[Hydraulix989]

Except Vancouver IS also the same every day: dark, gloomy, overcast clouds with constant rain or drizzle.

I lived in Seattle for a year, and I got depressed from the weather. My doctor handed me a huge bottle of Vitamin D to take, saying most of her patients that lived there are deficient.

I couldn't handle it, so I moved back to sunny California, and immediately, my happiness levels returned back to normal again. Humans rely on the light to regulate their biorhythms, and Seattle/Vancouver are so far up north that in December, the sun rises at 10 AM, and it starts getting dark at around 3 PM.

For what it's worth, I grew up on the East Coast in Pittsburgh, PA with its notoriously bad weather, and I could cope with the variety of having four distinct seasons, including real winters with snowfall, much better than Seattle/Vancouver's monolithic climate (excluding the short summer that gives you two months of what SF weather is like every day).

[sprocket]

> Seattle/Vancouver are so far up north that in December, the sun rises at 10 AM, and it starts getting dark at around 3 PM

That's a bit of an exaggeration. Even on the shortest day of the year in Vancouver, the sun rises at shortly after 8am and sets just after 4pm, which is a full 3 hours more of sunlight than you're giving it credit for.

[Hydraulix989]

Yes, if you want to be pedantic, and you define sunrise as the "bottom of the sun" touching the horizon -- as a meteorologist would -- instead of the much more practical definition of the sun is "sufficiently above the horizon for it to no longer be dark outside."

I came in to work at 10 AM every day, and that's when it would start getting light outside (9 AM, still dark out).

Then, I struck a deal with my boss to work later and run my daily 5 kilometers midday at 2:00-2:30 PM instead of after work because by 3 PM, it would be too dark outside to feel safe from cars while exercising.

[acchow]

100x this. I get a lot of energy and happiness walking in the sun in the morning. Something so simple, yet has a dramatic effect on my quality of life.

[cylinder]

It sucks doesn't it. I feel silly for having so much of my mood determined by the presence of clouds, but not much I can do about it

[Hydraulix989]

I was just there in Seattle the last five days. The entire time, it was cloudy and gray, nearly always raining.

As soon as I got back and walked right into the sunny blue skies outside of SFO, my mood perked up almost instantly. The difference was incredible!