centered on the weekends. Really annoyed the weekenders.

 

[sunchaser]

I've sometimes wondered why the US does not make use of this technology. .

Back in the 60s and the CA water shortage issues were well understood, there was a big push from both Mexico and the US to install nuclear desalination plants in SoCal and both sides of the Baja. With CA mentality then little different than now the chorus of no no was deafening.

Then the CA voters said lets get rid of a few big reservoirs while we're at it and outlaw construction of new.

With the water rights AZ had, the Colorado River was tapped and Carl Hayden's CAP project came to fruition satisfying AZ needs, for awhile anyway. Some degree of common sense prevailed across state lines.

CA leaders and voters have created their water shortage woes and are reaping the folly of their decisions. If you want to see a quick change in CA mentality outlaw watering all lawns, palm trees, irrigated crops and golf courses. Then the CA landscape will revert to what it was 120 years ago, a low rainfall desert area not pretending it is Florida or the PNW for water resources..

And, hope for desalination will become a reality just as it is in the Middle East.

 

[Ski in NC]

Desal is very energy intensive and expensive, be it thermal or reverse osmosis. Hard to justify spending that kind of money to create first rate pure water that is then used to flush toilets, wash cars and water lawns.

 

[Edelweiss]

With CA mentality then little different than now the chorus of no no was deafening.
Then the CA voters said lets get rid of a few big reservoirs while we're at it and outlaw construction of new.

Balancing environmental concerns verses those of humanity can be difficult. Tearing down the dams is a popular theme here as well and granted some needed to come down. Those same people don't want more coal, gas, nuclear fired or bird killing wind generated energy either. But they will mostly all agree they want that electrical power and water coming in from the street and are quick to complain when it doesn't.

 

[refugio]

Desal is very energy intensive and expensive, be it thermal or reverse osmosis. Hard to justify spending that kind of money to create first rate pure water that is then used to flush toilets, wash cars and water lawns.

Well, if you price that water at or above the cost to produce, wouldn't it then be up to the consumer to decide if it was "worth it" to them?

 

[Ski in NC]

Well, if you price that water at or above the cost to produce, wouldn't it then be up to the consumer to decide if it was "worth it" to them?

True, that. But as I understand it, part of the problem is that the water is not market priced. Supply is allocated based on a complex set of quotas and rules that might be 100yrs old. But I'm an east coaster, so I don't really know much more than that!!

One solution would be to price the water higher when scarce, and let the market decide where to conserve, or whether a desal plant makes sense.

When reservoirs drop in level, price goes up- just a thought.