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G is for Gray - or - 20 Ways to Say Rain in the Puget Sound Area
By Susan Barton   

Last edited: Thursday, August 16, 2007
Posted: Friday, August 01, 2003

The joke goes something like this, "What do you call the first sunny day after two days of rain in Seattle?" Give up? "Monday!" Oh yes we live for those weekends, and then what do we get? You guessed it.

When we moved to Seattle, the first week's weather was gorgeous! It was warm and sunny. The sky was the color Perry Como sang about in the theme song for "Here Comes the Brides," remember? "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle." Ahh, that was the life.

Then the sky took on the look of melting licorice ice cream and the rain began in earnest on the Fourth of July. When I was a child, my Grandma Litehiser lived about 40 miles north of Seattle in a little town called Marysville. We spent several summer vacations with her and she used to call that weather 'drizzle.' That first year, I don't think the skies cleared up until the end of September. It was really quite depressing. In the midst of my despair, one of my husband's college professors urged me to look for the clouds above the silver lining. He said, "Just learn to appreciate all the variations in gray that God created. It's a different shade of gray every day." 

By the end of our first year here, I'd learned to appreciate the infinite variety of gray. I'd also learned that an umbrella is nearly always pointless, that rain was preferable to forest fires and drought, and that we had some of the most creative weathermen on the planet. They knew almost as many ways to say rain as there were shades of gray!

When you pack for travel to Seattle, feel free to bring your bumbershoot (umbrella) if you must, but what I recommend is that you plan instead to dress in layers that can be removed and put back on throughout the day, especially if you are going to be out and about. What works for us is a short sleeved t-shirt covered by a long sleeved sweater or sweatshirt, then topped with a waterproof windbreaker. You don't have to go all out for Goretex unless you are visiting in November or February. Those seem to be the wettest months and that is probably because we get more wind then.

Many times, a day will start off cold and damp, warm up with the sun burning through the clouds, then as evening sets in, a breeze from off the water picks up and you get chilled. Remember that even on the warmest days, it will be several degrees cooler on the water (lakes, canal, bay or sound), so make an allowance for that if you intend to go boating.

And about that umbrella -- since most of our rain just seems to appear rather than fall down, you will get wet whether you have an umbrella above your head or not. I have learned that the rain can't penetrate my skin, and unless I am on my way to a society fling or a wedding, forget about my hair looking good and just wear a hat.

Here then, for your reading enjoyment are the words and phrases used by both meteorologists, and weather announcers, alike to mean rain.

1. Rain
   
2. Showers
   
3. 
   
   Partly cloudy
   
   
4. 
   
   Drizzle
   
   
5. 
   
   Ocean Air
   
   
6. 
   
   Mist
   
   
7. 
   
   Partly Sunny
   
   
8. 
   
   Clearing
   
   
9. 
   
   Precipitation
   
   
10. 
    
    Damp
    
    
11. 
    
    Moisture
    
    
12. 
    
    Overcast
    
    
13. 
    
    Cloudy
    
    
14. 
    
    Sprinkles
    
    
15. 
    
    Marine Layer
    
    
16. 
    
    Leakage
    
    
17. 
    
    Wetnes
    
    
18. 
    
    Liquid Sunshine
    
    
19. 
    
    Heavy Fog
    
    
20. 
    
    Stormy

© 2001 Sue Barton