It’s a known fact that native Portlanders don’t use umbrellas. While this has become somewhat of a meme over the years, there’s actually a lot of truth behind this stereotype. In this article, I shall explain why this phenomenon is. Interestingly, PDX also has quite a lot of rain…so make of that what you will!

In short, the main reason why Portlanders rarely use umbrellas is because of the volatile weather. Basically, it could be raining one minute, then hot the next. This is apparently like the weather in England, where I doubt they use umbrellas too much either.

So, why is this? Basically, the idea is that if the weather is that wild – then what’s the point of trying to fight it? For instance, if it’s hot one minute, then raining one minute later, why try and second guess the weather?

On the one hand, you could say that this attitude is defeatist. On the contrary, I completely disagree. The reason for this is that it’s actually a strong stance against the weather. By not using an umbrella, you’re basically saying “I don’t care what the weather will throw at me today!”

As a result, you’ll instead see native Portlanders wear stuff like hoodies and jackets instead. From a practical perspective, wearing these types of clothing seems way more sensible than carrying a clunky umbrella around with you.

Not only this – but the rain is often common but also quite tame. In other words, it’s not exactly a strong downpour and is often very mild instead. As a result, the rain isn’t really likely to soak your clothes either. This is yet another reason why using umbrellas seems a little pointless.

Anyway, the result of the whole umbrella debacle is a quick way to see if someone is actually from Portland or not. Usually, those who carry umbrellas are typically out of towners who aren’t yet down with the true Portland ways!