Sunny Days in Sequim? (Seattle, Port Angeles: 2014, new home, heat pump)

[silverfox]

Yes, Sequim does have Micro climates, but so does almost every place I know of once you get familiar with the areas.
I read where many posters here are saying it is wet and cloudy much of the time.
Cloudy ..yes but how do you get WET with only a 16" average annual rainfall ??
Sequim is as good as it gets in Western Washington for rain fall.
Seattle gets approx. 39" ... over 2 times as much.
If you want Dry go to the High desert country.

The Blue hole is seldom in the same place from day to day.
We go to the Dungeness Spit/Cline Spit areas often, and you can see the weather patterns comming and going from there.
This time of the year the weather comes mostly from Port Angeles and Hugs the base of the olympic mountains as it works it's way to Sequim.
Quite often we leave our house in the rain and end up in clear blue sky overhead at Cline Spit on the Straights of Juan De Fuca about 15 minutes drive northwest from where we live..
Since we live near an Ocean climate, it changes rapidly at times and clouds are just part of living in that enviroment.
Overall, when compared to so many places in this country I think this is a great climate to live in.
No extremes in either direction.
You can save money on heating and cooling since we usually turn off our heat in late May, Don't need air conditioning, and turn the heat back on in September. ie. no energy expenses June thru September
Also very few nasty bugs.... just a few yellowjackets/flys if you eat outside but not much else.

[sequoias]

Very interesting read about Sequim. I don't know the reality about that place but I've passed that area a couple of times. I do know that Sequim do have fairly large lavender farms with a mix of different vegetables and stuff.

[CarawayDJ]

I visited Sequim again last May. It was showering not too far from Sequim, but fairly dry in Sequim with cloud breaks. As Silverfox points out, exactly how wet can it be with only 16" of rain a year? Really? That's only 5" more than I get in SoCal.

[sequoias]

Oh, to add there's a big difference. The liquid precipition on the higher west slopes of the Olympic mountains can reach 200 inches annually. Sequim only gets avg of 16 inches a year, which is dry for Western WA state.

Also, Eastern WA state is also a rain shadow, too. It only can get 8 inches a year somewhere near Moses Lake is the driest spot, I think.

[vegasgal47]

LOL - that's about 15" more than I get in Las Vegas. I miss the rain so 16 inches doesn't sound too bad to me.

[cjg5]

Originally Posted by sequoias

Oh, to add there's a big difference. The liquid precipition on the higher west slopes of the Olympic mountains can reach 200 inches annually. Sequim only gets avg of 16 inches a year, which is dry for Western WA state.

Also, Eastern WA state is also a rain shadow, too. It only can get 8 inches a year somewhere near Moses Lake is the driest spot, I think.

I believe that the Tri-Cities area is the driest in the state. Possibly Hanford. But pretty much all of Eastern Washington is pretty dry.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by the_pines

I read this also about Sequim. I researched it and found out it wasn't even close to the amount I had read somewhere. That's some really bad false advertising going on there.

Not necessarily. I'm from Vancouver and went to Simon Fraser U, which is on a high hill. On many rainy days when it drizzling or pouring up our way, you could look south and see the 'blue hole', like the eye of a hurricane with clear skies above. It's very noticeable at times, even from as close as Victoria, BC.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by cjg5

I believe that the Tri-Cities area is the driest in the state. Possibly Hanford. But pretty much all of Eastern Washington is pretty dry.

And furnace hot in the summer!!!

[509]

Originally Posted by cjg5

I believe that the Tri-Cities area is the driest in the state. Possibly Hanford. But pretty much all of Eastern Washington is pretty dry.

It is actually a spot along the Columbia River halfway between Wenatchee and Tri-Cities. It gets FOUR inches of precipitation a year.

There is a second home subdivision there for folks from western Washington. I believe that is why they located it there, plus the cheap land prices in the 1960's.

In eastern Washington, anything just east of the crest is pretty wet....like Lake Wenatchee. Also on the border of BC, and Idaho there is a "rain forest" on the Colville National Forest. It is within the Salmo-Priest Wilderness and a pretty cool cedar swamp.

We were happy to leave Colville for Wenatchee. We could not stand all the snow and rain and cold temperatures during summer.

In our opinion, there are very few spots in Washington state that are dry enough for human habitation.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by 509

In our opinion, there are very few spots in Washington state that are dry enough for human habitation.

Washington is #13 by population. A lot of the south and southeast get a lot more rain than the Seattle area which is also the most populous part of the state. Places like Forks, Aberdeen and the coast are too wet and too depressing for humans.