In the August 24, 1897, Hartford Courant, the editorial contained an infamous line: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Often attributed to Mark Twain, the true author was Charles Dudley Warner, editor, author, and co-collaborator with Twain on The Gilded Age.

What was true over 100 years ago is still true today. Everybody talks about the weather. We all experience it. We all have an opinion on it. We all complain about it. (Sadly, few aspects of natural history are daily topics for non-scientists except the weather.) Weather is the liquor of conversation, giving people something to say, a way to relate to the person they are speaking with, whether they know them or not. As early twentieth century Indiana humorist Kin Hubbard once remarked about the weather, “nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.”

Plus, at least around here, in my fair city of Seattle, many people also try to make some excuse about our weather. In a landmark 1974 paper, Phillip Church, former chair of the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences, made a valiant attempt. Titled Some Precipitation Characteristics of Seattle, the paper could have been subtitled: A noble effort to use numbers to point out to the world that weather here is better than you might think.

Numbers were Church’s forte. He looked at annual and monthly amounts, as well as hourly records, which NOAA began to record in October 1948. From the hourly data, Church derived a table of intensity, which he broke into six categories: light, moderate, and heavy drizzle; and light, moderate, and heavy rain. The three drizzle levels accounted for 72.5% of the precipitation with “light” drizzle falling over half that time. Church concluded with a statement that would make any gadfly proud. “Because of the preponderance of ‘drizzle’ intensities one might truthfully say that it rarely ‘rains’ in Seattle.”

Although scientists may attempt to debunk our weather, and I, and many other locals, may joke about it, we do not appreciate others denigrating our soggy climate. When pushed, which usually only requires a simple slight, we immediately rattle off the one vital weather statistic taught to every child in Seattle schools, worshiped by members of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and inscribed on the city seal. “Seattle gets less rain than New York!” End of discussion. What else needs to be said?

The comparison became so ingrained in our character that in his 1972 history of Seattle—Seattle—long time resident Nard Jones opened his section on weather with an apocryphal account of how locals earn a few bucks with this statistic. Jones wrote: “Generally the routine works in this way.” Local goes to bar. Man sits next to him. Local, being the typically friendly Seattleite, starts a conversation, slowly turning it toward weather. Local mentions aforementioned statistic. Man guffaws. Local asks if man wants to make a wager. Sucker agrees. Local calls weather bureau. Man asks question and learns the truth. Man shells out for next glass of small batch, locally-distilled whiskey.

I don’t know when I first learned this fact, but I do have memories of citing it to friends in college who derided my hometown’s infamous weather. Yes, it rains in Seattle, but you should see New York. Or what about New Orleans or Miami, each with more than 60 inches. These were dens of soggy iniquity compared to our practically arid 39 inches or so. Like many Seattleites, I knew that dripping dreariness was our image, but I wanted to show that it really wasn’t so bad. Hey, we are nice folks up here and people shouldn’t poke fun at us. Being an honest sort, I did not make any bets myself.

Even those who admit that Seattle can be wet and cloudy, turn this toward an advantage. Our mild, maritime climate translates to good growing conditions, healthy skin, less mental stress, and one more reason to drink coffee. A 1924 pamphlet distributed by the Chamber of Commerce labeled the weather “filtered sunshine” and described how it is “best for all, and vital to the development of the most energetic peoples.” Others, such as Archibald Menzies, botanist on George Vancouver’s 1792 exploration of Puget Sound, simply summed up the local weather as “salubrious.”

Some people might think of Seattleites as weather wimps. Those big meanies laugh when the local National Weather Service office holds a press conference to announce the potential for a storm that may drop an entire inch of snow here. They chide us when the media devotes columns of text and minutes of airtime to a record-breaking heat wave of 90° days. Sure, we may not have temperatures that require an investment in a small farm’s worth of warm clothes or our own ice making machines, but we do have weather that many so-called weather studs cannot handle —monotonous gray, sprinkly, dark, and dank.

I would ask these hardy folks: “If we are such wimps, then why do you always paint a picture of how bad our weather is and wonder how anyone can live here?” They think they are tough because they experience the extremes but how many of them have a medical condition—Seasonal Affective Disorder—named for an entire season of gray, overcast, moisture-rich, low light days? I wonder how many of them could survive a winter where it rained 90 out of 120 days or spring temperatures that persist into July? They are merely weather sprinters, having to survive a few days of –30-degree temperatures, storms that drop two feet of snow, or a week of 105-degree-plus weather. We are the marathoners, enduring months of rain and weeks where the sun is only a rumor. So laugh at us if you want. We’ll be out in the rain taking a nice walk.

This newsletter is modified from The Weather chapter in my book The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist.

PlanetGeo Podcast - Hey, listen to me and two other geodorks chatting about rocks. Super fun. Honored to be interviewed by them.

– November 15, 2025 – Wild in Seattle/Seattle Walks – Burien Public Library – 3:00 P.M. – I’ll be talking about my books Wild in Seattle and Seattle Walks.

– November 22, 2025 – Holiday Bookfest – 2:00 – 4:00 P.M. – Phinney Neighborhood Center – I’ll be joining a wonderful group of writers selling our books…just in time for the upcoming holidays. Always a fun event.

– December 4, 2025 – Homewaters – 6:00 P.M. – Port Townsend Public Library – I’ll be in PT talking about my book Homewaters.

– December 6, 2025 – Wild in Seattle/Seattle Walks – 4:00 P.M. – Port Townsend First Baptist Church - I’ll be talking about my books Wild in Seattle and Seattle Walks for one of my favorite groups, the Quimper Geological Society up in PT.

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