Thanks in part to comedians and pundits based on the East Coast, our region of the country has been mythologized as the precipitation capital of the United States, to the point that even people who live here in the Northwest crack jokes about how it’s always raining. Of course, those of us who live here know that’s the case.
Cloudy days are more common than rainy days, and in fact, our big cities receive less rain on average in a year than Miami or New York does.
Yet, the mythology persists, and the City of Seattle in particular continues to be the butt of jokes about wet, soggy weather, even though it’s not the wettest place in Washington State (that would be the Olympic Rainforest).
But this Independence Day, the joke is on the Other Washington, to borrow a cliche. Their Fourth of July parade got rained on… literally:
A pelting, late-afternoon storm Saturday disrupted Fourth of July celebrations across the Washington region, as thousands descended on the Mall for what they hoped would be a dazzling fireworks display.
The brunt of the storm subsided by 5:30 p.m., but the rain turned portions of the Mall into an uninviting stew of mud and puddles. By 6 p.m., police had reopened the west front of the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s coming down, and it’s too much,” Roberto Yanez said of the pounding rain. The downpour prompted his family to head home to Beltsville, Md., as all around him people scampered for shelter, including some who lost flip-flops and sneakers as they ran.
D.C. may be soggy after that soaking, but in the real Washington, it’s warm and sunny. No massed clouds here, let alone any rain.
In fact, it’s so warm out that it could be called toasty.
Here’s a snapshot of conditions as reported by the NWS from earlier today, taken about the same time. It really is a tale of two Washingtons:
Take note, East Coast pundits and comedians! This holiday, D.C.’s got the rain, while Washington State has the sun. And that’s not an uncommon thing, either, seasonally speaking. We have the best summers here in the Pacific Northwest, weather-wise, and the sunshine traditionally becomes dependable around the Fourth of July. Another reason that the Left Coast is the best coast!
This year, we got an early start on summer with a warm and dry June. We’ll be lucky if we do get rain this month and next. We could certainly use a few rainshowers to reduce our wildfire risk, with the unusual spring we had. The upside of the precipitation we do get is that it keeps the Evergreen State evergreen.