What do local Sequim residents do on a beautiful sunny day?  Some enjoy the sunshine while walking,  jogging, hiking, golfing,  and the more daring are out kayaking, sailboating, or mountain climbing.  Some simply engage in good conversation at our local Starbucks.

This morning I worked on my laptop at Starbucks and managed to squeeze in a few visits with some friends and business associates.  We talked about what a beautiful day it is, and about the quality of life here.  None of us would consider living anywhere else.

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Sequim weather and rain in the same sentence is most often considered an oxymoron, a clear contradiction in terms.  But it is not so.  We are now in the rainy season as we approach Thanksgiving and through November and December and beyond.  Perhaps it is just as well that rain should come with cool weather.

This is also the time of year when we go into the “slow season” for real estate sales.  If spring and summer represent the hot season for home sales, the winter months represent the cold season for sales.  Of course, this seasonal activity in real estate is typical all over the country.  The Sequim and Port Angeles real estate market, however, has been much more stable than most of the country.  And there is another factor that plays out here that helps to stabilize sales over these winter months.

Many retirees are on their own schedule.  When their 25 or 30 year career has matured, their plans to move to Sequim and retire are consummated.  And for many retirees that is now or during these winter months.  For these retirees from California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Montana, and even Massachusetts, when the retirement clock has struck the top of the hour (even if it is in November, December, or January), moving to Sequim and buying a home in the winter months creates a rare opportunity.

The opportunity is to be a strong buyer when there are few buyers and many homes for sale.  It is an opportunity that has been amplified by the extraordinary buyer’s market we are in, a real estate market that favors buyers more than any market in the past 30 years since I first became a Realtor.  My recommendation for you, if you are retiring to Sequim, is to take advantage of these slow winter months and negotiate the best possible price you will ever negotiate.  The opportunities will not be the same next spring.

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The Sequim fall season is beautiful with the leaves turning shades of orange, yellow,   green, and brown.   We’ve had the typical fall Sequim weather with rain and some strong winds a couple of days ago.   Nothing spectacular, but it did knock out our electricity for an hour or so, at least in some areas.   Our temperatures have dropped and it’s chilly and damp lately, at least for those of us who are acclimated to this weather.   Those of you who are from Alaska or Montana or Canada can laugh, but for us being in the 50’s is chilly.   It’s 5:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday as I write this, and it’s 54 degrees Fahrenheit.   Of course, it will drop further as we go into the winter months, but Sequim doesn’t get terribly cold.   We will see freezing, of course, but most of the time it is above freezing during the winter months.   I like that.

Most people think of the winter months, November through February, as the slow months for real estate.   Buyers normally slow down on their plans to move to Sequim or Port Angeles, but I haven’t seen any slow down in my business.   This past week I showed some clients water front homes, including one that was on a high bluff 150 feet above the beach overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.   I sold a nice five acre parcel of land yesterday to a wonderful couple.   It’s a beautiful flat field with a panoramic view of the mountains.   The acreage was listed at a really great price, unusually great.   And this morning I showed an exceptional custom home to clients from out of state.   This is a 3,400+ square foot home on one acre in a private setting surrounded by some large trees and a peekaboo view of a valley with water in the distance.

The Sequim fall season is beautiful, but I’ve not seen any slow down in the real estate market.   That’s good news for sellers.

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I was just reminded again of why I love living in Sequim.   I grew up in Tok, Alaska, a little town on the Alaska highway just 90 miles from the Canadian border.   I just returned from a brief visit to Tok, and the cold, biting temperature already below freezing was a harbinger of more to come.   Tok gets terribly cold in the winters, and it’s not at all unusual for the mercury to hit 70 degrees below zero at least once during the winter.

Coming back to Sequim and our mild climate was a welcome home coming.   It may be autumn, but even our autumn is gorgeous while not being too cold.

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Sequim is well known as a retirement haven, and here’s the good news-it really is an incredible place to retire and to live.   I raised my own family here, and I can tell you there’s no place I would rather live.   Why?   A lot of reasons, but here are a few that might be relevant to you if you are considering moving to Sequim.

1. Sequim is a peaceful little community of 4,000 people in the city limits.
2. Sequim is far away from busy freeways and traffic jams.
3. Sequim is close to water with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and John Wayne Marina.
4. Sequim is within a short drive of the Olympic National Forest, old growth trees, and hiking.
5. Sequim is an incredible community of volunteers, more than I’ve ever seen anywhere.
6. Sequim is full of some of the most interesting people you will ever meet, including world travelers, rocket scientists, authors, artists, retired CEO’s of huge corporations, inventors, and boring people like me.
7. Sequim has an amazing variety of recreational activities, including biking, hiking, fishing, boating, running, kayaking, bird watching, golfing, and on and on.
8. Sequim has more hobbyists than any town I’ve ever seen.   Name a hobby.   There’s a group here for it, and they meet regularly.
9. Sequim is in a rain shadow, and the climate and weather are nearly perfect.   I can say that having lived in Alaska and in Nevada.
10. Sequim has no crime.   Well, that’s an exaggeration.   There was a bicycle stolen last year.   (Okay, I’m kidding, but there really is hardly any crime here at all.   Read the police blotter, and you’ll break out laughing.)
11. Sequim is about a 2 hour drive (plus, depending on your driving) from Seattle if you like to venture back into the metropolis.
12. There are so many water view lots and houses for sale here at reasonable prices, it’s almost ridiculous.   (Our market hasn’t crashed like many places in the country, so don’t ask if you can buy a beautiful 3 bedroom home for $150,000.)

Come and see Sequim.   You might just . . . love it!

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Here’s a great way to get an instant comparison of the weather in Sequim and Port Angeles, Washington.   Just go to Sequim News & Weather, and you will see in the upper right side the live temperative for both Sequim and Port Angeles.   I love to pull this site up for the news and links, but the first thing I look at are the temperatures.   With all the talk about Sequim being “sunny” and having a “rain shadow” I like to see how the weather compares in both cities, which are only 15 miles apart.   You never hear anything from Port Angeles about the weather or climate.   People wonder about how the weather compares.   Now it’s easy to know.   Details of the weather are visible by just clicking on the temperature.

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No, that’s not the title to a song, it really is foggy in Sequim tonight.   We don’t normally get much fog here, but today it looked like London.   The temperature has been hovering around freezing for a few nights, and that’s cold for Sequim.   Forget about sunny Sequim for a while.   This is the dead of winter.   This photograph was taken at 7:00 P.M. Tuesday evening, Jan. 21, 2009.

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I finished raising my children in Sequim from 1994, and prior to that we lived in Las Vegas for five years, and prior to that seven years in Spokane, and prior to that 22 years in Alaska where I grew up.   I hereby testify that the weather and climate in Sequim is precisely between the two extremes found in Nevada and Alaska.

I do not miss 70 degrees below (Farenheit) in Tok, Alaska, nor the ice fog that greatly reduces visibility on the streets of Fairbanks at 50 degrees below.   We burned 10 cords of wood every winter, and guess who had the privilege of cutting and splitting the wood?   I loved it.

Nor do I miss 115 degrees in the sunny climate of Vegas.   I’ve been a jogger my whole life, and running daily in the desert heat at 90 to 110 degrees was . . . well, it was sweaty.   But I loved it.

But there’s nothing like the in-between.   We have the Olympic Mountains, we have the rain forest, and we have sunshine down here near the water.   Talking about water, we have more beautiful water front property here than any place I lived in Alaska or Nevada.

My son, Bristol, who is a professional mixed martial arts fighter, now lives and fights in Vegas.   He called me today to tell me how nice and warm it was there, about 70 degrees.   I talked to my folks who still live in Tok, Alaska, and it was 65 degrees below.   That’s a 135 degree difference on the same day.

What was it in Sequim?   About 50 degrees, and this is winter.   Home sweet home.   You gotta love it in Sequim.

[Photo taken by Chuck Marunde at Four Mile Lake up the Taylor Highway just outside of Tok, Alaska.   The only way to the Lake from the gravel road way off the beaten path known as the Alaska Highway was to pull our canoes over moss and muskeg for about two or three miles.   We did that with four wheelers.   We caught several trout and immediately went to shore and cooked them on a grate over an open fire with a little spice my sister had with her.   Wow!   Incredible!   Anybody want to go fishing up north?]

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Sequim welcomed Christmas morning with a foot of snow covering and a picture perfect light snow fall.   Who wasn’t up early today?   The kids certainly were.

The temperatures in Sequim and Port Angeles were tied at a balmy 33 degrees at 11:04 a.m.

This is probably one of the quietest Christmas days we’ve seen in Sequim, mostly because the business climate has paused, not just because of the time of year, but because of the nationwide real estate market and the entire economy.   No matter.   This is a day to count our blessings and give thanks, after all someone very important was born on this day–in a manger.

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Sequim and Port Angeles seem to be escaping some of the nasty winter blizzards in Western Washington, in large part because of the rain shadow that shields our area.

The National Weather Service reports:

A blizzard warning will shortly replace the current winter storm watch for the Western Strait (from about Joyce westerly) and the North Coast in Clallam County, including Forks, LaPush, Neah Bay, Clallam Bay, and Sekiu. Blizzard conditions are expected to start Saturday afternoon and continue through the evening, moderating by Sunday morning. The NWS defines a blizzard as large quantity and/or a blowing snow with winds of 35 mph or stronger, and visibility of 1/4 mile or less for more than three hours. For Western Clallam County the NWS expects 6 – 12″ of snow accumulation, and winds of 35 – 45 mph and gusts to 60 mph. This is a potentially dangerous situation for the West part of the County and citizens are advised to prepare now.

For the east end of the County, lowland areas are expected to see new snow accumulations of 1 – 3″ and winds of about 20 mph. The NWS is not however declaring a storm warning for the Eastern part of the County. The shadowing effect of the Olympics is expected to make Port Angeles and Sequim one of the least impacted areas from this storm, however, I would emphasize that these forecasts are subject to change. Residents are advised to watch weather forecasts for updates. Furthermore, even in Eastern Clallam County, those living at higher elevations may experience considerably greater snowfall.

In the Olympic Mountains, snowfall is expected to be extremely high (2 – 3 feet.) Also for the Olympics the NWS has issued an Avalanche Warning. Earlier “weak” snow is going to be covered with a large accumulation of new “strong” snow, creating extremely hazardous avalanche conditions. The possibility of triggering an avalanche by mountain travel, particularly on side hills is significant. Accordingly, winter activities in the higher elevations of the Olympics should proceed only with great caution.

Read updated National Weather Service reports for Sequim.
Read updated National Weather Service reports for Port Angeles.

Finally, you can compare the weather in Sequim and Port Angeles LIVE right here.

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Bookmark this article so you can come back periodically and see the weather comparison yourself. Courtesy of Chuck Marunde and Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC.

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