“Sequim accurately boasts they are the driest city in Western Washington, with an average of 15-17” of rain a year — half that of Seattle.
“(Their other claim of “300 days of sunshine”, I’m not so sure about, unless they mean 300 days of at least seeing the sun, even for 30 seconds. Because even Yuma, Arizona “only” has 242 official sunny days a year.)
“Locals know the reason Sequim is their own banana belt is due to being in the Olympic Rain Shadow where the usual southwesterly winds during stormy weather squeeze out their rain on the southwestern side of the Olympic Mountains (thus, the rain forests over there that boast over 200” of rain a year.)
“But as the air reaches the summit of the Olympics, it’s already been mostly wrung of its moisture.
“And as an added bonus, as the air sinks down the northeastern slopes, it dries out even further, frequently opening up what the locals call the “Blue hole.” (See visual proof, thanks to my parents trip through the shadow earlier this year.)
“So you can see why Sequim might think Mother Nature is their friend, but just in case there was any doubt . . . Nature sent them a nice love letter during our soggy storm on Oct. 23-24 . . . “
The above was was written by Scott Sistek, weather guru for KOMO-TV in Seattle (a news partner with Peninsula Daily News). Scott, by the way, grew up in Port Angeles.
To read all about Sequim and the Olympic Rain Shadow, and what happened with that storm last month, click on http://www.komonews.com/weather/blog/106501133.html
