Who is causing this awful weather?

Whoever has been making it rain every single weekend since august needs to chill 

Okay you can stop bragging or send some of this rain to the south west.

Reason #1, of many, we moved to a drier climate [and yeah the climbing aint bad either    ].  Too many days lost, especially when like yourself we really only had weekends to get out.  I had a summer a few years ago just as you described, every weekend for almost 2 months it rained.  Combined with increasingly disgusting winters and we both [SO is also primary climbing partner] finally got fed up after 40+ years living in the northeast.

If quality and quantity of outdoors time is important to you, consider a change.  Otherwise, stop complaining.  You signed up for this.    

Gumby King wrote:

Okay you can stop bragging or send some of this rain to the south west.

Take your smoke back and you might have a deal

I understand the natural tendency to get antsy and angsty with all the wet whether, but earlier this year I was bracing for wildfires around here after we had a 3 acre wildfire in March, and have honestly been relieved to have the rainy July and August that we had. I love climbing and other outdoor pursuits, but water and clean air are two critical components of life.

Mike Morin wrote:

... I love climbing and other outdoor pursuits, but water and clean air are two critical components of life.

Agree, I'd be the first to suggest building cities in the desert is a bad idea, but since they're already here and no one listens to me anyway...

Fwiw, all the drought flagged area in brown on that map also happen to be considered the overall best outdoors places to live in the country [Colorado is on the fringe for the purposes of that particular map but is susceptible to drought like any other western state].  Can't have sunny skies without dry air.

Just count your blessings. Weekends can be lost for a variety of reasons. I've been outside more than some of my friends out West this summer.

A hobby not quite as rain sensitive as rock climbing does help. 

Kevin Heckeler wrote:

Agree, I'd be the first to suggest building cities in the desert is a bad idea, but since they're already here and no one listens to me anyway...

Fwiw, all the drought flagged area in brown on that map also happen to be considered the overall best outdoors places to live in the country [Colorado is on the fringe for the purposes of that particular map but is susceptible to drought like any other western state].  Can't have sunny skies without dry air.

John Wesley Powell recognized the issue with concentrating agriculture and humans west of the 100th parallel over 100 years ago. No one making decisions about the US government's policy on the matter listened to him either.

Best places to live are in the eye of the beholder. I spent 10 years living in the foothills of CO. I executed what was a rare event in the outdoor space at the time, and boomeranged back to the NE in 2017. Zero regrets on that, and I've been observing and hearing more and more stories similar to mine about people bailing on the west is best idea for reasons ranging from cost of living and crowding to fires and water concerns. 

To each there own. You seem to have found a place in the world that makes you happy, which is pretty awesome.

Dry + More rock than you can ever imagine = West

I wanna move to Arizona, but the wife tells me that lots of rock + rainfall deficit + huge fires + climate change  = no move.

I'm on top of a hill and the water table is at 10 feet at what passes for a drought here so it is hard to argue with her.

Kevin Heckeler wrote:

Reason #1, of many, we moved to a drier climate [and yeah the climbing aint bad either    ].  Too many days lost, especially when like yourself we really only had weekends to get out.  I had a summer a few years ago just as you described, every weekend for almost 2 months it rained.  Combined with increasingly disgusting winters and we both [SO is also primary climbing partner] finally got fed up after 40+ years living in the northeast.

If quality and quantity of outdoors time is important to you, consider a change.  Otherwise, stop complaining.  You signed up for this.    

When the western US is on fire and people are homeless when their entire town burns down. Maybe our attitude should be like yours. “stop Complaining, you signed up for this”.

seems rather short sided into the actual benefits for not only yourself, but the environment in which you live for some areas.

jdejace wrote:

Just count your blessings. Weekends can be lost for a variety of reasons. I've been outside more than some of my friends out West this summer.

A hobby not quite as rain sensitive as rock climbing does help. 

What website did you get these plots from? I like the layout and would like to use it.

@OP- The Unvaccinated!

Mike Morin wrote:

To each there own. You seem to have found a place in the world that makes you happy, which is pretty awesome.

Ultimately that's what it comes down to.  If I was into winter sports more (although snow is becoming more scarce/not guaranteed) I might have stayed in New York.

To clarify the air quality issues, these are fairly local and short term when they do happen.  Vegas, for most of our three years here, avoids the worse air quality problems.  Reno (being directly at the foothill of the Sierras) is getting clobbered with smoke this year, but not nearly as bad last year, for example.  Even in a particular bad fire season like this year, there might be 5 months where smoke is possible and not every day in those 5 months will be smoky and certainly not everyday so bad you can't be outdoors doing things.  We've had two noticeably smoky days so far this year in Vegas.  Bishop is now inundated and Reno has been bad for about 2 months.  Locals refer to it as the price for living in paradise from October through April in the valleys, May through September in the mountains.  The thing about Vegas in particular is the lack of robust forest.  The local mountains usually experience one decent size fire each season, but it's all desert around the city proper.  So we're a bit sheltered from the worse fire season has to offer.

The West is big which is good/bad.  This means you can live somewhere with water, or lack of water, with smoke, or no smoke, with lots of climbing, or little climbing.  Picking where to settle is important, and many lump 'the West' as a single geographic area.  There's variance and sometimes it's only a 2 or 3 hour drive to experience that change.  Heck, we drive 45 minutes out of Vegas and have snow during most winters and 75F in the same mountains in the summer.  The key is the dry weather that dominates most of the southwest in particular, making odds of getting out each weekend likely versus maybe 50% back East (per out 40+ years experience).  It's what you value, and being able to recreate doing summer activities all year round was important to us.

Insert name wrote:

When the western US is on fire and people are homeless when their entire town burns down. Maybe our attitude should be like yours. “stop Complaining, you signed up for this”.
seems rather short sided into the actual benefits for not only yourself, but the environment in which you live for some areas.

If everyone was sacrificing equally I'd be open to discussions about whether people need to take an ethical high ground when choosing their place of residence, but since the only suggestion here is that I shouldn't live someplace because of someone else's reasons I'll have to just stay where I am.

Same can be said about food choices and vehicle ownership/use.  How may children we should/should not have.

Sustainability only works with everyone onboard, but we can't even get people to vaccinate themselves to save their own and family's lives.  They sure as hell aren't going to make personal sacrifices.  So why should I deprive myself while everyone else enjoys their lives?

JCM wrote:

What website did you get these plots from? I like the layout and would like to use it.

https://www.iqair.com/us/usa

I don't miss the humidity and constant rain that seemed to linger for months back in the east. But also, the air quality here in CO has been terrible this summer. I have avoided climbing some days because the air wreaks havoc on my sinuses. Seems like the fire seasons/air quality is only getting worse too. 

Maybe you should quit climbing and move to Miami. You'll have oceanfront property in no time!

I can't relate to the OP more, 2 months of beautiful work days with sopping wet and dreary weekends forced a move to Colorado. 

One I figure out how to not work I'll move back east and climb when weather permits. 

Kevin Heckeler wrote:

Ultimately that's what it comes down to.  If I was into winter sports more (although snow is becoming more scarce/not guaranteed) I might have stayed in New York.

To clarify the air quality issues, these are fairly local and short term when they do happen.  Vegas, for most of our three years here, avoids the worse air quality problems.  Reno (being directly at the foothill of the Sierras) is getting clobbered with smoke this year, but not nearly as bad last year, for example.  Even in a particular bad fire season like this year, there might be 5 months where smoke is possible and not every day in those 5 months will be smoky and certainly not everyday so bad you can't be outdoors doing things.  We've had two noticeably smoky days so far this year in Vegas.  Bishop is now inundated and Reno has been bad for about 2 months.  Locals refer to it as the price for living in paradise from October through April in the valleys, May through September in the mountains.  The thing about Vegas in particular is the lack of robust forest.  The local mountains usually experience one decent size fire each season, but it's all desert around the city proper.  So we're a bit sheltered from the worse fire season has to offer.

The West is big which is good/bad.  This means you can live somewhere with water, or lack of water, with smoke, or no smoke, with lots of climbing, or little climbing.  Picking where to settle is important, and many lump 'the West' as a single geographic area.  There's variance and sometimes it's only a 2 or 3 hour drive to experience that change.  Heck, we drive 45 minutes out of Vegas and have snow during most winters and 75F in the same mountains in the summer.  The key is the dry weather that dominates most of the southwest in particular, making odds of getting out each weekend likely versus maybe 50% back East (per out 40+ years experience).  It's what you value, and being able to recreate doing summer activities all year round was important to us.

If everyone was sacrificing equally I'd be open to discussions about whether people need to take an ethical high ground when choosing their place of residence, but since the only suggestion here is that I shouldn't live someplace because of someone else's reasons I'll have to just stay where I am.

Same can be said about food choices and vehicle ownership/use.  How may children we should/should not have.

Sustainability only works with everyone onboard, but we can't even get people to vaccinate themselves to save their own and family's lives.  They sure as hell aren't going to make personal sacrifices.  So why should I deprive myself while everyone else enjoys their lives?

I am not saying you or anyone should sacrifice area of choice. More so saying that if you or anyone in that area starts complaining about droughts or giant fires we should tell you to shut up because you put yourself there and if you don’t like it leave.

Just point out your logic in terms of climate and water play a huge role in issues with the west.

Kevin Heckeler wrote:

Reason #1, of many, we moved to a drier climate [and yeah the climbing aint bad either    ].  Too many days lost, especially when like yourself we really only had weekends to get out.  I had a summer a few years ago just as you described, every weekend for almost 2 months it rained.  Combined with increasingly disgusting winters and we both [SO is also primary climbing partner] finally got fed up after 40+ years living in the northeast.

If quality and quantity of outdoors time is important to you, consider a change.  Otherwise, stop complaining.  You signed up for this.    

Not for this, he didn't.

weekends have been pretty good here in VT. climbed last weekend

Danny Deckers wrote:

Who is causing this awful weather?

A vengeful God, of course.