FINDING A HOME PORT - 1 OCTOBER, 2021

There is a lot of restlessness going on amongst Americans as Autumn sets in (2021), the multitude of problems in the U.S. today have made rethinking perceptions, beliefs, and allegiances to America an unspeakable quiet thought. 

Down on the waterfront we see it and hear it from tourists visiting our boat from all over the U.S. and Canada (and even from foreign tourists), these cautious, muffled sort of comments and opinions are allowed to be spoken about only after visitors ascertain which "camp" our onboard doctrines follow, and they feel comfortable sharing. 

Change is in the wind, it has not taken form yet, but like watching an ominous darkening sky for possible trouble ahead, listen to the thunder, and sense it.

In the previous post here on MVSofea.com we admitted to 64 moves over 53 years, from that one can deduct the possibility of our  having experienced different climates, societies, and tempo's... the fact we have been "here" longer than anywhere (by almost twice the time-span) should attest to how much we like where we are at.

                                                                 

For us, climate and weather have been the main drivers of all things, from the 60 F below Alberta Clippers in the plaines of Minnesota, to stifling 120 F degree Yuma, the Black flies, no-seeums and mosquitos of Kenai, Lake Charles, the humidity of Maracaibo, or Florida, and the wind-rain of Americas Northwest to the dry of desert Atacama ... we obviously like it ... right where we are. 

So, when you go looking globally for an equal to whatever climate you thrive in and enjoy, you will find that latitude controls the entire envelope, for us anything between 37 N and 47 N are within our comfort zone making latitude and weather become our first comparison item that must be met... being "on" the water, of course, is a given.

Here at latitude 44 we get 75-85 (1950 mm) inches of rain per year, November to April (and we love it !), it never gets hotter than 75 F degrees or colder than 31 F degrees here, a big plus living shoreside is that unlike living inland...the annual daytime high and low temperature spread here is never more than 20 degrees, it is "always" extremely windy here 5-10 mph constant, with 20 mpg very common (storms are another issue), but we have no hurricane/typhoon or tornado/cyclone threat.

Being on the coast with wind we have no insects... period !  and humidity is always at 50-60%, the water temperature is 52 F degrees year around, 160 days of full (no clouds) sun averaging 6.5 hours of solar, and with the wind our wind power system thrives year around, the 160 days of overcast rainy darkness is an issue for many.

From San Francisco to Juneau it is all quite similar to here, and there are only a few cities or population centers within that 1,500 mile stretch, the main reason being the winter rain... most people move here, stay one or two years, then move-on to drier locations, so the population is in constant exchange.

When you decide to move,  you must begin with climate, and match your ideal climate to another global location as a target area, as I said, for us Rain is important... in English speaking places such as Britain and the northern US, cities like Manchester and Seattle, have a reputation for rain as a well-known part of their charm, even when the data does not always back that reputation up.

A 2014 check found that Cardiff was in fact the UK’s rainiest city with an average 1,152mm of rain every year, still well below the 1950mm that Oregon offers, in Japan and Korea (at 38 latitude) even the Asian monsoons only allow a total annual precipitation span of 1,200 to 1,500 millimeters (47 to 60 inches), Europe (Croatia/Austria) averages 1,100mm at this latitude, still far short of Oregon.

So, when "we" go looking to move between latitudes 37 to 47 north, ... the rainfall issue looms large, for you perhaps it is a different need, but, as people dream of moving , weather and latitude are big issues that impact your daily outlook, and performance.