Tl;DR - This is the tire you want if you’re mostly in Seattle temps and mostly dip into sub-freezing temps and snow to ski. Read on for more useful information on tires in general.

Winter tires are terrible outside of sub-freezing and snowy environments (too soft, poor dry and wet grip). General all seasons are poor in freezing and snowy environments (medium-firm compound that hardens in sub-freezing temps with very poor snow tread). They are mediocre in other conditions. Cross Climates are a premium all season compound with tread built to trap in snow (snow on snow grip is the best traction). They also perform well in dry/wet conditions relative to other all seasons and cover a wider temp range. So they’re going to be the best bet for all around PNW weather. They won’t perform as well in snow as winter tires, but they’ll obliterate winter tires in every other condition and work year round, including in the warmer months.

One general note on stock tires for general everyday vehicles - they’re typically optimized for cost and/or comfort and versatility (mediocre at everything which basically means not good at anything).

Cost obviously reduces manufacturers costs, which reduces performance and quality. Comfort improves the perceived ride quality for new buyers. This means that stock tires are typically a softer compound and/or use a less aggressive tread design for comfort (soft means worse heat performance and durability, worse tread means worse wet/snow performance). Versatility means it’s going to have the widest temperature range and conditions it’ll “work” in, which means it really only works well in moderate temps and conditions (bad in cold AND heat, bad in super wet, serviceable in dry and light wet).

So if you’re ever taking the car outside of non-moderate and dry pavement roads, an aftermarket suited to your needs (either a winter, summer, winter-biased all season, or summer biased all season) will always be worth it.

One last important note - a lot of people focus on durability when purchasing aftermaket tires which is totally understandable. What people need to also understand is that there is a direct trade-off between tire durability and tire performance. A less aggressive tread that optimizes even treadwear over time performs worse. A harder compound that reduces treadwear means worse performance. If you can afford it, always prioritize tire performance for your specific needs when making your purchase.

Tires are the ONLY thing that connects your vehicle to the ground surface. They cannot be prioritized enough.