If the Olympic rain shadow were moving west, you'd expect to see some kind of positive precipitation anomaly centered around Everett to Sequim. No such feature exists. What is very clear on that precip map is that there is a large north/south precipitation gradient which favors OR. It's reflective of our dying Niño, as well as showing a complete flip to the opposite situation from a few years ago, when we couldn't for the life of us get a system to target south of the meridian line, let alone Olympia.
The map is so red up there because when you have lighter annual precipitation, precip busts become more substantial. If you miss out on an inch of rain that means a lot more in terms of affecting your departure from average as compared to Seattle missing out on rain. Y'all have just been unlucky.
Recommended Posts
Posted by smerfylicious,
Congrats!!!
Recommended by Meatyorologist
40 reactions
Go to this post
Posted by SouthHillJimmy,
Welcome Jimmy!
Recommended by Meatyorologist
21 reactions
Go to this post