The ‘Big Dark’: How Washingtonians weather the gloom & gray

Learn to embrace it

Ken Ruther is a lifelong Washingtonian. As the retiree handed out Bibles on the UW campus, Ruther said he prefers summers, but has learned to embrace the state’s long winters as well. His advice for getting through the big dark? Learn to enjoy it. 

“You can’t let the gray skies get to you,” he said. “We have some of the most beautiful summers, so it’s worth the wait. Just learn to enjoy the rain.”

Ruther, who lives in Eatonville, said he’s also found vitamin D capsules to be helpful.

“It is harder for some people from sunnier parts of the country that come here. They can get a little depressed,” Ruther said. “But I think here in Washington, you load up on your vitamin D and just bear through it … especially this side of the mountain, most everybody’s low on vitamin D.”
 

Get outside 

Jim Anderson, a lifelong Seattle resident, recommends staying active and walking in parks during the winter. He’s especially fond of Seattle’s Green Lake Park. 

“You just ease into the season,” Anderson said as he walked around the lake with a friend earlier this month. “If it’s raining I just walk with an umbrella.”

The leaves are especially gorgeous this time of year, Anderson added.

“I like to walk first thing in the morning,” Anderson said. “Now that fall is here, it’s dark out. But if you walk the perimeter, then you have the street lighting and you have a lit path all the way around.”

When daylight saving time ends on Nov. 3, sunrises will jump from just before 8 a.m. back to before 7 a.m. 

Some Washington lawmakers think it’s time to “ditch the switch.” In 2019, the Legislature passed a law to make daylight saving time permanent year-round — which would lead to darker mornings and more sunlight in the late afternoons. But the law can’t actually go into effect without approval from Congress, which hasn’t shown interest in doing so.

A bill to switch Washington to year-round Pacific Standard Time, which does not require federal approval, failed to advance during this year’s session.
 

Stay busy 

As he waited for a ride to a construction job earlier this month, Ovi Christea, a Kent resident, had one piece of advice for the long winters: “Stay busy. Do something. Work on something. Be productive,” Christea said. “Don’t get scared of the darkness.”

For visitors from other places, Seattle’s gloomy weather is sometimes an attraction.

“I came for the gray, to be honest,” said Matt Gahm, a Philadelphia resident who recently visited Seattle. “I like the gloom because it makes you appreciate the sunshine.”

Gahm said he was hoping to catch some cloudy skies in Olympic National Park during his trip.

“That’s where I thrive,” Gahm said. “It’s a lot cleaner over here, the air feels better.”