Typical Seattle Rain - it's not what you out-of-towners think
"You're from Seattle? It rains all the time there, huh?"
Not exactly.
Those of us who live here know what it's really like. Sure, our fall, winter, and spring have a fair amount of "gray" days, but it's not all gray. And when it rains, it's typically not heavy.
I own an umbrella, two in fact - one for golf, and one stowed away in my car for the rare occasion someone else needs it. I can't even remember the last time I used an umbrella... at least a few years ago, with the exception of a golf round I played in heavy rain (it's hard to grip a club when your hands and grips get wet).
If you're thinking about moving here, you may not 'need' to own an umbrella, but you can plan on it being some sort of wet for a good chunk of the year
I was recently giving my dog, Cash, a bath in his favorite manner (a swim in Lake Washington), and I thought I'd take a video of how pretty the setting was. The lake was calm with drops of a light sprinkle hitting the water. The cloud cover wasn't too thick and the rain wasn't too heavy, making it a fairly warm and bright feeling for how dark it actually was.
As I was posting the video to my YouTube Channel, I started writing a brief description of typical Seattle rain for out-of-towners who view the video. For me, it doesn't feel all that rainy, generally because we don't get much in the way of heavy rain, and when we do, it's usually accompanied by frequent, passing sun-breaks.
There are tons of major US cities that get more rainfall than we do. Heck, parts of Texas got more rain over a few days of Hurricane Harvey than Seattle gets in an entire year. But that's not exactly apples to apples.
Regardless... though we don't make the list of cities with the highest rainfall totals, we do make the list of most days with rain. So, if you're thinking about moving here, you may not 'need' to own an umbrella, but you can plan on it being some sort of wet for a good chunk of the year.
But as I often say, "if you don't like the weather... just wait 10 minutes." Our weather is diverse and can change quickly - being situated directly between two mountain ranges, along side a major body of water (Puget Sound), and just a Mother Earth sized stone's throw from the coast tends to foster a lot of weather diversity.
