“Day 227: Rain” by Snugg LePup
Last week in a post about Bread Pudding and the PDX Blogger Bake Sale, I mentioned that Portlanders have more than twenty names for precipitation, based on amount, intensity, consistency and duration. Most native residents can identify them all. (That’s how we weed out the Californians.) A few folks challenged my statement, accusing me of hyperbole, so I have no option but post this in reply. And before you say, “Hey, you’re just adding adjectives to the same word,” let me tell you that any Portlander over the age of three can tell you the difference between Light Drizzle and Heavy Drizzle while standing on one webbed foot with their eyes closed. Anyway, these are the names for Pacific Northwest Precipitation that I can think of off the top of my head. Some are official meteorological terms and some are colloquialisms. I am certain there are more.
If you can think others, please comment below. If you know that your term originated outside the Pacific Northwest (like, say London) please make a note. Either way, I will add them to the list. You never know when some budding meteorologist will be stumble onto this blog.
Precipitation in Liquid Form:
- Fog
- Heavy Fog
- Freezing Fog*
- Mist
- Heavy Mist
- Light Drizzle
- Drizzle
- Heavy Drizzle
- Freezing Drizzle*
- Light Sprinkles
- Sprinkles
- Light Showers
- Showers
- Heavy Showers
- Light Rain
- Rain
- Heavy Rain
- Freezing Rain*
- Rain Storms
- Downpour
- Pouring Rain
- Pelting Rain
- Thundershowers
- Thunderstorms
Precipitation in Solid Form:
- Hail
- Sleet
- Snow Flurries
- Light Snow
- Snow
- Snow Showers
- Heavy Snow (Admittedly, Mid-Westerners would laugh at what we call “Heavy Snow” here in the PNW.)
* This is listed as a liquid because it doesn’t actually freeze until it hits the ground.
Common Phrases about Precipitation in the Pacific Northwest:
- Partly cloudy with a chance of showers
- Heavy Showers with intermittent sun-breaks
Want to learn more about the weather in the PNW? Check out a few of my favorite Weather Guessers:
- Matt Zaffino [KGW]
- Rhonda Shelby [KATU]
- Dave Salesky [KATU]
- Andy Carson [KPTV]
- Stephanie Kralevich [KPTV]
- Jim Bosley [In Memoriam] If you grew up in Portland in the 60’s, 70’s or ’80’s, chances are you learned most of what you know today about weather from a man named Jim Bosley. He died in early April some years ago. There is almost an 100% chance that it was raining here in Portland that day.
I personally love Portland’s sun showers!
I love this list! I frequently say that oregonians have as many words for rain as Eskimos do for snow. When my California students complained about rain I would pooh pooh it; this is just a light drizzle which of course they had never heard of.
I was writing about oregon rain when I decided to see what others had to say: mist thick enough to fall, fine drops that only need the intermittent windshield wiper, slanted rain that requires an ankle length raincoat, big icy winter raindrops that would go ‘smack’ on your forehead, and plops of water easing all at once off the forest trees as you tread a narrow path.