For the last three days, it has been sunny in Seattle. As in, the sky has been clear of even the slightest trace of clouds and the actual sun has shined down upon us. Yesterday, I actually saw a sunset for the first time in at least six months.
This is a truly miraculous occasion here and you can bet that for the next few months, conversations will go like this, "Do you remember those three days back in January when it was clear?" "Do you remember what you were doing? I worked in my garden and went on a run ...." Seriously, people here keep track of things like this, like they're keeping track of the Seahawks or the Mariners.
When we moved here, there were two camps. The first, non-delusional camp said, "The winter sucks, it's gray and rainy, and you just have to suffer through it." The second camp, who I'm convinced watches Oprah, or maybe Dr. Phil, said, "The winter is totally not as bad as it seems, it's just an urban legend." Urban legend my...
The weather here is horrible in the winter and on several occasions, I've actually caught myself comparing it to Germany, which actually does produce the worst winter weather, ever, in my opinion.
So bad is the weather here, that our forecasters are forced to make up new terms for "cold and cloudy." My favorite is the "sun break." That's when the clouds actually part for between five minutes and two hours (although two hours is on the very long end) and shadows start to appear around parked cars, buildings, etc. Here, I've realized, that "sun break" actually means "hope." Like, it's going to be completely gray, but you can hope to see the sun for just the briefest of moments to remember what it looks like.
The other one I've recently gotten a kick out of is "wintry mix." That also denotes a cloudy day, just a little bit worse. As in, it might rain harder or even turn to "snow," which just means slushy rain.
After these glorious three days of sun, though, I've realized that our weather forecasters are actually fatalistic. Because shouldn't we at least deserve a sun symbol in our forecast after all this nice weather? Instead, they show icicles hanging off the space needle because, sure it might be sunny, but it's still only 37 degrees, and, Hey, you live in Seattle and you're supposed to be depressed about the weather, that's part of our charm. Even when it's sunny.
1 comment:
My absolutely favorite Seattle colloquialism that relates to weather AND traffic is "sunshine slowdown." This occurs on the 520 Floating Bridge, when the sun has graced us with its presence, thus causing all traffic to slow to a near stop. It's not so much that the drivers can't see; it's like they're stunned the sun is actually out so they must revel in it as they drive.
Drives me nuts.
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