Good topic. It’s been fun to think about.
My genetic “recipe” consists of German, Italian, Irish, and French. (A full half (full half? haha) of me is German, and the Italian comes out too, but that’s less of a genetic thing and more of a behavioral thing that I got from my mom.) I grew up in the upper midwest where it is snowy, cold, and windy in the winter (but with much more sun than the winters here in the Pacific NW). In the summer in MN it’s pretty hot, a hot day is typically near 100 degrees, and it’s generally humid (though MN has nothing on the mid-Atlantic states or the South in terms of summer humidity). Rain comes in bursts, and after the rain it nearly always shines. Sometimes there’s a whole day of rain, though. Fall is usually a beautiful time of year with lots of sunshine and clear, cold air. Spring can be a frustrating bipolar transition period.
I find myself missing the sun. When it snows in Seattle I instinctively experience a mood lift, because of all the good associations I have with snow in MN. (After it snows in the midwest, the sunshine is that much brighter because the light reflects off the snowdrifts… not so in the PNW because guess what, there IS no friggin’ sunshine. Grr! And also in MN when it starts to snow you know it won’t be long before you can do fun things like snowshoeing and fishing and frolicking in general, whereas in Seattle after it snows, it usually sits around for a day causing traffic problems until it rains again. :P)
So my body has a definite bias. Unlike those lucky ducks Fenris and Green, I have had a hard time dealing with Cascadian climate. I’d much rather deal with a cold winter than a cloudy one. But for me, there are lots of reasons to live in Cascadia which override the weather. From a rewilding perspective, the abundance of vegetation is one important factor, although (I think I’ve stated this elsewhere) I believe the bioregion that includes Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan could sustain a small rewilding population.