Elliott Smith knew it. Lewis and Clark had an idea about it. The full-spectrum lights for sale at Fred Meyer might have given you a clue. Portland is a depressing place to spend the winter.

Now, according to a list put out earlier this month by Smart Asset, it is in the top three most depressing cities to spend a winter in the entire United States.

The shock here of course is that it isn't No. 1.

Why isn't it No. 1? Well, there's Anchorage, which is basically in Russia. Anchorage spends the majority of the winter in the dark of night, and that is very depressing.

Then, there is our neighbor three hours north, Seattle, which is always trying to one-up us. Here, it wins for more depressing because it gets marginally less sun than we do in the winter.

But we have put up a valiant fight. "While Seattle gets just 28% of its possible sunshine," wrote Smart Asset, "Portland is sunny 29% of the time in the winter."

So, it's close.

Anyway, the sun is out on Thursday, so maybe duck out early and get a little vitamin D before it starts to rain again.

Good luck out there.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker